Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm looking at these areas as metros. I prefer in this order:
Orlando - I lived there in the mid 2000's and loved it. I was surprised how livable it was. Tourist areas and the rest of the city are nicely separated as the FL Tnpk. as the dividing line. LOTS to do beyond the theme parks (we love theme parks). Lush, green, flora, unique wildlife. The tropical climate is nice. Great parks, greeways, lakes. Cons: Bad traffic. Crime rate is high, but if you use common sense, you will be fine. We never felt unsafe. Home prices are relatively affordable, but rents are high.
2. Raleigh - Have relatives here. Great economy. Nice parks, greeways. Good colleges and healthcare. A couple of hours from some great beaches. Nice 4-season climate. Cons: For a metro over 2 million, there isn't much in terms of unique recreational assets (assets most metros its size don't have). Though still affordable, its COL is rising faster than the national average.
3. Austin - The hottest economy in the nation at the moment. A larger version of Raleigh. Pretty parks/greenways/hills. Cons: Like Raleigh, lacks unique recreational assets for an area its size. Rising COL. For the hype it gets, I found in very overrated the two times I visited. Prefer Raleigh's climate over Austin's.
Curious what you mean by lacks unique recreational assets.
Curious what you mean by lacks unique recreational assets.
Raleigh area, while probably the best place in NC, hands down.. no one can argue that. Simply fact there. (Mostly joking... lol)
It does lack a few things like big city feel that Charlotte has in a few spots with their light rail and urbanity growing on the South End. But I really doesn't see it as much different than other metropolitan areas. Raleigh probably has the best aray of smaller downtowns and suburbs in the SE outside of Atlanta. Definitely #1 in NC. Wake Forest, Cary, Cary Park, Apex, Chapel Hill, etc.. you get a lot in close proximity.
Raleigh is also getting more vibrant everyday as it grows exponentially.
Raleigh area, while probably the best place in NC, hands down.. no one can argue that. Simply fact there. (Mostly joking... lol)
It does lack a few things like big city feel that Charlotte has in a few spots with their light rail and urbanity growing on the South End. But I really doesn't see it as much different than other metropolitan areas. Raleigh probably has the best aray of smaller downtowns and suburbs in the SE outside of Atlanta. Definitely #1 in NC. Wake Forest, Cary, Cary Park, Apex, Chapel Hill, etc.. you get a lot in close proximity.
Raleigh is also getting more vibrant everyday as it grows exponentially.
The poster I quoted made that statement about Austin in comparison to Raleigh.
The poster I quoted made that statement about Austin in comparison to Raleigh.
Austin is a big dense core city. Raleigh has that, but not to Austin's extreme. Asutin looks/feels bigger downtown.
Raleigh is sprawleigh. But has little dense cores/pockets around it and sometimes it fabrics quite nicely. Then you have nearby Durham which literally doubles your urban experience.
Raleigh is doing a fantastic job of expanding its urban footprint to glenwood south and the blundaries are slowly marching west and east of its downtown. I was there two weekends ago and its one of the fastest growing downtowns ive ever seen. Its changed a boat load since 2019 when i first went there
Austin is a big dense core city. Raleigh has that, but not to Austin's extreme. Asutin looks/feels bigger downtown.
Raleigh is sprawleigh. But has little dense cores/pockets around it and sometimes it fabrics quite nicely. Then you have nearby Durham which literally doubles your urban experience.
Raleigh is doing a fantastic job of expanding its urban footprint to glenwood south and the blundaries are slowly marching west and east of its downtown. I was there two weekends ago and its one of the fastest growing downtowns ive ever seen. Its changed a boat load since 2019 when i first went there
Interestingly, the city of Austin has long been about twice the size of the city of Raleigh. In 2020, Austin has about 1M residents to Raleigh's 500K. In 1940, Austin had 88K residents and Raleigh 47K; that's important because towns were walkable by necessity prior to WW2. (Look at any US city map circa WW2, and that's approximately the extent of contiguous areas you'd consider walkable today.)
