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My husband has been offered relocation through work to either Charlotte or Raleigh. We had only been looking into Charlotte until he was told this today. We are a family with kids so schools are important along with what everyone else wants, safe, family community, near shopping, nice quality of life. We would be searching for a home in the suburbs of the cities.
Anyone care to compare/contrast the two? Thanks for your help.
Charlotte is a big city compared to Raleigh. Raleigh is more spread out and less verticle. If you are from a high density area you would like charlotte beter then raleigh.
Both are great cities...Charlotte is larger & the center city is more vibrant. Raleigh is a little slower pace. I would suggest you visit both and decide what would fit your life style best.
GOOD LUCK!
Last edited by the 7 oh 4; 08-14-2008 at 07:49 PM..
Raleigh is the center for government, plus has NC State University. Those two factors, to me, seem to shape a lot of the personality of the city. As a region, RDU does have its own personality, and I find it very specific to the region. You have major universities in close proximity (Duke, Carolina, State) and lots of intelligentsia . . . plus the bio-tech industries. . . Read the News & Observer - and over time, you get a flavor for the area and the topics and concerns of the people in the region. When the legislature is in session, there is a definite influence that comes from that, as well. . .
As for Charlotte . . . the university does not seem to have that much influence on the city itself . . . Charlotte is evolving into a more attractive urban center (uptown) but the city itself seems to be greatly defined by its suburbs. In some ways, Raleigh is like that, also. You may work in Raleigh and live in Cary and spend little time in Raleigh itself. However, in both cities, you may be in a burg outside the city limits and most of your life (if not all of your life) revolves around that community, w/ little time spent w/in city limits. So both cities are similar on that level (as far as bedroom communities). Still, Raleigh seems to have a "city" personality that leans to government, while CLT is definitely a "business" city.
In addition, in my opinion, Charlotte has a lot more outlying attractive towns and suburban areas than Raleigh has. Charlotte is really spread out and there are many terrific areas to choose from, whether you are traveling from the North or South back to the city's center. Charlotte's outlying growth seems more navigable, to me. Raleigh's growth seems forced. Everyone wanted to be in Cary. Raleigh feels to me like other areas were forced into development b/c Cary couldn't accommodate the new growth. Again, just my opinion.
Charlotte is a big city compared to Raleigh. Raleigh is more spread out and less vertical. If you are from a high density area you would like Charlotte beter then raleigh.
This is not quite true. True Raleigh is spread out, but Charlotte is extremely spread out. The city is about 300 Sq. miles and therefore is actually less dense than Raleigh, which is about 130 sq. miles. Charlotte is much less dense then all your bigger cities in the Northeast. So again, outside of the central core it will feel mostly suburban, as will Raleigh.
Charlotte has a bigger downtown (or as it's called there "uptown") and has more pro sports teams. It is slightly closer to the mountains and slightly farther away from the coast. Raleigh has come really good universities in close proximity and therefore has a lot of scientific research jobs in the area. Charlotte has a big banking industry. There are both family friendly areas, but Charlotte has a higher crime rate. I think you would like both areas, but of course I live in Raleigh so I might be somewhat bias towards this area. I would try and visit both if you can and decide for yourself. The reason I like the Raleigh area (moved from the DC area) is that it's big enough for everything you would want or need (1.5 million people in the Triangle area), but does not have the traffic or madness of DC.
My husband has been offered relocation through work to either Charlotte or Raleigh. We had only been looking into Charlotte until he was told this today. We are a family with kids so schools are important along with what everyone else wants, safe, family community, near shopping, nice quality of life. We would be searching for a home in the suburbs of the cities.
Anyone care to compare/contrast the two? Thanks for your help.
They are both great places to live. I would visit them both If I were you and see which feels like the right fit. While this question comes up a lot on this forum I honestly don't see a lot of differences between Raleigh and Charlotte. People tend to point towards the differences in the downtown areas which is fine, but in reality most of the people on these forums are not going to be living downtown, they are living in the suburbs. There is very little if any difference in the type of lifestyle you will have in either a Raleigh or Charlotte suburb.
Check out both areas and decide for yourself. Good Luck!
If you want good schools, you don't necessarily have to bolt for the suburbs, particularly when it comes to Raleigh. Good schools can be found within the cities themselves.
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Very little IMHO
