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To some of the people on the Florida forum, North Carolina is heaven and Florida is hell.
Having very little experience with North Carolina... My experience is
My business put me in Atlanta for 2 months, I visited Charlotte then.
When I moved to Miami, I drove from Boston to Miami on the 95 and stopped in North Carolina once for gas
I'm probably not the best source of information on North Carolina. But from what I understand, StreetSmarts (and others) claim:
1)North Carolina has nicer people.
I guess but it's also more rural and has no bigger cities. I've been to Charlotte and it struck me to be a small city at best with a suburban mentality. Nothing was really energetic about it, there was no cosmopolitanism or internationality like there is in Miami. Maybe Charlotte is not the biggest city in North Carolina, though I believe it to be.
2)North Carolina has a cheaper cost of living.
Maybe, if that's important to you. There are many places with a cheap cost of living though, like the Dakotas. First tell me something good, then tell me it's cheap!
3)North Carolina has mountains.
I love mountains, but from Charlotte at least it didn't strike me the mountains were within striking distance. They felt a drive away. And unlike Colorado, where you essentially have skiing year-round (even in the summer in places like A-Basin), I'm pretty sure the skiing season is very short and limited in North Carolina. So you will be using those mountains maybe 1-2 months out of a year.
4)North Carolina has 4 seasons.
Well, is that a plus? Dealing with ice and snow? Maybe it is for some. But at least if you like water activities, you can enjoy them year round in Southern Florida. You can't do that in North Carolina, and as we established you can't do that with the mountains either.
Lastly looking at a map it seems North Carolina's main cities (Charlotte, Durham, and Greensboro) are neither in the mountains or on the ocean. Which is strange to me, because if you want to live on the ocean or the mountains you have to opt for a small city, even by North Carolina's standards?
Let's leave this thread in the Florida forum, since it's really about Florida's perspective to North Carolina.
Simply based on your views North Carolina sounds pretty good to me.Lower cost of living,seasons,mountains within a few hours drive depending on your location,suburban,I like suburban.People are different,the whole international,cosmopolitan thing has pretty much zero appeal to me.I've been in the mountains in western North Carolina and its beautiful up there,however as nice as it was its not somewhere I would live,the bigger cities are more livable,with that said and being a theme park person it would be hard to go to a city such as Charlotte,a seasonal Carowinds park will never compare to the Florida parks.Like I said before Miami has no appeal to me whatsoever,Central Florida is me but southern cities like those in North Carolina or Atlanta are not horrible,I've been to Atlanta several times and I like it for the most part,traffic suck though!
[quote=Majami;
I guess but it's also more rural and has no bigger cities. I've been to Charlotte and it struck me to be a small city at best with a suburban mentality. Nothing was really energetic about it, there was no cosmopolitanism or internationality like there is in Miami. Maybe Charlotte is not the biggest city in North Carolina, though I believe it to be. [/QUOTE]
Both states are about equally rural and take it your experience with Florida is as limited as your North Carolina experiences. Both states have a similar number of big cities with populations fairly equal as well. Outside of Florida's larger cities which are every bit as "suburban" as what you peg Charlotte with, it's quite rural and undeveloped (especially in Central and Northern Florida).
I love everything of FL, almost everything. If there is one thing I don't like FL, it is the lack of mountain. Every once in a while I want to drive to GA to go hiking. I am not a big fan of cold weather. I don't mind soaking in FL heat all year around.
Both states are about equally rural and take it your experience with Florida is as limited as your North Carolina experiences. Both states have a similar number of big cities with populations fairly equal as well. Outside of Florida's larger cities which are every bit as "suburban" as what you peg Charlotte with, it's quite rural and undeveloped (especially in Central and Northern Florida).
I don't see how you can come to that conclusion.
Miami is far bigger, more international and cosmopolitan than Charlotte. It's not even close. I'd argue that Miami has more of an urban/international/cosmopolitan feel than Atlanta, but at least there, they are in the same league. People from Charlotte view Atlanta as their 'big city.'
Florida has 2 cities in the same league as Charlotte, North Carolina's biggest city. The Tampa and Orlando area are both in the same league, and especially for Orlando I'd argue that they are more cosmopolitan than Charlotte still.
Florida overall has a much larger population and population density than North Carolina. Florida has 378 persons per square mile in comparison to North Carolina's 207 as of 2015. That's almost twice as many people per square mile.
Miami is far bigger, more international and cosmopolitan than Charlotte. It's not even close. I'd argue that Miami has more of an urban/international/cosmopolitan feel than Atlanta, but at least there, they are in the same league. People from Charlotte view Atlanta as their 'big city.'
Florida has 2 cities in the same league as Charlotte, North Carolina's biggest city. The Tampa and Orlando area are both in the same league, and especially for Orlando I'd argue that they are more cosmopolitan than Charlotte still.
Florida overall has a much larger population and population density than North Carolina. Florida has 378 persons per square mile in comparison to North Carolina's 207 as of 2015. That's almost twice as many people per square mile.
Orlando metro is about the same size of Charlotte. Even thought Jacksonville is smaller metro than Charlotte; Jacksonville is similar to Charlotte. Bank of America has HQ in Charlotte and Wells Fargo has "hubquarters" there, Jax has large operations of BofA and Wells Fargo. Both cities have lots of financial services and logistics operations.
