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Okay – so I’m in a quandry. I am an early 30’s single woman who is torn between Raleigh-Durham, NC and Charleston, SC. I currently live in Portland, OR, but originally from upstate NY. Though I do love the west coast “vibe”, the green, proximity to the coast and mountains out here, I want to get back east for three main reasons 1) My family is back east, as well as all my close friends. 2) Cost of living 3) I’m planning on returning to school full-time to change careers – from banking/real estate to medicine/psychology (physicians assistant, public health – not sure yet). I will need to work at least part time while going to school, so job market health is a huge factor.
Things I like about Charleston ; proximity to the coast, size, College of Charleston. Things I’m wary of: more “conservative” than NC, small job market, higher cost of living than Raleigh-Durham? – Is this true?
Things I like about Raleigh-Durham: Abundance of jobs/people in the health care/science/research field – maybe a bit more liberal than SC?
I have already been accepted to the College of Charleston, and am expecting acceptance from both UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State soon-
Which place would make more sense for me? Anyone live in both and can give me an accurate comparison?
Seems like more of the Northeast/West Coast/Florida relocation has been going to NC than SC. That's probably more responsible for the difference in politics that you see.
As for job markets, the way the economy is right now, nothing's a sure thing anywhere.
Okay – so I’m in a quandry. I am an early 30’s single woman who is torn between Raleigh-Durham, NC and Charleston, SC. I currently live in Portland, OR, but originally from upstate NY. Though I do love the west coast “vibe”, the green, proximity to the coast and mountains out here, I want to get back east for three main reasons 1) My family is back east, as well as all my close friends. 2) Cost of living 3) I’m planning on returning to school full-time to change careers – from banking/real estate to medicine/psychology (physicians assistant, public health – not sure yet). I will need to work at least part time while going to school, so job market health is a huge factor.
Things I like about Charleston ; proximity to the coast, size, College of Charleston. Things I’m wary of: more “conservative” than NC, small job market, higher cost of living than Raleigh-Durham? – Is this true?
Things I like about Raleigh-Durham: Abundance of jobs/people in the health care/science/research field – maybe a bit more liberal than SC?
I have already been accepted to the College of Charleston, and am expecting acceptance from both UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State soon-
Which place would make more sense for me? Anyone live in both and can give me an accurate comparison?
Thanks!!!!!!
The Triangle is basically represented by 3 US Congressional Districts: #'s 2,4 and 13. The Partisan Voting Index (PVI) for each is R+3. D+6 and D+2 respectively. District 4 is the only one of the 3 that can be considered truly completely within the boundaries of what people typically call the Triangle. It includes all of Durham and Orange Co.'s as well as half of Wake County. and the NE corner of Chatham County. District 13 includes a large chunk of North and East Wake County but also extends across the VA border counties and into parts of Greensboro/Guilford Co. District 2 includes a small sliver into Raleigh/Wake Co. from the Southeast and then stretches around the Triangle in an arc starting SW of the Triangle and swinging below and to the East and eventually Northeast of the Triangle. It includes Western Johnston Co where Clayton is. It also has a spur that extends Southward into the "country". As of now, each of these districts is represented by a Democrat in Congress.
Charleston is in SC District #1 with a PVI of R+10. It's currently represented by a Republican.
Okay – so I’m in a quandry. I am an early 30’s single woman who is torn between Raleigh-Durham, NC and Charleston, SC. I currently live in Portland, OR, but originally from upstate NY. Though I do love the west coast “vibe”, the green, proximity to the coast and mountains out here, I want to get back east for three main reasons 1) My family is back east, as well as all my close friends. 2) Cost of living 3) I’m planning on returning to school full-time to change careers – from banking/real estate to medicine/psychology (physicians assistant, public health – not sure yet). I will need to work at least part time while going to school, so job market health is a huge factor.
Things I like about Charleston ; proximity to the coast, size, College of Charleston. Things I’m wary of: more “conservative” than NC, small job market, higher cost of living than Raleigh-Durham? – Is this true?
Things I like about Raleigh-Durham: Abundance of jobs/people in the health care/science/research field – maybe a bit more liberal than SC?
I have already been accepted to the College of Charleston, and am expecting acceptance from both UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State soon-
Which place would make more sense for me? Anyone live in both and can give me an accurate comparison?
Thanks!!!!!!
Hi! My family and I relocated from Portland to Durham, NC a little of a year ago. There was recently a thread on this forum about Charleston in comparison to the Triangle. It might give you more information.
While the Triangle is liberal for this area, it's not the same as Portland. My husband jokes that Portland Republican's are on par with NC Democrates.
We tend to lean heavily to the left so we have made adjustments living here. But honestly they are adjustments that I think have been good for us, me especially. It's easy to get tunnel vision in Portland.
