What is the best area in North Carolina to raise a family in? (Raleigh: house)

[pcsn0122]

Hi. I currently live in Buffalo, NY with my husband and three young girls. We'd like to move some place safe within a suburb with lots of outdoor activities to do, kinda in between city and country feel. Hopefully there is a beach within an hours drive. My husband is an over the road truck driver so finding a job is not an issue. Our budget for a house is around $100k preferrably for 3-4 bedrooms. What is the cost of living like in NC? What is the climate like? Are there any major natural disasters that we need to worry about? Thanks.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by pcsn0122

Hi. I currently live in Buffalo, NY with my husband and three young girls. We'd like to move some place safe within a suburb with lots of outdoor activities to do, kinda in between city and country feel. Hopefully there is a beach within an hours drive. My husband is an over the road truck driver so finding a job is not an issue. Our budget for a house is around $100k preferrably for 3-4 bedrooms. What is the cost of living like in NC? What is the climate like? Are there any major natural disasters that we need to worry about? Thanks.

With your husband in trucking, I think you should look at somewhere along the I-95 corridor. Smithfield is a good location as it is also close to the I-40 corridor.

Smithfield is a typical southern small town of 11,000. It has more tourist-oriented businesses than most, such as the outlet malls along I-95. There are also some good barbecue restaurants. The schools are average, but there are better schools in nearby parts of Johnston County. If you want the city amenities you can easily drive to Raleigh. The beach can be reached in about 1.5 hours.

The cost of living in NC is moderate, not especially cheap. The COL index is 95.4, where 100 is the US average. The median house price is $137,800 for a median household income of $32,000. Your house budget may not be enough for a 4-bedroom house.

You can expect the climate to have hot, humid summers and fairly mild winters. Spring and fall are pleasant. You can expect occasional hurricanes to move inland.

[Francois]

If you don't even know what the climate is like, I would suggest doing a lot of independent research on the state before "deciding" to move (Google is your friend...) City-Data's NC page is also a good place to start.

Your budget would be hard to work in the urban areas, but lots of NC is rural. However, the rural schools are probably not the best (you get what you pay for, in terms of cost of living correlating with schools).

Regarding climate and weather, we certainly don't have the winters like you do, though many find our summers oppressive with temps in the 90s and 90+% humidity for sometimes a month. Of course it varies from one part of NC to another just as is the case in NY, so you can't really say "The climate of NC is like X."

Areas near the coast often get effects from hurricanes, and we have the occasional tornado, but in general it's not a state where you need to worry for the sake of the weather. Researching NC climate will tell you more, but remember, it greatly depends on region.