Is Wilmington (NC) more like Norfolk or Charleston? (compared, populations, market)

[JayJayCB]

What would y'all say? It's practically in the middle of Norfolk and Charleston, all three located along the coast. In terms of historical similarities, local culture (is Norfolk southern like Wilmington and Charleston?), job market, amount of transplants vs natives, etc.

[Mutiny77]

Charleston.

[march2]

I'm familiar will all 3 areas (Our Marine son was stationed in the Norfolk for a while, I have an uncle we visit often in the Wilmington area, and we visit Charleston A LOT). Charleston and Wilmington are more similar in the ways you described.

[Shakeesha]

Charleston

[lammius]

Charleston, I guess. But Wilmington really is a tiny speck of a town compared to both.

Wilmington MSA = 263,000
Charleston MSA = 700,000
Norfolk MSA = 1,800,000

[march2]

Originally Posted by lammius

Charleston, I guess. But Wilmington really is a tiny speck of a town compared to both.

Wilmington MSA = 263,000
Charleston MSA = 700,000
Norfolk MSA = 1,800,000

In terms of METRO area, Wilmington is much smaller. But in terms of CITY population (ie, "tiny speck of town"), Wilmington is close.

Wilmington 120k
Charleston 138k
Norfolk 280k
2016 pop. est.

[lammius]

IMO, Metro population, or Urbanized Area population, tell you more about the city than the city limits population. You could compare Jacksonville and San Francisco because the city limits of both have similar populations, but SF's peers really are cities in much larger metros/UAs, and Jacksonville's peers really are cities in smaller metros/UAs.

You could perhaps take a look at the historic area of Wilmington and compare to the historic districts in Charleston, and I'd pick Portsmouth instead of Norfolk in VA. But to look at the cities as wholes, you can't ignore the different contexts these cities sit within.

[cdw1084]

Really? The obvious answer is Charleston.