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Distance from Raleigh to other cities within 500 miles
30 miles to Durham
60 miles to Fayetteville
80 miles to Greensboro
105 miles to Wilmington, NC
105 miles to Winston-Salem
150 miles to Richmond
165 miles to Charlotte
170 miles to Myrtle Beach
180 miles to Norfolk
195 miles to Virginia Beach
240 miles to Spartanburg
250 miles to Asheville
255 miles to Washington DC
265 miles to Columbia
265 miles to Greenville, SC
270 miles to Charleston, SC
295 miles to Augusta
315 miles to Baltimore
320 miles to Charleston, WV
330 miles to Savannah
360 miles to Knoxville
385 miles to Wilmington, DE
410 miles to Atlanta
410 miles to Philadelphia
450 miles to Jacksonville
450 miles to Macon
465 miles to Chattanooga
500 miles to New York (Manhattan)
I said Pittsburgh not Raleigh...wanna try that again...Pittsburgh is within driving distance to 80% of the US population and Canada.
New York
Philadelphia
Chicago
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
DC
Baltimore
Toronto
Buffalo
Columbus
Detroit
Louisville
Location: Just East of the Southern Portion of the Western Part of PA
1,272 posts, read 3,706,945 times
Reputation: 1511
Raleigh is certainly growing and jobs are the key reason. I lived down there for a year and I didn't really like it. It is basically one giant strip mall surrounded by chain restaurants and shiny new housing plans. The downtown is just a few buildings and has no real city feel. Nobody seems to be from NC, so there doesn't seem to be a real city identity.
I certainly understand why people live there - jobs always play a key factor. Can you find a job and live in a nice shiny new area? Sure, but the whole place just seemed to lack a soul.
I think many people would find it surprising that Raleigh is much closer to DC than it is to Atlanta and that it's closer to NYC than it is to either Jacksonville or Nashville. Raleigh is also closer to Boston that it is to Miami. It's intertesting to me that its distance from Atlanta is essentially the same as its distance to Philly.
Yeah - I've made day trips to DC (long day, granted) on more than one occasion. Except for I-95 traffic heading into DC it's an easy drive. I can't wait until the HSR is completed.
Atlanta, on the other hand, is a 6 hour trek, and driving thru one metro after another from the Triangle down to ATL is nothing but continual traffic on I-85; not a fun interstate at all.
Actually, that's not true. Raleigh's growing because it has one of the most educated populations in America and because it's one corner of the Research Triangle area. It's growing because its schools perform well and its crime rate is lower than most metros in the region. It's growing because the sort of industries that are located in the area among those on which America is building its future.
It's also not "so cheap" as you contend. It's not expensive but it's not cheap either. For many it's cheaper but for many others, it's more expensive.
Per capita, the Triangle has one of the highest concentrations of Ph.D's in the US.
Raleigh certainly has it's flaws - it's very sprawly, decentralized, and cultural growth hasn't caught up to population growth. Public transportation isn't what it should be (by a long shot). And someone mentioned Chapel Hill and Durham draining off some of what culture does exist here - the famed indie rock scene in Chapel Hill (which ain't what it used to be) for example.
But Raleigh is an easy, easy city to pick on, and frankly I think it's mostly sour grapes. There are places in the US that are successful, that might once have been backwaters, and I think there's a certain level of envy or bitterness. And there are also some younger boom towns that haven't crashed (like Vegas, for example), that might be perceived as challenging some older boom towns, which is a little silly, and there's certainly some of that on C-D. I say these things because while some of the criticism of Raleigh (and the Triangle) is legit, some of it is awfully vague - on the order of "this city shouldn't be a hot spot for growth because it's humid" or something equally nonsensical.
This is an area I'm generally happy to be living in. There are PLENTY of things this area could be doing better, but I'll take it over stagnation or decline any day. When I was a kid, North Carolina was extremely provincial, and to see at least a couple places in the state grow into large, cosmopolitan metropolitan areas - that's good. I can't find a reason to complain about that. I would like for the growth to be a bit smarter, but otherwise, I'm not complaining.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,745 posts, read 23,804,636 times
Reputation: 14660
Quote:
Originally Posted by BiggDaddyDroid
Raleigh probably trumps it easy when it comes to education, weather, and cost of living.
Pittsburgh I'm pretty sure has a lower cost of living, and Pittsburgh is no slouch when it comes to education; Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, & Univ. of Pitt to name a few.
Raleigh probably trumps it easy when it comes to education, weather, and cost of living.
Raleigh has NC State. Pitt has Carnegie Mellon and Pitt, both of which are members of the AAU, which is an organization of the top research universities in the US. NC State is not a member.
According to the Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed, $40,836 in Pittsburgh is equivalent to $50,000 in Raleigh, so Pittsburgh actually has a lower cost of living.
I'll give you weather, though.
Last edited by Yac; 11-08-2011 at 03:51 AM..
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