Unlike Orlando or Tampa Charlotte does not have a large retirement demographic nor a large Hispanic community
To some of the people on the Florida forum, North Carolina is heaven and Florida is hell.
Having very little experience with North Carolina... My experience is
My business put me in Atlanta for 2 months, I visited Charlotte then.
When I moved to Miami, I drove from Boston to Miami on the 95 and stopped in North Carolina once for gas
I'm probably not the best source of information on North Carolina. But from what I understand, StreetSmarts (and others) claim:
1)North Carolina has nicer people.
I guess but it's also more rural and has no bigger cities. I've been to Charlotte and it struck me to be a small city at best with a suburban mentality. Nothing was really energetic about it, there was no cosmopolitanism or internationality like there is in Miami. Maybe Charlotte is not the biggest city in North Carolina, though I believe it to be.
2)North Carolina has a cheaper cost of living.
Maybe, if that's important to you. There are many places with a cheap cost of living though, like the Dakotas. First tell me something good, then tell me it's cheap!
3)North Carolina has mountains.
I love mountains, but from Charlotte at least it didn't strike me the mountains were within striking distance. They felt a drive away. And unlike Colorado, where you essentially have skiing year-round (even in the summer in places like A-Basin), I'm pretty sure the skiing season is very short and limited in North Carolina. So you will be using those mountains maybe 1-2 months out of a year.
4)North Carolina has 4 seasons.
Well, is that a plus? Dealing with ice and snow? Maybe it is for some. But at least if you like water activities, you can enjoy them year round in Southern Florida. You can't do that in North Carolina, and as we established you can't do that with the mountains either.
Lastly looking at a map it seems North Carolina's main cities (Charlotte, Durham, and Greensboro) are neither in the mountains or on the ocean. Which is strange to me, because if you want to live on the ocean or the mountains you have to opt for a small city, even by North Carolina's standards?
Let's leave this thread in the Florida forum, since it's really about Florida's perspective to North Carolina.
NC cities are in the Piedmont, which was where most of the farming was. The fall line also contributes, it was where mills could use hydro-power and the head of navigation on rivers. The coast of NC, get hit by a lot of hurricanes and there are not any good natural harbors, except Wilmington. (Sort of like the Jersey Shore region of NJ being backwaters until the late 19th early 20th century.)
The Mountains are more difficult for transportation as well, the Appalachians were very islolated until the 20th century because of topography.
NC cities are in the Piedmont, which was where most of the farming was. The fall line also contributes, it was where mills could use hydro-power and the head of navigation on rivers. The coast of NC, get hit by a lot of hurricanes and there are not any good natural harbors, except Wilmington. (Sort of like the Jersey Shore region of NJ being backwaters until the late 19th early 20th century.)
The Mountains are more difficult for transportation as well, the Appalachians were very islolated until the 20th century because of topography.
I cannot imagine Florida gets hit with less hurricanes than North Carolina. If North Carolina does get hit more, it's probably not a big difference.
I think that what happened was North Carolina simply developed along industrial (rail) lines whereas Florida developed along leisure lines. This is similar why Atlanta is now the biggest city in Georgia when Savannah used to be.
But my point stands, if you want to live in a city in North Carolina, you really won't be close to either mountains or ocean. It's always a 2-4 hour drive here and there, meaning on the balance of a year, you will only go a handful of times.
Miami is Florida's biggest city, and it's absolutely pressed right into the ocean. In Florida you don't need to sacrifice urbanity for being near beautiful nature (in our case the water). In North Carolina you absolutely need to.
I have never been to Wilmington and Asheville, so this statement is maybe completely ignorant, but I had a look at these cities on google street view to see if they are 'real city' alternatives to living in either the oceans or the mountains in North Carolina. I know they're much smaller than Charlotte.
As far as Wilmington goes, it's not really coastal, it's what Norwegians would call on a fjord. It also seems so horribly small, and suburban, lacking any urban bones. I tried peeking around the "historic center" hoping to see another Charleston or Savannah, Wilmington sorely disappoints.
What was more disappointing was Asheville. In her core I just saw these big red-brick buildings, and wide streets. I was imagining a funky, Bohemian mountain town. Not really. And to add one more thing, I didn't even see mountain vistas from street view, except for one direction, and those looked more like hills. I saw more dramatic mountain vistas living in Los Angeles. Denver, which is really not in the mountains but a drive away (and an actual 'big city') has more dramatic mountain vistas than Asheville. At least what I saw on google maps.
I'm really scratching my head about North Carolina, it seems her cities are hopelessly mediocre at best.
NC has mini mountains(if you want real mountains, gotta go out West). Not sure what the big deal is advertising the mountains in NC so much.
I prefer FL. Better for water activities(boating, fishing, diving/snorkeling/shelling, it simply feels more tropical, closer to a lower latitude lifestyle). I don't care much about 4 seasons either, or FL being flat. You have greater terrestrial and marine biodiversity, an extensive mangrove system teaming with life, caves/rivers/estuaries/bays/reefs/the FL Keys, you name it.. makes up for the lack of mountains.
COL outside South FL should be comparable to NC. As for people, INMO, this is subjective, everyone has different personal experiences.
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