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Not personally that familiar with North Carolina but I have often heard people from NC say that Raleigh is more like Richmond and DC and not like Charlotte. This is from a cultural perspective.
From here on CD, seems like MANY compare Raleigh to Northern Virginia these days. If you had to compare them to metros out of state, seems like many choose Atlanta for Charlotte (and Raleigh/Durham to a lesser extent) and Northern Virginia or Richmond for Raleigh/Durham.
From here on CD, seems like MANY compare Raleigh to Northern Virginia these days. If you had to compare them to metros out of state, seems like many choose Atlanta for Charlotte (and Raleigh/Durham to a lesser extent) and Northern Virginia or Richmond for Raleigh/Durham.
Like Charlotte, Raleigh generally has the same "New South" look and feel -- rapid population growth, lots of transplants, few natives, little in the way of local culture or accents, lots of new architecture and infrastructure, comparable traffic patterns and volumes, similar "Mayberry"-like suburbs, etc.
With regard to the people/culture issue in particular, Charlotte and Raleigh -- at least in my experience -- seem to draw the same types of transplants:
1) Materialistic people from the Northeast who want bigger, newer, cheaper housing
2) Disillusioned black people from all over the US who -- in their minds -- believe they're "going home"
3) Runaway kids from extremely conservative fundamentalist families in small rural towns in NC and neighboring states
4) The people who simply gave up on Florida
Well, if any of that matters, Richmond seldom attracts any of the above-mentioned groups. Since Richmond is an older, more established city with a more mature economy and fewer shiny new tract-home subdivisions, population growth is much more stable compared to that of Charlotte or Raleigh. Having less national recognition -- at least in modern times -- and being less of an economic powerhouse, so the speak, the people who move to Richmond tend to move there because they love its well-defined local culture, rich history, and gorgeous architecture among other attributes of the city, not because moving there is "in vogue."
In essence, Richmond is in a completely different category than Charlotte and Raleigh, which are really more comparable to Atlanta and -- I dare say -- Orlando than Richmond. To deny those North Carolina cities are on their way to becoming Florida 2.0 would be due to an extreme case of nearsightedness.
Like Charlotte, Raleigh generally has the same "New South" look and feel -- rapid population growth, lots of transplants, few natives, little in the way of local culture or accents, lots of new architecture and infrastructure, comparable traffic patterns and volumes, similar "Mayberry"-like suburbs, etc.
With regard to the people/culture issue in particular, Charlotte and Raleigh -- at least in my experience -- seem to draw the same types of transplants:
1) Materialistic people from the Northeast who want bigger, newer, cheaper housing
2) Disillusioned black people from all over the US who -- in their minds -- believe they're "going home"
3) Runaway kids from extremely conservative fundamentalist families in small rural towns in NC and neighboring states
4) The people who simply gave up on Florida
Well, if any of that matters, Richmond seldom attracts any of the above-mentioned groups. Since Richmond is an older, more established city with a more mature economy and fewer shiny new tract-home subdivisions, population growth is much more stable compared to that of Charlotte or Raleigh. Having less national recognition -- at least in modern times -- and being less of an economic powerhouse, so the speak, the people who move to Richmond tend to move there because they love its well-defined local culture, rich history, and gorgeous architecture among other attributes of the city, not because moving there is "in vogue."
In essence, Richmond is in a completely different category than Charlotte and Raleigh, which are really more comparable to Atlanta and -- I dare say -- Orlando than Richmond. To deny those North Carolina cities are on their way to becoming Florida 2.0 would be due to an extreme case of nearsightedness.
I feel dumber for reading this.
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