Both cities have grown about tenfold since then. Thus:
1. About 90% of both cities' current residents live in post-WW2 mostly-un-walkable sprawl
2. There's twice as much prewar urban fabric in Austin as in Raleigh.
The big difference between the two metros, which have roughly similar metro populations (2.3M Austin MSA and 2.1M Triangle CSA), is that Raleigh isn't the only game in town in the Triangle... hence the geometric name. Durham was a bigger town than Raleigh in 1940 (60K), and is 20 miles away. 20 miles from Austin is uhh, Round Rock, 1940 population 1,173.
Re: OP's question... one of these is not like the others. Austin and Raleigh have a fair amount in common, with a primary difference being that one's in Texas and the other is borderline Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Orlando is obviously a singular entity.
Both. Walkable and family-friendly. Depending on where in the Raleigh Area. Cary and Chapel Hill would be family-friendly walkable. However, Most of Central Raleigh and Durham is walkable dense.
Austin is a big dense core city. Raleigh has that, but not to Austin's extreme. Asutin looks/feels bigger downtown.
Raleigh is sprawleigh. But has little dense cores/pockets around it and sometimes it fabrics quite nicely. Then you have nearby Durham which literally doubles your urban experience.
Raleigh is doing a fantastic job of expanding its urban footprint to glenwood south and the blundaries are slowly marching west and east of its downtown. I was there two weekends ago and its one of the fastest growing downtowns ive ever seen. Its changed a boat load since 2019 when i first went there
I was also last in Raleigh in 2019. I loved the vibe Raleigh has going on feeling "livably smaller" yet growing relatively fast.
I think the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area is an amazing location for families. High-paying jobs are abundant, and cost of living is not outrageous (yet) and quality of life is high with lots to do, and a 4 season climate with an extremely mild winter.
Not to mention the incredible North Carolina beaches are an hour-ish away.
One thing Raleigh is experiencing is definite growing pains. The downtown to me still feels small-ish in its layout and vibe. I know it will be growing very quickly and developing more this decade. But when I was there, it felt like a city that had a comfortable population of 150k or so, for decades, and practically overnight found itself as this metro area of 1.4 million.
The Raleigh downtown to me is currently on par with a city like Knoxville, TN or Tucson, AZ. It has a ways to go to catch up with cities like Birmingham or Memphis. But, I'm confident it will in the next decade, due to the surging overall growth in the region and Raleigh itself.
All-in-all, Raleigh is a super exciting city to watch develop and grow.
I was also last in Raleigh in 2019. I loved the vibe Raleigh has going on feeling "livably smaller" yet growing relatively fast.
I think the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area is an amazing location for families. High-paying jobs are abundant, and cost of living is not outrageous (yet) and quality of life is high with lots to do, and a 4 season climate with an extremely mild winter.
Not to mention the incredible North Carolina beaches are an hour-ish away.
One thing Raleigh is experiencing is definite growing pains. The downtown to me still feels small-ish in its layout and vibe. I know it will be growing very quickly and developing more this decade. But when I was there, it felt like a city that had a comfortable population of 150k or so, for decades, and practically overnight found itself as this metro area of 1.4 million.
The Raleigh downtown to me is currently on par with a city like Knoxville, TN or Tucson, AZ. It has a ways to go to catch up with cities like Birmingham or Memphis. But, I'm confident it will in the next decade, due to the surging overall growth in the region and Raleigh itself.
All-in-all, Raleigh is a super exciting city to watch develop and grow.
Yeah agreed with everything there. Raleigh is so cool..
Re: OP's question... one of these is not like the others. Austin and Raleigh have a fair amount in common, with a primary difference being that one's in Texas and the other is borderline Southeast and mid-Atlantic. Orlando is obviously a singular entity.
In what sense? Outside of the tourist district to the far Southwest of the metro, it's quite similar to all other major sunbelt metros: a fairly dense core, some urban neighborhoods surrounding downtown, and random "downtowns" in outer suburbs (Winter Garden, Winter Park, Sanford, Mount Dora, etc...) with some very sprawly developments in the outer ring. Barring Florida weather, there aren't that many differences.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
