Military Friendly Neighborhoods Apex, Cary, Holly Springs? (Raleigh, Durham: cul-de-sac, house)

[ScNcMom]

Husband and I retiring from Air Force and want to move to the area. We have 2 children, one in middle school, one in elementary. Can anyone suggest neighborhoods with higher concentration of retired or active duty military? Not looking for retirement type neighborhoods, but family friendly, active community with military/diverse population.

[Francois]

I'm not familiar with military "concentrations" in the Triangle, but at the same time, I don't know any neighborhood that would be considered "military-unfriendly". You'll find military folks peppered all through the area.

[ScNcMom]

Good to know. At our last assignment, we bought a house on a cul-de-sac in a new neighborhood, and over time ended up with 3 Air Force families, 1 Navy and 1 Coast Guard as our immediate neighbors. Was wondering if the same existed somewhere in Wake.

[Parr0thead98]

We are also retiring from the Air Force this Summer with 1 High Schooler and 1 Elementary...moving to Holly Springs. What I did learn/run across are some Ft Bragg families living in Fuquay-Varina in order to get Wake County schools while commuting down Hwy 401 to work. I know I did chat w/ a Sgt Major at Home Depot there over Veteran's Day wknd about that very scenario. There's also a large VA Hospital in Durham and a smaller Clinic in Raleigh which would generally indicate some sort of veteran population in the area.

[twingles]

We've had a couple of military families in our neighborhood in Cary, and I've seen parents in their uniforms at my kids' school, but as Francois said....I don't think you're goind to find a concentration of them anywhere, barring the need to commute to Ft. Bragg as cited by Parrothead.

[hc130radio]

You might find a little bit of Army and Navy in Raleigh - there is a Navy reserve center and NC Guard in the Raleigh area.

I'm AD USAF living in Sanford commuting to Pope AAF and Ft Bragg daily. We chose Sanford because it was still a decent drive to work and close enough to Raleigh for a day trip a few times a month...and far away from the Ft Bragg riff raff.

[ScNcMom]

Thanks for all the replies. We settled on FV for various reasons. Love it so far. Just FYI, I did read in one of the local magazines, that Fort Bragg officially approves Fuquay Varina as one authorized community for off base housing. Have noticed a few uniforms as we are out and about...

[Taynxtlvl]

Fuquay is about as close as you can get drive wise and still be in Wake County so that would have been my best guess as well. Nice town, and they have a Zaxbys which makes it even better!

[macjr82]

Ther are actually a lot of miltary inthe area due to the Reserve centers, (that aforemetnioned Navy one is also a Marine reserve cneter), the Guard Centers, the MEPS, the ROTCs, and the various recruiting stations. But they are small relative to the overall population. There is also an abundance of military retirees and former military in the Triangle. You are more likely to be be ostracized living by a military base than in the Triangle. FV was a good choice, though, for it's proximity to Bragg to better take advantage of some of those retiree benefits from time to time.