Tell me about living in the Raleigh-Durham area

In My Humble Opinion
1

…or the Carolinas in general. Last thread I could find is 17 years old, so I have to assume things have changed.

We’ve sold our home, and are deciding where we want to live. For the remainder of the year we’ve got some travel, some visiting with family, and stuff like that, so we’ll be kind of nomadic for a bit. But, eventually we want to buy another house and settle down somewhere again, and we’re thinking the Raleigh-Durham part of North Carolina.

For background, we’re both retired. We currently live in the south suburbs of Miami; it’s too freaking hot, I’m done with hurricanes, and the place is just too…well, Florida. My folks live in New Jersey, and my in-laws live in east Texas. We’re looking for someplace a little more temperate (but not too cold in the winter), near or in a sizable population center, preferably near a university or two, and less bat-shit crazy than Florida.

Raleigh-Durham seems to fit the bill. We have friends there who love it, it’s like 5 or 6 college towns all smushed together in one…I dunno…metroplex? There are mountains nearby, the Atlantic is not too far away, there’s a sizeable airport, and I could take Amtrak to visit my family. It looks like we can get a similarly-sized house with a lot more land for about 2/3 what we sold this house for. Homeowner’s insurance will be so much less, and looks like property taxes would be about half what we pay here. We’ll have to pay state income tax (which we don’t here), but I think we’ll still make out ahead financially.

We like to hike, and cycle, and I want to get back to running. We’ve got a couple of kayaks that we like to take out on weekends. Again, looks like there’s plenty of opportunity for all of that.

We’re open to other parts of the state (I quite like Asheville), but the kind of home we’re looking for seems harder to find elsewhere; just less inventory. Winston-Salem seems possible as well; looks like home prices are lower than the Research Triangle, but it’s still a good-sized town.

So - anyone live in the area and want to offer opinions/advice/etc.? What do you love about it? What do you hate? What little quirks are there? Any and all input is welcome.

2

My sister lived in Durham for a while. I visited a few times and remember thinking it felt like a small city (good!) riddled with the highway system of a much larger city (bad!). As somebody from a small city, I wasn’t a fan, but you’ll probably love it compared to south Florida traffic.

Good beer, though, and home of an extremely special bridge.

3

Yeah, I’m familiar with the Can Opener. Reminds me of a more aggressive version of the railroad overpass on North Avenue just west of Elston in Chicago. :slight_smile:

Wearing my Ponysaurus Brewing t-shirt as we speak. One of our friends is really plugged into the local beer scene, so that would definitely be another plus.

4

I lived in Durham in the 1990’s and it was nice. I moved out because I finished my studies and I prefer larger cities.

Ashevllie is cool too. It’s gotten very popular and has a hipster vibe. Housing may be hard to find.

The Winston Salem area (the Triad) just seemed to me like a smaller, poorer version of the Raleigh Durham area.

The immediate area around the Triangle is hilly, rather mountainous. The really mountainous areas are in western North Carolina, several hours drive away. Having said that, there are state parks near Durham and Raleigh that have nice hiking trails.

Similarly, the closest beaches are in Wilmington, two hours drive from Durham. The really nice beaches of the Outer Banks are probably more like three hours drive. They are beautiful though.

5

The Raliegh Durham area is informally referred to as the Triangle.

6

I was in Winston Salem for much of the 90s. Grad school. The whole middle part of NC, the Piedmont, is miserable in summer, hot and humid. But if you are coming from Florida, it probably wouldn’t be as bad for you as it was for this Yankee boy.

I spent a year in Wilmington, and had a girlfriend from near Asheville, and I vastly preferred both of those spots to central NC.

7

For perspective, after a couple years in Durham my sister was miserable whenever she came back down to Florida to visit. They have actual seasons up there!

8

I’ve lived in eastern Cary (“Collection Area For Relocated Yankees”), just west of Raleigh, for 30 years. Overall the Triangle area has gotten fairly expensive for North Carolina over the years, but I hear Asheville, although nice, is even worse. Summers are somewhat hot and humid, although there are four seasons, with occasional snow and ice storms during winters. Overall the area is fairly liberal, with safe Democratic federal congressional seats. Medical care is readily available. The area is one of the fastest growing in the country, with the Research Triangle Park a big draw for businesses.

9

Correction: “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees”

I’ve lived in Raleigh since 1979. Moved down from Chicago. Best place I’ve ever lived (which includes the Bay Area, CT, Boston, Virginia, and Chicago).

OP, ask away.

BTW, if you are thinking that Amtrak is a viable option here…good luck.

10

I spent most of my adult life in Chicago, and it is one of my favorite cities in the world. If you’re not regretting the move from there, that speaks well.

As for Amtrak, what’s the issue? Price? Inconvenient schedules? Reliability?

11

NC still gets plenty of hurricanes, so you won’t be avoiding those. I lived in Raleigh for 10 years and overall was satisfied with the area. You will be required to pick a college to cheer for in sports, the triangle has 3 biggies to choose from - UNC, NCSU and Duke

12

I liked Chicago quite a bit…still have lots of friends and visit every so often.

NC does not have many routes and, frankly, the tracks have not been maintained that well. It’s just not a great option like it is in some other areas of the country. Several of my friends have committed to using Amtrak when they go from Raleigh to Charlotte (about a 3.5 hour drive) or from Raleigh to DC. This lasted for a couple trips for each of them. Delays and scheduling problems, mostly.

