Money magazines 2007 best places to live

[backtofla]

seriously? how did you hear that?

backtofla

[backtofla]

cary, nc seems unique. i looked it up on city-data.com. it has some unique features unlike many cities of it's size:

hh income was like 80k
avg median home price was about 238k
crime index were in the low 100's (wow)
and like 2/3 or more of it's residents had a bachelor's degree or higher

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by backtofla

cary, nc seems unique. i looked it up on city-data.com. it has some unique features unlike many cities of it's size:

hh income was like 80k
avg median home price was about 238k
crime index were in the low 100's (wow)
and like 2/3 or more of it's residents had a bachelor's degree or higher

Honestly, it reminded me of a temperate weather version of Weston, Fl where I am living now. Very similar in its uncongested streets, low crime, educated yet diverse (Cary tended to be more Asians though, there were quite a few around). Its really nice there. Look up Weston and Cary and look at the similarities, actually Cary had a lot of the edge. Cary attracts a lot of new money because of its proximity to the Research Triangle Park, and many of the successful and educated workers there locate in Cary. And also, Weston was fricking expensive. Cary's median home price was actually on par with its income.

And a couple of my family members who moved to Cary from NY told me about that one. It's a nice place. I would probably be living there right now, but I like all of the action in South Florida, and I am in a pretty good place here to experience it without all of the hustle and bustle (not to mention we can afford it because we came a while back).

I'm gonna edit with a 2005 census factfinder comparo

Weston
High school graduate or higher
HS Diploma-96.7
Bachelors or Higher- 58.7 (wow, we made a big gain from 50 percent last year)
Median income- 83,313
Households below poverty-1.5 percent

Heres the big ouch-Median house value-431,200 OUCH!!!!!

Crime in Weston by Year
Type 1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Murders 0 3 0 0 0 0
per 100,000 0.0 5.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Rapes 3 5 3 3 5 4
per 100,000 11.4 9.9 5.8 4.8 7.9 6.2
Robberies 4 10 6 9 25 18
per 100,000 15.3 19.8 11.6 14.4 39.3 27.7
Assaults 45 43 41 68 92 109
per 100,000 171.6 85.0 79.5 108.5 144.6 167.8
Burglaries 129 88 117 75 123 141
per 100,000 491.9 174.0 227.0 119.6 193.3 217.0
Thefts 395 383 333 326 585 599
per 100,000 1506.1 757.5 646.1 520.1 919.4 922.0
Auto thefts 75 66 63 53 65 33
per 100,000 286.0 130.5 122.2 84.6 102.2 50.8
Arson 1 3 4 6 6 10
per 100,000 3.8 5.9 7.8 9.6 9.4 15.4
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 325.2) 165.6 95.6 75.6 65.8 105.5 102.9

I didn't even realize our crime was that low.


Cary
HS Diploma- 93.8 percent
Bachelors or higher- 59.8 percent
Median Income-77,395
Percent below poverty- 4.8 percent.

The main ouch I saw was that poverty increased/ incomes decreased/education decereased ever so slightly between 2000 and 2005. Still, our incomes did int catch up to the ridiculous housing cost.

Cary housing-238,800


Crime in Cary by Year
Type 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Murders 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
per 100,000 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0
Rapes 8 6 5 7 17 15 13
per 100,000 9.6 6.3 5.2 7.2 17.2 14.8 12.6
Robberies 25 41 54 44 36 30 50
per 100,000 30.0 42.7 56.2 45.0 36.3 29.6 48.6
Assaults 38 31 48 61 56 48 70
per 100,000 45.7 32.3 49.9 62.4 56.5 47.3 68.0
Burglaries 295 337 304 384 397 413 432
per 100,000 354.5 351.2 316.2 393.0 400.7 407.2 419.6
Thefts 1,493 1,763 1,722 1,655 1,717 1,520 1,428
per 100,000 1794.4 1837.1 1791.1 1693.7 1733.2 1498.8 1387.1
Auto thefts 132 117 161 102 130 101 103
per 100,000 158.6 121.9 167.5 104.4 131.2 99.6 100.0
Arson 7 9 6 4 5 7 14
per 100,000 8.4 9.4 6.2 4.1 5.0 6.9 13.6
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 325.2) 135.1 132.1 140.2 135.3 143.8 128.6 131.1

Cary is an incredible value, and the cost of living factors there are a lot better relative to education levels/standard of living, even if they did slip a little bit from the last 5 years in incomes/education.

[backtofla]

wow, weston crime is really low.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by backtofla

wow, weston crime is really low.

NOW you see why I like where I am in South Florida .

[backtofla]

i am originally from south fla. i like some places in south fla, but i couldnt afford to live there. i'd pick pretty much any city in martin co, or palm bch gardens, or vero, stuart or psl over orlando anyday.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by backtofla

i am originally from south fla. i like some places in south fla, but i couldnt afford to live there. i'd pick pretty much any city in martin co, or palm bch gardens, or vero, stuart or psl over orlando anyday.

Yeah, those are nice places to locate. To tell you the truth, if I did it here from Orlando again, I would probably pick north Palm Beach County. It's nice being centralized in Broward County but having the peace/low crime/etc, but I still really like it up there. I did NOT like Orlando too much when I was there. It was nice at first, then it really dipped down and became too transient.

[backtofla]

you feel my pain then. i am already tired of living here and i've been living IN orlando for ......... about 6 months!!! i'm already through with it! i moved from a small city just outside of orlando that was MUCH better. live and learn.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by backtofla

you feel my pain then. i am already tired of living here and i've been living IN orlando for ......... about 6 months!!! i'm already through with it! i moved from a small city just outside of orlando that was MUCH better. live and learn.

Definitely. I don't think there is really a group to blame for the downfall of Orlando in general, but it has more to do with how transient it has become, and the TYPE of people it seems to attract from elsewhere. I have mentioned that my area, to tell you the truth, is MOSTLY made of NYers and Hispanics, but look at our crime rate. Easily among the safest in the state. We just happened to attract professionals/educated people, and we are a little more buttoned down here. But Orlando did become too much traffic, too much crime, people started becoming paranoid of others, etc. I just couldn't stand watching the downfall anymore.

Where in So Fla are you from, by the way?

[backtofla]

palm bch county