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I may be the only other person here who has been to both. I worked in Boise for two weeks last September. I live in Raleigh...
Only things you said that I'd disagree with:
Scenery goes to Boise. It is really brown when it's warm but the views are "OMG" status. You can see the mountains all over town, and there are elevated areas of town (including that one area just east of downtown) where you can look down on the city...
It's a ****ing beautiful city, the architecture and landscaping match the natural aesthetic. Certainly when I went to Salt Lake I noticed the Boise/Salt Lake parallels, and Salt Lake is probably the most beautiful city I've seen in my life. Boise was like SLC on a smaller scale...
Also, entertainment isn't truly a tie, this favors Raleigh dramatically...
But I definitely agree with your assessment of race. I'm a black man, in 16 days in Boise I saw 66 black people; I can see 66 black folk getting off the plane and walking into the gate at RDU. It is a stark, noticeable contrast, and I saw even fewer of other minorities except Mexicans, which Boise has a noticeable representation of like most Western cities...
It is an overwhelmingly white city, and you do get stares. For me it felt like, "I haven't seen this black guy here". Topic of race came up in a conversation once and it was clear most people there aren't aware of their own bias, they live in a city they don't really have to be confronted with it...
That said, I enjoyed the city overall. Downtown is small but interesting, and Boise has some cool, interesting neighborhoods...
Raleigh is just a larger, more dynamic city in every way. I certainly can't envision most non-white people choosing Boise if they have equal options between both cities...
Eh, plenty of beauty out west that can give boise a run for its money.
Theres tacoma, reno, tucson, el paso, and even vegas on a clear day just to name a few.
Boise punches above its weight for sure. id give the edge to raleigh today, but it wouldnt surprise if boise leapfrogs it in 10 years. Being a state capital that never experienced white flight helps it out big time.
Eh, plenty of beauty out west that can give boise a run for its money.
Theres tacoma, reno, tucson, el paso, and even vegas on a clear day just to name a few.
Boise punches above its weight for sure. id give the edge to raleigh today, but it wouldnt surprise if boise leapfrogs it in 10 years. Being a state capital that never experienced white flight helps it out big time.
Raleigh isn't standing still. Boise will only leapfrog it if Raleigh completely collapses. At this point, the Raleigh's MSA alone is already substantially larger and it's still adding more people every year.
Raleigh isn't standing still. Boise will only leapfrog it if Raleigh completely collapses. At this point, the Raleigh's MSA alone is already substantially larger and it's still adding more people every year.
This. When I compare the growth of the two areas (based on my own exp), it's very different. Boise is a city that steadily changes and improves, but the Triangle's growth is hard to keep up with.
Boise's downtown has improved quite a bit in the last decade, but Raleigh's has completely transformed. I think this trend continues with the future Downtown South expansion and Union West transport hub.
Outside of that area, I know there's some major revitalization happening in NE Raleigh with a big mixed-use development, there's Chatham Park in Pittsboro, etc. There are just so many more economic "nodes" that continue to expand quickly, and there are more economic drivers of that growth.
IMHO the major thing Raleigh will possibly "lose" in the next ten years is its character which continues to be eroded by modernization.
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