One unusual aspect of travel in Raleigh is that it’s located between the two major north-south interstates (I-85 and I-95). It’s not a huge deal, but it’s inconvenient. The east-west interstates (mainly I-40) are fine. Driving is a lot better than in most major metro areas, though it does get bad in some areas at certain times.

Big pros: The Outer Banks, the mountains, generally good roads, an unbelievably expansive healthcare system (you can’t swing a cat without hitting a major hospital or medical center), good seasonal variation without extremes of heat or cold, and a pretty vibrant art scene.

My wife retired from CT to come here and absolutely loves it. Great for retirees due to tax situation, decent weather, great healthcare, and retail of every type on virtually every corner. (I’d compare this to CT, where you might have to drive for 20 miles to get to decent stores. Some people might prefer the more rural CT life, but my wife is ecstatic that she can be at just about any store in 5-10 minutes. We’re 10 minutes from a major healthcare campus and 20 minutes from the terminals at RDU.)

13

You haven’t mentioned politics, either as a reason for leaving or as a criteria for choosing. But if you were trying to get away from Florida politics at all, you’d be out of the frying pan and into the fire.

'Nuff said, just making sure you’ve considered it, in case it’s a consideration for you.

14

I’m not trying to make it sound like NC is the greatest state in the country, but it really can’t be compared to the political situation(s) in FL. It IS a conservative state…no question about that.

The Triangle area is actually pretty liberal. There are numerous universities and tech companies in the area, as well as a steady influx of new residents from more liberal areas of the country. Unlike FL, which seems to attract conservative retirees, new residents in this area lean much more the opposite direction.

15

If you go to any major population area in NC, it’ll be liberal politics-wise, but the state as a whole tends to skew conservative, with the state legislature expending a lot of energy to keep things that way. Aggravating, but on a day-to-day basis NC’s generally a nice place to live. We’ve been here in the northwestern part of the Triangle since 2000 and plan on staying.

Durham has a great food and beer scene and Chapel Hill has a pretty good music scene if you are into those things. You won’t find art and culture on the level of a major city like Chicago, but there’s still plenty here. Duke has a nice little art museum (the Nasher) and the NC Museum of Art is quite nice and hosts interesting exhibits that usually start in the fall. There’s also the Art in Bloom festival that’s quite popular there in the spring.

If you like professional sports, there’s the NHL in Raleigh (the Carolina Hurricanes) and the NFL has the Panthers in Charlotte. NBA has the Hornets, also in Charlotte. There’s minor-league baseball in Durham with the Durham Bulls. Games are inexpensive and fun.

The Triangle area has Duke, UNC and NC State with all the college sport rivalry that anyone could possibly want. The general education level of folks who live in the area is pretty high.

We have a large medical industrial complex here, complete with all the aggravation that implies. People come here from all over the state (and some times other places in the country) to get care here.

I also like Asheville, the Outer Banks and Wilmington a lot, but I prefer to visit those places over living there. Asheville is colder, the Outer Banks and Wilmington milder, but they have the risk of hurricane damage. I’d say the worst weather you can get in the Triangle is ice storms. That can knock the power out for a while. Summer weather will be in the 90s and it can be humid. Be prepared for people to freak out over 2" of snow.

If you decide to come, don’t live in Cary. It’s beige. :wink:

16

I grew up in Chapel Hill, lived for two brief stints (less than a year each) in Durham, and have spent the last 20 years in Asheville.

My knowledge of the Triangle is out-of-date: I only visit it to see my parents these days. The universities are lovely, the summers require AC. It’s a pretty racially diverse area.

Asheville is a bit cooler. While there’s a hipster vibe, unfortunately the Tourism Development Authority has very heavily monetized that vibe, and a lot of what passes for cool and offbeat is profit-driven tourism at this point. We’re drowning in hotels and breweries and illegal AirBnBs. Housing costs are the highest in NC (excepting a couple of very small communities built around golf courses and the like). If you compare wages to cost of living, it’s one of the hardest places in the nation to live. It’s the most racially segregated place I’ve ever lived, due to some really gnarly history in which Black neighborhoods and business districts were bulldozed to set up interstates and “downtown revitalization districts.”

But the mountains are beautiful.

17

Thanks everyone - learning a lot already. Keep 'em coming. :smiley:

18

Not to sound like a hipster or anything, but I drove under the can opener bridge before it was famous (in a normal car, not an over height truck). I lived in Raleigh when I was in college in the late 1990s / early 2000s, and on a few visits to downtown Durham my printed out Mapquest directions would route me down Gregson Street and under that bridge to get me back home. I remember thinking at the time that that was about the lowest bridge clearance I’d ever seen, and that there were numerous low clearance signs warning of that fact.

That said, I haven’t lived there since 2005, so any information I have about the area is probably woefully out of date.

19

It is that, but I believe the the farther east you go, the hotter it gets. The “sandhills” are I believe the hottest parts of the state during high summer. Fayetteville seems to ring the most bells for the hottest place when viewing a weather map on any given summer day.

20

BrickBat’s on the money.

The Triangle area is not nearly as hot, humid, or stifling as one might think it would be. We also (usually) have an ample water supply. The regular rainfall helps quite a bit. (It’s raining right now.) The heat is in no way comparable to many of the SW states. The combination of heat and humidity can’t touch GA, FL, LA, etc. On top of this, you get four actual seasons.

One additional benefit, when compared to CT, is that we don’t have the MONSTROUS flies. We have the typical mosquitos and, near the beach, some nasty greenheads.