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Single guy in early 30s here, tired of west coast and wanting to try something new. Would be able to spend up to $400K on a condo and shouldn't have much trouble finding work in my field paying in the 80s or 90s, will that be enough to live in a downtown neighborhood close to work and entertainmemt? Also, will I fit in with the city folks my age assuming I'm politically moderate and agnostic?
Single guy in early 30s here, tired of west coast and wanting to try something new. Would be able to spend up to $400K on a condo and shouldn't have much trouble finding work in my field paying in the 80s or 90s, will that be enough to live in a downtown neighborhood close to work and entertainmemt? Also, will I fit in with the city folks my age assuming I'm politically moderate and agnostic?
Can't speak of housing and such as I'm still fairly new myself but as far as being agnostic.. you're gonna be the odd man out. We are atheist and I've been told by a man who's propositioned my 8 year old daughter twice to join his youth group that " its real religious around these parts, best get yourself right with that and into a good church"... I had told him twice prior we were not interested in joining his group but he won't let it go. Its the pool guy btw...We moved here from Fla after living in NH previous to that and I've not encountered the level of religion and conservatism in those places like I have here.
We have crosses taped to lamp posts and stop signs, a man stands outside my neighborhood every morning with a sign that reads "god bless", a lot of billboards have Jesus fish on the corners, and lots of Jesus bumper stickers. A man rides his bike through the city screaming "Jesus Saves". You'll encounter him like 90% of the time you go to the city.
I also see a lot of church groups at Carowinds Theme Park.... what I'm getting at is this is the Bible Belt and its saturated with religion, like to the core. More or less you're gonna find a lot of non progressive types who want god in school, god in government, and wanna know what church you're gonna attend. We've been asked more than once. Some of the younger people, mostly from not here, are going to be more progressive and probably agnostic and such but I've met less than a handful of them. I'm even part of secular groups here and we have people who CONSTANTLY join in and then try and preach about Jesus to our kids, or drop hints.. .even our local news station as a morning proverb or "inspirational" quote from the bible the read daily. Also not encountered that before.
Its exhausting for us because we are trying to raise our daughter without these types of influences and they seem to really be in your face sometimes.
You'll be fine if you live in areas like South End, Uptown, Noda, Dilworth, Plaza Midwood, etc... that are all in your budget and are going to have many people with your views. Politically those areas will be blue and much less religious. The rural and exurb-suburban areas (like where the above poster lives), are going to be more conservative.
Charlotte is a city where you can have a huge gay pride weekend one week with over 160,000 attendees and them the next week have a mega church baptism. I'm from California myself, and have found a little bit of everything.
Yes, you should be ok in that price range if you want to live downtown or near downtown and willing to spend up to 400k on a condo. That shouldn’t be too difficult to find as those areas tend to be higher priced. As far as politics go, I would say Charlotte itself is overall pretty moderate, a mix of Democrats and Republicans so you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable in that sense. I’ve found that the actual city of Charlotte tends to lean more democratic, but when you go to the outer counties surrounding the city, they tend to be more right leaning. As far as your religious identity, that’s a little different. I’m from the northeast originally, and to me people here seem to be more religious than what I was used to growing up. Charlotte is a “city of churches” as they say. Not all, but many people here attend church regularly and identify with some Christian denomination. I grew up Catholic and feel like a minority here as the south is full of nondenominational Christians or Presbyterians, Baptists (in the case of North Carolina). This is the Bible Belt after all. I haven’t felt judged by my religious background here, but honestly I have felt like a bit of an outsider here as the number of Catholics in the south is not very high (at least nothing like the northeastern US). Overall I think you will be ok. Charlotte has a lot of young professionals and is a very family oriented place. Just keep in mind that there will be some cultural differences as this is the south. People are very religious here in N.C. , but I wouldn’t say that it comes up in my everyday conversations. As an agnostic you will be in the minority here but don’t take that as a negative aspect, more of a cultural difference.
Can't speak of housing and such as I'm still fairly new myself but as far as being agnostic.. you're gonna be the odd man out. We are atheist and I've been told by a man who's propositioned my 8 year old daughter twice to join his youth group that " its real religious around these parts, best get yourself right with that and into a good church"... I had told him twice prior we were not interested in joining his group but he won't let it go. Its the pool guy btw...We moved here from Fla after living in NH previous to that and I've not encountered the level of religion and conservatism in those places like I have here.
