Raleigh or Charlotte (Durham: apartment, to rent, crime rate)

[Manchu Warrior]

I'm looking to relocate from FL. I have two positions open. One is in Raleigh and the other is in Charlotte. The jobs themselves are similar, but I want to get advice on the cities.

The things that are important to me are what most people look at. Education for my daughter, traffic, crime, etc...

I know my wife and I are going to rent because when our house sells in FL we will be just breaking even and spending time looking for decent neighborhoods. After we rent for awhile eventually we will get another house. I don't want the cookie cutter neighborhoods, but I do want fairly new construction with a little bit of land. I'm fine with driving a half hour or so to get to work. I just don't want a 2 hour commute one way.

Any suggestions? I know to steer clear of Durham (sorry if some of you live there, but when I'm visting NC and I'm in a drive-thru and employees tell me not to go there I usually listen).

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Manchu Warrior]

Sorry guys I guess I should have used the search button. I think I have found what I am looking for.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Visit both and see what strikes you.

FWIW, I wouldn't take relocation advice from a person at a drive-thru window. I'm not saying Durham is perfect for you but there are many many nice places there.

[urbancharlotte]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Guy

FWIW, I wouldn't take relocation advice from a person at a drive-thru window

But you would take advice from a stranger on the internet?

Anyways, visit both. That's the best advice I can give. And by visit, I don't mean "go look at a house". I mean go out and do things you would normally do if you lived in that city. Go out to dinner, hit the malls, walk the parks and trails, head downtown for a night out, hit up the local grocers, catch a play or show, go to a ball game, go to the local theme park, visit some schools (if you have kids), check out some local gyms etc etc etc. All too often, folks just go look at a house/apartment, find a job, then move. BAD MOVE!!! Do some real research and you will NEVER move to a place that you don't like.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Originally Posted by urbancharlotte

But you would take advice from a stranger on the internet?

I wouldn't. Unless of course they had a decent track record of providing useful and factual info. Sadly, this eliminates some people from consideration.

[rnc2mbfl]

Originally Posted by Manchu Warrior

I'm looking to relocate from FL. I have two positions open. One is in Raleigh and the other is in Charlotte. The jobs themselves are similar, but I want to get advice on the cities.

The things that are important to me are what most people look at. Education for my daughter, traffic, crime, etc...

I know my wife and I are going to rent because when our house sells in FL we will be just breaking even and spending time looking for decent neighborhoods. After we rent for awhile eventually we will get another house. I don't want the cookie cutter neighborhoods, but I do want fairly new construction with a little bit of land. I'm fine with driving a half hour or so to get to work. I just don't want a 2 hour commute one way.

Any suggestions? I know to steer clear of Durham (sorry if some of you live there, but when I'm visting NC and I'm in a drive-thru and employees tell me not to go there I usually listen).

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Statistically speaking, Raleigh is going to top Charlotte in each of those three categories. Generally (on average) , Wake schools perform better than Mecklenburg's. Also, Raleigh's crime rate is lower and the traffic burden is less. However, that doesn't mean that criteria are evenly applied the entire cities. You can probably find a place to suit your needs in either city.

[urbancharlotte]

While people in the Research Triangle area often complain about traffic on I-40 during commuting hours, (which we understand because it can be gruesome) it actually ranked 27th fastest among the 52 metro areas, with an average commuting time of 25.18 minutes. Atlanta and Raleigh commutes are often complicated by older roads never built to handle the type of traffic they see now, in addition to Interstate congestion during rush hours. Charlotte commuters do just a little better at an average of 21.11 minutes to rank 25th.

Atlanta commute among the worst, Raleigh's worse than Charlotte's | TechJournal South

[Charlotte485]

Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl

Statistically speaking, Raleigh is going to top Charlotte in each of those three categories. Generally (on average) , Wake schools perform better than Mecklenburg's. Also, Raleigh's crime rate is lower and the traffic burden is less. However, that doesn't mean that criteria are evenly applied the entire cities. You can probably find a place to suit your needs in either city.

[DanielleNC]

Originally Posted by Manchu Warrior

Any suggestions? I know to steer clear of Durham (sorry if some of you live there, but when I'm visting NC and I'm in a drive-thru and employees tell me not to go there I usually listen).

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

This is so sad Too bad that's already your impression of Durham. If you end up in Raleigh I wouldn't be surprised if you end up at a Bulls game, a show at the DPAC, or visiting our awesome restaurants. I will say Durham has a lower crime rate than Charlotte, but you don't see people bashing it the way they do Durham, do you?

Anyways, I would just visit the two different cities, drive around. Raleigh ranks higher in education, lower crime rate, and I feel traffic is much better in Raleigh, even though I don't care for that much traffic and avoid it for the most part, because Durham meets most of my needs anyways