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Well, this is great news. I know I post a lot of crap about the South, but NC is my home state. I'll always have a space in my heart for the place no matter where I go. The haters will hate soon, I'm sure. You can't post positive things about any place without the naysayers chiming in.
It will remain so until the Democrats get in charge.
NC became one of the best states for business under longstanding Democratic leadership and currently has a Democratic governor but don't let facts get in the way.
Even an article about the whole state becomes simply the title for a Charlotte booster thread. Hahahaha.
I don't even think the OP's statement about Charlotte is accurate. Second-largest banking hub as rated by assets, I do think that's the case. But there are only two banking headquarters in Charlotte at the moment.
I don't mean to be a naysayer, as the second post pointed out, but with Forbes and other such lists, it's important to give some careful evaluation to them, because they tend to be very broad brushed, and written from someone who isn't delving into the nuances that exist within different areas of the state are different than when you average the entire state (10 M+ people) together. Next week, they could easily come out ranking North Carolina or cities/towns within NC at the bottom of the list on another measure.
A few highlights from the article to think about:
The state has the smallest union workforce in the U.S. in terms of percent of total employment. The resulting benefit is labor costs that are 8% below the national average—sixth lowest in the country.
Whether this is good or not depends entirely on perspective. I know people in this state, and the South in general, have been indoctrinated into thinking unions=evil, corrupt, so anti-union is engrained into the culture here. But the corresponding point is that while labor costs are 8% below the national average, it means that salaries lag behind the national average. Which means people aren't making as much money, and in many areas of the state, outside of a dozen or so counties, they're making much less. While that may be good for employers who want to pay as low of a salary as possible, is that fact going to attract top quality employers?
Same for #1 in Regulatory Environment. What does that mean? Certainly, there's a lot of "red tape" that doesn't need to exist, but could there also be laws to protect the public and consumers that exist in other states that don't exist in NC?
College attainment is 31.3%, but again, high college attainment is clustered in a handful of urban and suburban counties, mainly in the Triangle and Charlotte. The vast majority of the state has a lower college attainment, and in many areas of the state, college attainment is vastly less than 31.3%. North Carolina certainly isn't alone here, but it's not as if each area of the state has a third of its population holding 4 year degrees or better.
Again, not to be a naysayer, but it's good to take a closer look at these lists. When a national publication like Forbes takes a jab at North Carolina or some of its cities with a negative list, I'm sure there will be some positive attributes that don't get reflected that could be pointed out then.
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