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My wife and I are from the Philadelphia area and are considering relocating to Richmond, Raleigh, or Charlotte.
I'm currently working as a Buyer in a contracted position, but would consider a move to any of these areas if I could land a similar permanent position. My wife works as a CNA, so she would want to land a CNA day shift position at a hospital. She also would like to start taking classes toward an RN; so decent colleges and hospitals for Nursing would also be a factor.
We don't have kids yet and all of our family is in the Philadelphia area. We're not into the bar scene too much unless it's watching our Philly teams for big games. I used to live in Richmond and Charlotte years ago and miss making friends with all the Philly transplants gathering at the bars to watch the Eagles games! (I actually had more friends living away from home because of that.)We love parks, trails, rivers, lakes, museums, festivals, concerts, pro-sports, the beach, mountains, zoos, historic sites, road tripping, farmers markets, and nature photography.
What I know about each area:
RICHMOND-Pros: Closest to family 4.5 hours, very familiar since I once lived there, love the history, museums, parks, river, prox. to Williamsburg, Charlottesville, beach, mountains, easy access with good highways. Cons: No pro sports, city vs. suburbs segregation by local officials, slower growth than other areas, smaller airport/expensive flights.
CHARLOTTE: Pros:Love the Panthers and Hornets, Uptown more of a city feel that I'm used to, light rail, cheaper flights, growing city, great cost of living, great weather. Cons: 9.5 hour drive to family, high crime rate, longer drives for good road trips, not too many good hospitals, no zoo, no historic sites with character.
RALEIGH: Need to learn more about Raleigh area.....Pros: 2.5 hours from Richmond and Charlotte for great road trips, great parks, pro hockey, great hospital possibilities for wife, close to beach. Cons: Not familiar with area, Very competitive job marrket with all the Duke, UNC, and NC State grads.
Sorry for the long post...Any positive or negative feedback or comparisons of each would be appreciated.
Thanks
My wife and I are from the Philadelphia area and are considering relocating to Richmond, Raleigh, or Charlotte.
I'm currently working as a Buyer in a contracted position, but would consider a move to any of these areas if I could land a similar permanent position. My wife works as a CNA, so she would want to land a CNA day shift position at a hospital. She also would like to start taking classes toward an RN; so decent colleges and hospitals for Nursing would also be a factor.
We don't have kids yet and all of our family is in the Philadelphia area. We're not into the bar scene too much unless it's watching our Philly teams for big games. I used to live in Richmond and Charlotte years ago and miss making friends with all the Philly transplants gathering at the bars to watch the Eagles games! (I actually had more friends living away from home because of that.)We love parks, trails, rivers, lakes, museums, festivals, concerts, pro-sports, the beach, mountains, zoos, historic sites, road tripping, farmers markets, and nature photography.
What I know about each area:
RICHMOND-Pros: Closest to family 4.5 hours, very familiar since I once lived there, love the history, museums, parks, river, prox. to Williamsburg, Charlottesville, beach, mountains, easy access with good highways. Cons: No pro sports, city vs. suburbs segregation by local officials, slower growth than other areas, smaller airport/expensive flights.
CHARLOTTE: Pros:Love the Panthers and Hornets, Uptown more of a city feel that I'm used to, light rail, cheaper flights, growing city, great cost of living, great weather. Cons: 9.5 hour drive to family, high crime rate, longer drives for good road trips, not too many good hospitals, no zoo, no historic sites with character.
RALEIGH: Need to learn more about Raleigh area.....Pros: 2.5 hours from Richmond and Charlotte for great road trips, great parks, pro hockey, great hospital possibilities for wife, close to beach. Cons: Not familiar with area, Very competitive job marrket with all the Duke, UNC, and NC State grads.
Sorry for the long post...Any positive or negative feedback or comparisons of each would be appreciated.
Thanks
Charlotte is located in the middle of the state with mountains toward the west and the beach toward the east, as you probably know. Many, many people take day trips to each of those. Within an hour and 30 minute drive, you could visit Asheville and Columbia. Atlanta, Charleston, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Greensboro/Winston Salem, and Raleigh can all be reached in less than 4 hours.
One factored into each city's population, Richmond actually has a higher crime rate than Charlotte and Raleigh, with a crime rate of 54 per 1,000 residence, compared to Charlotte's 49 and Raleigh's 38.
Presbyterian Hospital and Carolinas Medical Center are two good hospitals in the Charlotte region, but Duke has two of the top ranked hospitals in the state.
The NC Zoo is evenly located an hour and 30 minutes from both Charlotte and Raleigh.
Uptown Charlotte, although lacks historical sites, has a couple of museums and festivals to choose from, as well as a new park and baseball stadium, as well as two professional sports teams, Lake Norman and Lake Wylie, and more concerts.
Charlotte is located in the middle of the state with mountains toward the west and the beach toward the east, as you probably know. Many, many people take day trips to each of those. Within an hour and 30 minute drive, you could visit Asheville and Columbia. Atlanta, Charleston, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Greensboro/Winston Salem, and Raleigh can all be reached in less than 4 hours.
