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There are plenty of Jews, especially Conservative and Reform, in this area. Transplants have been coming here from the North steadily since the 1960s. North Ridge is a neighborhood with a lot of Jews since there is an Orthodox Synagogue and school wtihin walking distance, but really, in the Triangle area you should not have any problems over being Jewish, even though at the same time, you will encounter more churches that you are probably accustomed to seeing.
Thanks everyone! I meant if I was going to buy a house I'd want a Jewish neighborhood, but a rental would be different. If I rent, the main focus is my 4 dogs, not the religion or the size of the property. Thanks again!
I'm guessing by your post that you live in Long Island....or somewhere else in NY. As others have mentioned, there are plenty of Jews in the Triangle (I'm one) but they are spread out in various towns and neighborhoods. There are no predominately Jewish neighborhoods here.
Check out this thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...-families.html
If you are really looking for Jewish friends, you'll be able to meet people at synagogue. There are temples in Durham and Raleigh as well as a Chabad center. What you will find difficult here, is shopping for a wide variety of Jewish foods.
Check out this thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...-triangle.html
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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There ARE Jewish people in the Triangle, but they likely represent less than 1% of the population, so it's not like this area is swarming with Jews. It's not. Having said that, Chapel Hill has its fair share of the Jewish population. I'm sure Cary and parts of Raleigh do, too. As someone mentioned, there is a campus in Durham that houses a JCC, a Reform synagogue (Judea Reform), and a Jewish Day School (Lerner). We are members of that synagogue, and the membership is pretty evenly split between Raleigh and Durham. There is also a conservative synagogue in Durham (Beth El). And Chapel Hill has a small reconstuctionist synagogue. Raleigh also has a JCC and a few synagogues, too, along with Cary. Chabad is scattered throughout.
You will likely find Jews with kids clustered around the good school districts and near the synagogues and JCCs. Hillsborough has very few Jews and the other more rural areas wouldn't either (like Clayton or Chatham County). Overall, there isn't much Jewish culture here outside the synagogues and JCC's and probably the campus Hillels. Food for Passover is scarce - very small selection - at least here in Chapel Hill. It's probably better in Raleigh/Cary and Durham, but not much.
Overall, you won't have a problem living in the Triangle as a Jew. You will meet others in the more populated towns and fewer out in the rural areas. Hope this helps!
michgc, I know several Jewish families in more rural areas outside Chapel Hill. They're not super observant, but seriously, for whatever reason I think I know as many Jewish people around here as I do Christian church goers. I imagine city-data breaks down the percentages and I think it's probably more than 1%. I probably know more non-religious people than either of the two — not that that's the norm around here (that would be Southern Baptist), but just who I have happened to become friends with.
Two of my 3rd grader daughter's best friends since K have one parent who is Jewish and one who is Christian. Neither of them are super observant, but one does go to Hebrew School. We have several other couple friends like that. We know two or three families with kids at Lerner. We also have several friends who are observant and regularly go to synagogue and Hebrew school. I think most of our Jewish friends who go to synagogue go to Judea Reform so we probably know people in common. Don't a lot of Chapel Hill people go there, to? I know there is a Judea Reform cemetery in Chapel Hill. Went to a service there once.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Originally Posted by poppydog
michgc, I know several Jewish families in more rural areas outside Chapel Hill. They're not super observant, but seriously, for whatever reason I think I know as many Jewish people around here as I do Christian church goers. I imagine city-data breaks down the percentages and I think it's probably more than 1%. I probably know more non-religious people than either of the two — not that that's the norm around here (that would be Southern Baptist), but just who I have happened to become friends with.
Two of my 3rd grader daughter's best friends since K have one parent who is Jewish and one who is Christian. Neither of them are super observant, but one does go to Hebrew School. We have several other couple friends like that. We know two or three families with kids at Lerner. We also have several friends who are observant and regularly go to synagogue and Hebrew school. I think most of our Jewish friends who go to synagogue go to Judea Reform so we probably know people in common. Don't a lot of Chapel Hill people go there, to? I know there is a Judea Reform cemetery in Chapel Hill. Went to a service there once.