We have crosses taped to lamp posts and stop signs, a man stands outside my neighborhood every morning with a sign that reads "god bless", a lot of billboards have Jesus fish on the corners, and lots of Jesus bumper stickers. A man rides his bike through the city screaming "Jesus Saves". You'll encounter him like 90% of the time you go to the city.
I also see a lot of church groups at Carowinds Theme Park.... what I'm getting at is this is the Bible Belt and its saturated with religion, like to the core. More or less you're gonna find a lot of non progressive types who want god in school, god in government, and wanna know what church you're gonna attend. We've been asked more than once. Some of the younger people, mostly from not here, are going to be more progressive and probably agnostic and such but I've met less than a handful of them. I'm even part of secular groups here and we have people who CONSTANTLY join in and then try and preach about Jesus to our kids, or drop hints.. .even our local news station as a morning proverb or "inspirational" quote from the bible the read daily. Also not encountered that before.
Its exhausting for us because we are trying to raise our daughter without these types of influences and they seem to really be in your face sometimes.
Somehow you seem to attract drama. We’ve been here more than 10 years, aren’t church going, and have experienced nowhere near the level of religious proselytizing that you describe. It has rarely, if ever, come up. Some of our friends and neighbors go to church, some don’t. It’s not at all saturated, from what I can tell. Considering there are so many transplants moving here every day, the dynamic has changed. I don’t really consider Charlotte to be in the Bible Belt anymore...you can finally get a drink on Sunday mornings now.
Outside in smaller towns, might be a different story.
Religion is more prevalent here than other places, but it's not really in your face. You "might" get asked "what church do you go to" and when you say "I don't", people will just shrug their shoulders and go to the next topic. Most stores are closed on Sundays until 11am or noon...that was a bit of a culture change for us. Outside of that, you really won't feel out of place and with all the northern migrants coming in, it's becoming less and less prevalent.
Not once have I ever been asked about my religion living in Charlotte. The stereotype that everyone in the South is conservative and religious is just that - a stereotype.
Somehow you seem to attract drama. We’ve been here more than 10 years, aren’t church going, and have experienced nowhere near the level of religious proselytizing that you describe. It has rarely, if ever, come up. Some of our friends and neighbors go to church, some don’t. It’s not at all saturated, from what I can tell. Considering there are so many transplants moving here every day, the dynamic has changed. I don’t really consider Charlotte to be in the Bible Belt anymore...you can finally get a drink on Sunday mornings now.
Outside in smaller towns, might be a different story.
I attract the insane ones and I just want them to leave me alone.. I literally put off a '"don't talk to me" vibe and its like a magnet. I don't want to be bothered by any of them. We want a homestead away from everyone and we're working towards it now. May take another year-ish so I'm trying to just grin and bear it. My neighbor across the street is insane too.. shes always screaming racial slurs at lawn care and internet workers. I have her on video doing it.
Also, I as I've mentioned before, we do homeschool and A LOT of the nutzo right wing conservative christians do too down here.. We've only found one secular group in Charlotte that we've joined and yet we've had several of the super conservative ones come in, go on a field trip on say dinosaurs at the Schiele Museum, and literally ARGUE with the guide on evolution vs. creationism.. its a secular group!!! Why even come????? That happens several times a month. We've had some argue as to the bible being a primary source for history vs secondary etc with historians while on field trips.. Its tiring as hell.. Its eye roll worthy... They're EVERYWHERE here.
Been here several years myself and been asked casually by friends and acquaintances what church I go to, but never been an issue when I tell them I'm not religious.
Everywhere you go there will be bigots that will judge you for not being part of their in-group, but the vast majority of people only care if you're a decent person not what color your skin is, who you sleep with, or what fairy tale you buy into.
Religion is more prevalent here than other places, but it's not really in your face. You "might" get asked "what church do you go to" and when you say "I don't", people will just shrug their shoulders and go to the next topic. Most stores are closed on Sundays until 11am or noon...that was a bit of a culture change for us. Outside of that, you really won't feel out of place and with all the northern migrants coming in, it's becoming less and less prevalent.
This has been exactly my experience.
I don't know the condo market but I'd think OP can find something decent for $300K even, and as alluded to earlier you don't need to stick to just uptown (what they call downtown here), neighborhoods like Plaza Midwood, SouthEnd, NoDA, Dilworth, are all close to uptown and popular with younger people. Personally, unless you have a large downpayment and/or few other bills, I think a $400K condo (plus condo fees) could eat up a good chunk of a $90K salary.
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