I was going to make that same point, as I was puzzled by the "longer drives for good road trips." Also throw in Greenville, SC as being in relatively close proximity and Hilton Head and Savannah are also within 4 hours.
But I'm not sure if you meant to say that Charlotte is located in the middle of the state; rather, it's centrally located to the larger region, the Carolinas, which makes it quite ideal for road trips.
I think Richmond would be best based on your criteria. You can't beat the history (Richmond architecture and proximity Williamsburg/Jamestown etc) and distance to the other areas. Since you are willing to road trip, a 3 hour drive w/o traffic from Richmond can get you to a Wizards, Redskins, Ravens, Nats, Orioles, Capitals or Hurricanes game.
Based on your criteria, it does not make sense why you are leaving Philadelphia...
Nevertheless, the Raleigh-Durham area would be probably be best, especially for work. It sounds like you might like living in Durham. If history is your thing, there are some neat tobacco barns in Downtown Durham that have been converted into loft style apartments. I believe they're pretty cheap too.
Although there aren't many pro sports, you still have the Duke/Carolina rivalry. And for baseball, you have the Durham Bulls who were depicted in the famous film Bull Durham.
Last edited by Frank Bones; 01-05-2014 at 09:19 AM..
My wife and I are from the Philadelphia area and are considering relocating to Richmond, Raleigh, or Charlotte.
I'm currently working as a Buyer in a contracted position, but would consider a move to any of these areas if I could land a similar permanent position. My wife works as a CNA, so she would want to land a CNA day shift position at a hospital. She also would like to start taking classes toward an RN; so decent colleges and hospitals for Nursing would also be a factor.
We don't have kids yet and all of our family is in the Philadelphia area. We're not into the bar scene too much unless it's watching our Philly teams for big games. I used to live in Richmond and Charlotte years ago and miss making friends with all the Philly transplants gathering at the bars to watch the Eagles games! (I actually had more friends living away from home because of that.)We love parks, trails, rivers, lakes, museums, festivals, concerts, pro-sports, the beach, mountains, zoos, historic sites, road tripping, farmers markets, and nature photography.
What I know about each area:
RICHMOND-Pros: Closest to family 4.5 hours, very familiar since I once lived there, love the history, museums, parks, river, prox. to Williamsburg, Charlottesville, beach, mountains, easy access with good highways. Cons: No pro sports, city vs. suburbs segregation by local officials, slower growth than other areas, smaller airport/expensive flights.
CHARLOTTE: Pros:Love the Panthers and Hornets, Uptown more of a city feel that I'm used to, light rail, cheaper flights, growing city, great cost of living, great weather. Cons: 9.5 hour drive to family, high crime rate, longer drives for good road trips, not too many good hospitals, no zoo, no historic sites with character.
RALEIGH: Need to learn more about Raleigh area.....Pros: 2.5 hours from Richmond and Charlotte for great road trips, great parks, pro hockey, great hospital possibilities for wife, close to beach. Cons: Not familiar with area, Very competitive job marrket with all the Duke, UNC, and NC State grads.
Sorry for the long post...Any positive or negative feedback or comparisons of each would be appreciated.
Thanks
Never heard of CMC Healthcare or Presbyterian/Novant hospital not being "good"... I suppose on a national scale, in NC Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest hospitals take the cake. But CMC and Presbyterian perform very well in the state.
No major zoo, for sure, which sucks. Tiger World is about 30 minutes north of Charlotte up the I-85, and is one of the best zoo's I've ever been to, though. Only a few acres, but has dozens of Tigers, Lions, a grizzly bear, T-liger, Liger, wolves, different chimps and monkeys, and other various species of animals. Welcome to Tiger World in Rockwell, NC
Charlotte is also about 1.5 hours from NC zoo and 1 hour from Columbia zoo.
No historic sites with character is very opinionated. There certainly are some in the Charlotte metro area, but obviously it doesn't really compare to Richmond. Latta Plantation, Rosedale Plantation, Polk Birthplace, Charlotte Museum of History, African American Museum, Historic Brattonsville, etc. Of course in Richmond, you're basically living amongst history.
Honestly, I doubt you could go wrong with any of your 3 choices. I love Richmond and also enjoy the Triangle Area immensely.
Of the 3, I probalby prefer Richmond b/c the traffic isn't as bad. Everything is more expensive in NC too. a little colder and mroe snow in Richmond though. I think Richmond has a more unique feel to its downtown area.
Richmond has more character and is cheaper. Raleigh Durham is pretty nice though. Weather is more or less the same, though Richmond is a hair cooler in all seasons.
Richmond has more character and is cheaper. Raleigh Durham is pretty nice though. Weather is more or less the same, though Richmond is a hair cooler in all seasons.
Not entirely true. RIC actually has hotter summers than CLT and warmer record highs every month of the year. May seem a bit nerdy/technical, but please don't make unsupported assertions. RDU is still on average the warmest of the three due probably to lower elevation than CLT and southerly aspect.
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