I've only been to Charleston as a tourist so I can't really comment on Charleston. But honestly if you are interested in any medical field I don't think you can pick a better / more affordable place than the Triangle. So many opportunities on so many levels exsist. I was talking to a Mom here in Durham who has a masters in psych and did counseling for children before kids. She took off 10 years to be at home w/ the kiddos and just recently went back to work in the same field. The amazing thing is she found a job. In Portland, I had a friend in a similar situation & line of work but could not find a job even though she had only taken off 3 years to be at home. You have 3 major universities, 2 with medical schools, and several other hospitals in the area. This may benefit you when you are looking for internships or mentors.
We are finding things that we love about NC. The winters are great and I absolutely love being able to see stars and the moon 12 months of the year, instead of 9 months of clouds. But I do miss many things about Portland. It's such a beautiful city... I haven't found any vistas here that compare. There is nothing like coming out of Vista Ridge Tunnel to see Mt. Hood shining in the back ground of downtown. We don't have that kind of scenery here. But there are other great things about the area.
One last thing to consider... East Carolina University might be an option, depending on what sort of medical you are looking at. It's in Greenville, NC. While not at the coast like Charleston it is closer to the coast than The Triangle. Greenville is pretty small though. It's a college town.
Good luck with your decision. And if you find yourself at Grand Central Bakery have some Como for me!
Just wanted to give my feedback. I live in Charleston(am from NY-Long Island and my husband is from Upstate NY-Binghamton) We are leaving Charleston after 5 months because-people are not friendly, it is a "party city" rather than family friendly, vandalism(we live downtown near the market) higher cost of living and RE pricing and I simply did not like Charleston that much. The job market is definitely better in the Triangle I think although have not done much research in that area as I have a job already. Loved it when I visited but to live?.....Not so much. Hope that helps.
If you're going into the health care field, this area makes more sense for you to be in. More opportunities for internships, jobs after graduation, etc.
Charleston is a fun town, but only go there if you can't stand the thought of being further from the ocean.
I'd also just like to point out that this thread really should be title "Triangle and Charleston that different???" instead of NC and SC. When you look at demographics, income, and voting patterns, it's notable that Charleston is very different from the rest of SC, and the Triangle is very different from the rest of NC. I grew up in SC, and we used to joke that you should just cut Charleston off from the rest of the state and set it afloat becuase it's nothing like the rest of the state.
Maybe not a significant point, but I wanted to make sure that those reading this from afar don't think they can move to Irmo and have it be anything like Charleston or move to Catawba and have it be anything like Durham!
Charleston also has MUSC and the Citadel and it is much more of a "party atmosphere" if you live downtown on the peninsula. It's also very tight knit. Old money still rules the area (especially South of Broad). If your not from there I would suggest you either stick with the college crowd on the Peninsula (Calhouhn and North of Broad) or move to the suburbs (James Island, Mt. Pleasant, Daniel Island, Summerville, West of the Ashley).
When we moved to the Raleigh area from Charleston 6 years ago it was actually a lower cost of living in Charleston than here. I'm not sure if that has flip flopped at this point or not.
Now to compare the areas if you are moving from the west coast and are more liberal minded I'd say you will likely fit in more in Chapel Hill than Charleston. Charleston is a lovely area but it's very much stuck in the old days.
I went to UNC, had a friend who went to College of Charleston and used to visit him and stay there.
It's true that the Triangle (NC) is MUCH more liberal than Charleston, although Charleston is one of the more liberal places in SC. Still, there is a BIG "Old South" vibe to Charleston that compares to the "Inside the Beltine" Old Raleigh vibe, in some ways, which probably makes folks from outside the area feel like they are dealing with another species sometimes
If you like a small school, I think CofC has a really good reputation, but that would be the main advantage over UNC-CH. I don't think you want to go to NCSU over UNC if you're headed toward a Medical field, since UNC has a HUGE Allied Health Service program (pharmacy, dentistry, public health, health sciences librarianship, etc) not to mention a Med School, while NCSU is more "animal science" and has a (top) Vet School. And, Chapel Hill is much more like PDX (so I'm told) than Raleigh (where NCSU is) is.
If you KNOW you're going to go to graduate school, then an undergrad at CofC with plans for grad/med school at UNC-CH could be a winning combination, but I think there would be a pretty big cultural adjustment going from NY or Portland to SC for sure, even Charleston.
And, I am a UNC grad so I think that's the BEST choice
Once you go outside Raleigh and the transplant-trap suburbs, that liberal feeling goes away fast.
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Okay – so I’m in a quandry. I am an early 30’s single woman who is torn between Raleigh-Durham, NC and Charleston, SC. I currently live in Portland, OR, but originally from upstate NY. Though I do love the west coast “vibe”, the green, proximity to the coast and mountains out here, I want to get back east for three main reasons 1) My family is back east, as well as all my close friends. 2) Cost of living 3) I’m planning on returning to school full-time to change careers – from banking/real estate to medicine/psychology (physicians assistant, public health – not sure yet). I will need to work at least part time while going to school, so job market health is a huge factor. 
