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My husband and I currently live in the bay area, CA . We have been here for over 14 years and are both originally from elsewhere (mid-west and east-coast). We don't have kids (not sure if we will), are in our mid 30's, lean more towards the democrat/liberal stance on politics, are not religious, are into a healthy and active lifestyle, are total foodies, and love craft beer. Living in CA has been amazing but the cost of living, commute times, traffic, crime, and general overpopulation of the area has made living here less and less appealing. It would also be nice to be closer to family. Now that we are a little older we are starting to eye other areas to try to improve our quality of life. After much research and contemplation Raleigh, NC has been a focal point for us and we have a couple of visits planned. There are jobs for both of us there (and will obviously be procured BEFORE we venture out) though they will pay slightly less. I am curious if there are any other CA transplants who made the move and what their experience was. Even if you moved there from somewhere else I would love to hear from you.
Raleigh and the Bay area are compatible in many ways (I've visited there many times). While religion is semi-pervasive here it's not in your face and you won't be harassed for whatever your faith is (or isn't as it may be). Being a Liberal Democrat will allow you to fit in with the dominant transplant community and help keep the ultra Conservative in check (you won't be the only one by any stretch of the imagination). We have excellent craft beer brewed locally and enough restaurant diversity to keep you sane (but that's one area that can use improvement). Plus there is much to offer for people living an active lifestyle (lot's of trails and parks and manageable drives to mountains and way better beaches).
But the cost of living and quality of life improvements you will appreciate will be enormous. Traffic at its worst is nothing when compared to what you know, commute times can be almost laughable (thirty minutes or less is quite common) and unless you live in the very few hot spots we have in the Triangle will find crime almost non-existent.
And I wouldn't be concerned about the salary adjustment you're likely going to be making - my current salary is 25% less than what I was making when I first relocated in 2007 and because of all the cost-of-living benefits I enjoy I actually come out ahead.
I am originally from NC, lived in MD, NYC, and now L.A.
One of the primary allures for the Triangle is being able to afford more square footage in which to raise your kids. Parenting monopolizes alot of a parent's time, so usually what amenities are available in the area where you live (aside from health care and good schools and grocery stores) take less of a priority.
I would characterize life in the Raleigh as bland, suburban life. I can appreciate this appeals to many people however with different priorities. Because you don't have (and aren't planning) to have children, you may find Raleigh lacking in terms of some of the other activities you mentioned. Most restaurants are cookie cutter chain restaurants. You can still engage in an active lifestyle although that is by no means the norm in Raleigh. Many tend to be obese and the weather does not always lend itself to outdoor activities. Summers are humid, and winters are cold and damp.
Because of heavy immigration to the state, the unemployment rate is more or less the same as CA, so it's great that you would be arriving job offer in hand.
Traffic isn't as bad as the Bay area, but there is still aggressive driving and congestion during rush hour. Definitely do your research also since Raleigh does have pockets of crime and NC in general has some very bad areas.
Edit: Religion, especially Southern Baptist, is very prevalent in NC. Different people have had different experiences as far as how "in your face" it is.
I am originally from NC, lived in MD, NYC, and now L.A.
One of the primary allures for the Triangle is being able to afford more square footage in which to raise your kids. Parenting monopolizes alot of a parent's time, so usually what amenities are available in the area where you live (aside from health care and good schools and grocery stores) take less of a priority.
I would characterize life in the Raleigh as bland, suburban life. I can appreciate this appeals to many people however with different priorities. Because you don't have (and aren't planning) to have children, you may find Raleigh lacking in terms of some of the other activities you mentioned. Most restaurants are cookie cutter chain restaurants. You can still engage in an active lifestyle although that is by no means the norm in Raleigh. Many tend to be obese and the weather does not always lend itself to outdoor activities. Summers are humid, and winters are cold and damp.
Because of heavy immigration to the state, the unemployment rate is more or less the same as CA, so it's great that you would be arriving job offer in hand.
Traffic isn't as bad as the Bay area, but there is still aggressive driving and congestion during rush hour. Definitely do your research also since Raleigh does have pockets of crime and NC in general has some very bad areas.
