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My husband and I and our 2 young boys (2 yrs & 7 months) are trying to make a decision on where exactly to move in the Carolinas. We currently live in a suburb outside of Chicago. My husband had spinal surgery 1 yr ago and the cold winters are torture on his back. We are looking for a friendly town/city near water - not necessarily near the ocean - lake/river would work also. Warm weather, nice winters, low crime, good schools. We like the outdoors, nice dinner at a nearby restaurant, local pub, artsy stores & shopping.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you so much!
A useful bit of information would be the reason why you'd want to be near the water (to live on, for recreational use, for swimming, etc.), and if you have any details on where you'd be working and how far you'd want to commute.
We would like to live near water for recreation use - swimming, boating, etc.. I grew up in Arkansas and spent most of my summers on the lake - childhood memories We would like to live no further than 30 minutes from water.
I am a pharmacist so, usually relocation is not a problem when finding a job; all though, I have not looked into the job market in the Carolinas yet because I have not pin-pointed an area in which to live. Being closer to a larger city would of course give me more options in the job market. I am currently a retail pharmacist and in an ideal world I would rather not commute more than 15 miles.
Thank you so much. I hope this helps..
It is advisable to look into the job market for whatever area you hone in on, and NC has a high unemployment rate, and that doesn't count the thousands of out-of-staters competing for NC jobs. Yes, pharmacy is a pretty stable field, but it may not be so much a matter of "move to Carolinas, snap up job instantly in whatever town we choose" as you might think.
Wilmington is the only "large town" by the water in NC--I presume you've looked at a map?The more northern coastal towns in NC are smaller and mostly summer tourist places, though of course all have retail pharmacies. SC has Myrtle Beach and charleston, larger places right on the coast, and GA has Savannah. There is also the "Tidewater" area of Virginia--Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News, etc--that is the largest metro area on this part of the coast and thus might have the best job market for pharms.
Lake Norman is near Charlotte. Cities by Lake Norman include Cornelius, Huntersville, and Mooresville.
Lake Hickory and Lake Rhodhiss are on the Catawba River. Hickory is the largest city nearby. There are several small towns.
Belews Lake is near Winston-Salem.
Lake Mackintosh is by Burlington.
Jordan Lake, Falls Lake, Lake Benson, Lake Wheeler are near Raleigh.
Lakes Townsend, Brandt, Hamilton, and Jeanette are in Greensboro.
There are others. You probably want to stay out of the mountains, though.
Places in NC wih a high concentration medical facilities or retirees (or both) are Greenville (ECU-Pitt), Goldsboro (Mental Health), Wilmington(UNC-W, retirees), and New Bern extending to the Crystal Coast (retirees). All of these places are close to large bodies of water with the exception of Goldsboro, though it is less tahn hour from Raleigh, 1.5 hours from the coast.
Your larger cities (none close to Chicago) are Raleigh and Durham and their surrounding suburbs with water access to Falls Lake, Charlotte and it's suburbs with access to Lake Norman.
Of the areas I listed Clayton, NC (suburb of Raleigh) has two of the states top 10 elementary schools (Cleveland and Powhatan) and Johnston County as a whole has several in the top 10%. Mostly in Clayton or Garner. Wake County has a good school district as well, but is undergoing political controversy and is growing faster than it can handle. Other areas I listed with superior elementary schools (top 10%) in NC are Craven County (New Bern, Havelock), Carteret County (Newport, Cape Carteret), New Hanover County (Wilmington) and Mecklenburg County (Charlotte).
To MBEHUN, we are in a similar situation. I am a pharmacist living in Maryland, where the job market is terrible. Yes, even for pharmacists. We have a 6th grader and wish to move to NC, but a city with a good school district is a must. Did you move yet? How long did it take the NC Board to issue your license? Anyone else jump in with ideas/opinions about schools and pharmacy employment. Any advice would be helpful! Thank you!
If you have a PharmD, work from home for a pharmaceutical company in drug development / study clinician. Then you can live anywhere.
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We would like to live no further than 30 minutes from water. 