As a percentage of the overall Triangle area, the Jewish population is probably less than 1%. It is likely higher in Chapel Hill - maybe more like 5%? That's just a guess, but I doubt it's much higher than that. (I didn't see any C-D data on it.) As a general rule, Jewish families tend to congregate near good school districts, so that's why there are likely more in Chapel Hill, Cary, and some of the better school pyramids in Raleigh and Durham. I know there are very few in the Orange County schools. I met someone whose child goes to high school there, and she said her child was one of only 6 Jewish kids in the whole high school (don't remember which one).
Yes, it seems like many of the Chapel Hill families go to Judea. The synagogue in CH is pretty small and less traditional. I don't actually know anyone who belongs there. The Conservative synagogue in Durham is more of a hike from CH than Judea, so fewer families make that trek. Almost every Jewish family I've met in Chapel Hill belongs to Judea. I've heard about the cemetery but didn't know where it was located.
The cemetery is on Jones Ferry Rd out near Damascus Church Rd.
I found this on city-data, but I think it's based on the number of synagogues in a town because it doesn't give percentages for any Jews in Orange County/Chapel Hill, which is kinda nutty. They say that 4.6% of people in Durham County are Jewish which puts them right between Presbyterians at 5.1% and Episcopalians at 3.2%.
Here are the city-data numbers on Wake County which show Jews at 2.2% below Episcopalians and "Non-Charismatic Churches Independent" at 3.2% and 2.7% and above United Church of Christ and Evangelical Lutherans both at 2.1%.
And here's the Orange Co data that seems off since it doesn't even list "Jewish" in any of the percentages.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
The cemetery is on Jones Ferry Rd out near Damascus Church Rd.
I found this on city-data, but I think it's based on the number of synagogues in a town because it doesn't give percentages for any Jews in Orange County/Chapel Hill, which is kinda nutty. They say that 4.6% of people in Durham County are Jewish which puts them right between Presbyterians at 5.1% and Episcopalians at 3.2%.
Here are the city-data numbers on Wake County which show Jews at 2.2% below Episcopalians and "Non-Charismatic Churches Independent" at 3.2% and 2.7% and above United Church of Christ and Evangelical Lutherans both at 2.1%.
And here's the Orange Co data that seems off since it doesn't even list "Jewish" in any of the percentages.
Actually, those percentages are based only on those who identify with a religion. So for example with Wake County it says 6,000 people are Jewish adherents. That is 2.2% of those who are affiliated with a religious congregation but that is only 43.8% of the county. As a percentage of the whole county (627,000), it is slightly less than 1% of Wake's population. Although, I don't think that number is really accurate, because it sounds like they just counted people who are actually members of a synagogue, church, etc. There are certainly Jews who don't belong to a synagogue at all.
The Durham numbers are similar. Jews represent 4.6% of those who are religious adherents which is actually only 39.3% of the population. So in reality it's more like 1.6% of Duraham's population. Again, it sounds like they are only counting those who actually belong to a congregation, though.
For NYC, it would be more like 20% of the city's population based on their method of counting. As an aside, it is interesting to note that a much higher percentage of NYC's population are religous adherents (70%) than in Wake County (43.8%) or in Durham County (39.3%). I would not have guessed that.
In any case, Jews represent only about 2% of the nation's population, and probably a bit less in the Triangle. So if you are coming from NYC, Baltimore, LA, Philly or a few other cities, it might be eye-opening for you, but if you are coming from most other places in the US, you will be used to living among a small minority of Jews.
ETA: I just looked up the Jewish Federation of Durham/Chapel Hill's website. It estimates that there are 6,000 Jews living in Durham/Chapel Hill, with 53% of them in Orange County, 41% in Durham County, and 4% in Chatham County.
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