Edit: Religion, especially Southern Baptist, is very prevalent in NC. Different people have had different experiences as far as how "in your face" it is.
No offense to him/her, but take what RoaminRebel says with a giant grain of salt. There are plenty of good non-cookie cutter chain restaurants in the Triangle (I'd be glad to rattle off a pretty extensive list) and quite a few people live a healthy, active lifestyle - even those who are considered "obese" based on BMI. One thing you may love about living here is that there are run clubs that are craft-beer centric (offhand I know that Big Boss and Fullsteam breweries have their own run clubs that meet weekly as well as a run club based out of the Tir Na Nog Irish pub in downtown Raleigh and out of the Bottle Revolution bottleshop). Lots of greenways in Raleigh to bike/run/walk to your heart's content and we're not too terribly far away from decent hiking areas, either. As for the faith issue, I'm a firm agnostic and while I've met a few strongly religious types through work and activities, I don't feel that I've ever been pushed, bombarded, or blasted with it as much as when I lived in South Carolina.
I am originally from NC, lived in MD, NYC, and now L.A.
One of the primary allures for the Triangle is being able to afford more square footage in which to raise your kids. Parenting monopolizes alot of a parent's time, so usually what amenities are available in the area where you live (aside from health care and good schools and grocery stores) take less of a priority.
I would characterize life in the Raleigh as bland, suburban life. I can appreciate this appeals to many people however with different priorities. Because you don't have (and aren't planning) to have children, you may find Raleigh lacking in terms of some of the other activities you mentioned. Most restaurants are cookie cutter chain restaurants. You can still engage in an active lifestyle although that is by no means the norm in Raleigh. Many tend to be obese and the weather does not always lend itself to outdoor activities. Summers are humid, and winters are cold and damp.
Because of heavy immigration to the state, the unemployment rate is more or less the same as CA, so it's great that you would be arriving job offer in hand.
Traffic isn't as bad as the Bay area, but there is still aggressive driving and congestion during rush hour. Definitely do your research also since Raleigh does have pockets of crime and NC in general has some very bad areas.
Edit: Religion, especially Southern Baptist, is very prevalent in NC. Different people have had different experiences as far as how "in your face" it is.
Whoa! And just in case that wasn't emphatic enough, whoa!
The first thing I did when I read this post was to start thinking about the dozens of children I know well here and save for one, none of them are obese or even visibly overweight. So I don't know where that comes from (wait, late edit - I just thought of a second kid but I haven't seen him in nearly two years).
Regarding active lifestyles, I can state with a high degree of certainty that I know more people who engage in some form of physical activity from walking to running to cycling to playing tennis or golf than I do people who don't. And come to think of it, I can only think of a very few number of adults who are morbidly obese as well (I just can't come close to understanding that generalization).
As for the restaurants, there are a number of excellent places that we enjoy going to that exist only here in the Triangle. Suburbs being suburbs there's an abundance of Outback/Chili's/On the Border type establishments as well but that's true all over the place, even Manhattan, Chicago and, dare I say it, Los Angeles. But Raleigh isn't close to any of those cities either when it comes to food choices.
And lastly, calling life in Raleigh "bland suburban life" is as redundant a statement as they come - I've yet to live in an exciting suburb and I'm originally from NYC. And what some might call bland or maybe even boring I might call easy and stress-free. When we made the decision to relocate (or is that immigrate) to Raleigh it was due in large part to the fact that I wanted my kids to grow up some place where they weren't always on edge, keeping eyes out for trouble and being on guard.
My husband and I currently live in the bay area, CA . We have been here for over 14 years and are both originally from elsewhere (mid-west and east-coast). We don't have kids (not sure if we will), are in our mid 30's, lean more towards the democrat/liberal stance on politics, are not religious, are into a healthy and active lifestyle, are total foodies, and love craft beer. Living in CA has been amazing but the cost of living, commute times, traffic, crime, and general overpopulation of the area has made living here less and less appealing. It would also be nice to be closer to family. Now that we are a little older we are starting to eye other areas to try to improve our quality of life. After much research and contemplation Raleigh, NC has been a focal point for us and we have a couple of visits planned. There are jobs for both of us there (and will obviously be procured BEFORE we venture out) though they will pay slightly less. I am curious if there are any other CA transplants who made the move and what their experience was. Even if you moved there from somewhere else I would love to hear from you.
