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Durham and Chapel Hill....no...not suburbs of Raleigh. Cary debatable...it's really more of a "satellite city" of the region.
Towns that I think could universally be called "Suburbs of Raleigh" would be Garner, Knightdale, Wake Forest, Holly Springs.
Apex and especially Morrisville kind of a tossup for being lumped in with Cary as "mega-burb complex" between the two anchor cities of Raleigh and Durham and with more people in that "section" probably commuting to RTP for work than either Raleigh or Durham and enjoying the "city amenities" almost equally between Raleigh and Durham.
Fuquay and Wendell/Zebulon. Still kinda out there in the country. I think Clayton makes a better case for being a "suburb of Raleigh" than those towns do despite being in a different county.
Ummm ... median household income of Cary exceeds Raleigh. By quite a bit. (In 2019, about $106k and $69k respectively, at least according to C-D)
(Yes, I know it was a joke. Just not one that makes sense.)
Raleigh has far more lower cost housing unit offerings than Cary does.
Yeah, ITB is 7 figures apparently, but ITB is not all of Raleigh by a long shot.
Not an "official" definition of suburb by any stretch of the imagination, but I tend to think in terms of how well known a town is. If I told the average person on the other side of the country that I live in Cary, NC, they very likely aren't familiar with it (same for Garner, Apex, Holly Springs, etc). But if I say I live "just outside of Raleigh," they've more likely heard of Raleigh. In that sense, I consider Cary (and other towns in Wake County) to be a suburb of Raleigh.
Not an "official" definition of suburb by any stretch of the imagination, but I tend to think in terms of how well known a town is. If I told the average person on the other side of the country that I live in Cary, NC, they very likely aren't familiar with it (same for Garner, Apex, Holly Springs, etc). But if I say I live "just outside of Raleigh," they've more likely heard of Raleigh. In that sense, I consider Cary (and other towns in Wake County) to be a suburb of Raleigh.
This is typically how I approach it too, to a T. Bit me in the ass when I moved overseas.
Where'd you move from?
Boston.
Where's your accent???
Wellllll......I moved from there. I wasn't born there. I'm guessing you've never heard of Halifax.
For several years now, Cary residents have worked in Cary.
Cary has a net influx of workers on a daily basis.
^This is why I don't consider Cary a true suburb.... anymore. It has grown into its' own "city" or "large town". Cary has a large diverse self-sustaining economy and, as Mike said, more people actually commute into Cary to work than commute out..... at least pre-pandemic. Lots of businesses of all sorts -big and small. Some of the heavy hitters = SAS, MetLife, WakeMed Cary -and all the clinics/Drs offices orbiting it.
I guess I associate suburb with bedroom community -where it's mostly residential and people just stay/live there to rest there heads but spend most of there time working, and possibly recreating, shopping, and eating out, in another city/town.
Many people come into Cary not just to work but to use medical services and enjoy its' excellent parks and rec opportunities... as well as shopping and restaurants. We know we did, that's why we eventually decided just to move to Cary (from Apex).
This is typically how I approach it too, to a T. Bit me in the ass when I moved overseas.
Where'd you move from?
Boston.
Where's your accent???
Wellllll......I moved from there. I wasn't born there. I'm guessing you've never heard of Halifax.
Nova Scotia?!
No. Massachusetts.
That shows how much I know Canada, lol. If someone said they were from Halifax while in overseas, I'd probably thought you were referring to a place in England, the one close to Leeds. Nova Scotia would not have even crossed my mind, tbh. It didn't while I was reading your post either.
That shows how much I know Canada, lol. If someone said they were from Halifax while in overseas, I'd probably thought you were referring to a place in England, the one close to Leeds. Nova Scotia would not have even crossed my mind, tbh. It didn't while I was reading your post either.
The Triangle is unique since in many ways RTP is the CBD for a huge chunk of the area and Cary and Morrisville and North Raleigh act as suburbs for it. But beyond getting into the weeds, suffice to say most towns in Wake County are seen as suburbs of Raleigh (I’d say no to Wendell and Zebulon). Clayton is trending that way. Durham and Chapel Hill are not.
The Triangle is unique since in many ways RTP is the CBD for a huge chunk of the area and Cary and Morrisville and North Raleigh act as suburbs for it. But beyond getting into the weeds, suffice to say most towns in Wake County are seen as suburbs of Raleigh (I’d say no to Wendell and Zebulon). Clayton is trending that way. Durham and Chapel Hill are not.
I'd be interested to better understand your thinking process to decide when a city is or is not a suburb?
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