Cheers and thanks!
I moved from the South Bay years ago and go back somewhat regularly with my job so I am not completely out of touch with the comparison.
I too am childless (but also single), not particularly religious and politically progressive. If I were in your shoes, I'd simply look closer to the city center neighborhoods. There you will find exactly the opposite of what some others are claiming Raleigh to be. You'll find progressives, non-cookie neighborhoods and independent restaurants and businesses. You'll find an arts community, local theater and music companies and venues and independent businesses. You'll also find higher priced housing (for the area) that will still seem cheap compared to what costs are anywhere in the Bay area. You can live in luxury condos, turn of the century victorians, bungalow neighborhoods or mid-century ranches. You can position yourself near more walkable areas and limit your car dependency as best as you can anywhere in the county.
There are lots of Californians in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). Many have transferred with Cisco and other firms in Research Triangle Park.
Don't limit your search just to Raleigh. Lots of folks love Durham and find more of an artsy city-with-some-gritty vibe there. It's growing and vibrant, especially in the downtown areas. Big foodie town.
I'm in Chapel Hill (college town) and prefer the smaller town life here. I always, always see folks I know at my local health food coop or Trader Joes. This is a very active community in both the physical sense and arts sense. There are far more excellent, independent restaurants in Chapel Hill/Carrboro than there are chains of any stripe including fast food. It's probably about 10:1 independent restaurants to chains. We have truly excellent food choices here — foodies need not fear. Google Lantern (Andrea Reusing is the chef), Crook's Corner (Bill Smith), Acme (Kevin Callahan) for just a few. There are many more.
Being a Liberal Democrat will allow you to fit in with the dominant transplant community and help keep the ultra Conservative in check (you won't be the only one by any stretch of the imagination).
I think transplants are actually a big part of the conservative culture in NC, especially northeastern transplants like Tedesco, etc. Many transplants from traditionally more liberal areas come down to NC hoping for a more conservative culture. Some just come for a job transfer or a slower pace of life, of course. McCrory is a transplant, too, y'know, from Ohio, just transplanted when he was a kid.
It's more liberal the farther west you go in the Triangle. Wake Co (Raleigh, Cary, etc) is less liberal than Durham and Orange Counties (easy to look up the data back this up, based on recent elections).
Chapel Hill is too conservative when it comes to Food Trucks regulations. Even Raleigh is more relaxed with their food truck regs and has closed the gap with Durham in many ways in that regard. I can find food trucks in Raleigh almost every day of the week now both downtown and up in North Raleigh! Come on poppydog! Tell those conservative enemies of food trucks in Chapel Hill they need to get with the program and be more like Raleigh!
Location: River's Edge Inn, Todd NC, and Lorgues France
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poppydog
There are lots of Californians in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). Many have transferred with Cisco and other firms in Research Triangle Park.
Don't limit your search just to Raleigh. Lots of folks love Durham and find more of an artsy city-with-some-gritty vibe there. It's growing and vibrant, especially in the downtown areas. Big foodie town.
I'm in Chapel Hill (college town) and prefer the smaller town life here. I always, always see folks I know at my local health food coop or Trader Joes. This is a very active community in both the physical sense and arts sense. There are far more excellent, independent restaurants in Chapel Hill/Carrboro than there are chains of any stripe including fast food. It's probably about 10:1 independent restaurants to chains. We have truly excellent food choices here — foodies need not fear. Google Lantern (Andrea Reusing is the chef), Crook's Corner (Bill Smith), Acme (Kevin Callahan) for just a few. There are many more.
10:1 may be a stretch. Yellowpages.com shows 15 Subways in chapel hill.
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