So I've decided that I'm not really a winter person and am seriously looking to leave Michigan. One of the places that I'm strongly considering is Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm looking for information from members regarding the following subjects:

-Cost of living
-Areas to look into
-Areas to avoid
-Outdoor points of interest
-Crime
-Anything else that might be pertinent

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ya'll are gonna need a translator.
You don't dial or input a number into a phone or computer. You mash it.
You don't take your wife to the doctor. You carry her to the doctor.
All ice tea has an 80% sugar content.
BBQ is a vinegar based disaster.

I've had family out there since 2001 and visited many times. I frankly don't really care for it. Too congested and the road infrastructure is horrible. No breakdown lanes on all but interstate type roads.
Oh, and State taxes are significant. Not sure how it compares to MI but much worse than say FL,TX,TN.

Your initial post should probably be taken literally but are you considering moving to Raleigh itself or the Raleigh area? Do you have school age children?

I don't live in Raleigh but not too far. Traffic can be pretty bad but probably no worse than any other place with similar population. My commute isn't far (maybe 12 miles one way) but I still try to leave before 7am not to get stuck in traffic on I-40. Now that winter seems to be all but over the roads are crap, potholes everywhere, but I'm sure that happens in Michigan too. I doubt you'll need a translator anymore. So many people are moving here from other places that you'll probably meet more people from out of state than natives; I'm a transplant myself, moved here 16 years ago.

Rent is high, houses in desirable places are snapped up quickly (my mother moved here last summer from Ohio and lost a couple of places after she decided to wait until the end of the day to put in an offer). In my area, there is a lot of construction, mostly apartment complexes and condos along with mall after mall. It's not all bad, the mountains and the beach are close and there's a lot to do.

Been to NC quite a bit. Not impressed. Traffic & roads suck, so does the BBQ. I prefer further south but the northerners seem to like it when fleeing the winter then figure they can't handle 7-9 months of summer in the real south. It does get cold up there but not like up in MI / ME / etc.

Plus you need to bend the knee to get a pistol permit.

As of right now, I work for P.F. Chang’s so I’d probably want to stay fairly close to their location as I have a low mileage lease for the next 3 years. As for family, there are no children to be concerned with. Cold weather isn’t too much of a concern considering the fact that I still walk our dogs in sub-freezing weather so long as they want to go and are comfortable with it. Michigan has 6% sales tax and from what I’ve heard, our income tax is fairly high compared to some places.

Most of my family originally lived in Grand Rapids, Fraser area. They migrated to NC back in the day (still some left in Michigan).

They choose the Salisbury/High Rock Lake area of NC and have places on the Outer Banks.

NC has been/is changing quickly. The influx of Northern immigrants fleeing taxes/laws...
(Only problem is that many of the immigrants are voting for the same taxes/laws in NC. Particularly around Raleigh.
Cary (Consolidation Area for Relocated Yankees) used to be a small quiet town).

I wouldn't move there.

Find someplace w/i driving time and smaller and further to the south of Raleigh proper.

Traffic sucks
Roads suck
There are a buncha northerners living there
Taxes in Wake county suck

If I was moving outta the great white north, I'd move to FL or Texas (based on taxes alone)

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
I wouldn't move there.

If I was moving outta the great white north, I'd move to FL or Texas (based on taxes alone)

Taxes and cost of living here in Florida are great, the rest, not so much. I have lived in the Tampa Bay area for just over 40 years and let me tell you 8 months of ball busting heat/humidity wears on you. Like everywhere else, traffic is horrible.

Back to the OP - everywhere has issues. Find some place where you like the people and have a place to get away from it all on the weekends. After that the rest all works out. Good luck.

You all are making me think twice about retiring to Cary Durham Raleigh.

Would you have to relocate to the PF Changs specific to Raleigh?

There's at least one location in Greensboro, NC and Greensboro has a lot of perks over Raleigh, IMO. You're close enough to the Triangle or Charlotte as well as the mountains, but less traffic, slightly lower cost of living and more open space.

quote:

Originally posted by Spiff_P239:
So I've decided that I'm not really a winter person and am seriously looking to leave Michigan. One of the places that I'm strongly considering is Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm looking for information from members regarding the following subjects:

-Cost of living
-Areas to look into
-Areas to avoid
-Outdoor points of interest
-Crime
-Anything else that might be pertinent

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Lived in NC most of my life ... off and on.

It's a 'moderate' state all things considered. Not too conservative, not too liberal. Not too hot. Not too cold. Voted for Trump last election but Obama the election before. Democrat Governor but the state house and senate are (R)-controlled...

Its nice we have mountains (~4 hours away from Raleigh) and the ocean (about 3 hours away from Raleigh).

Traffic as mentioned is pretty bad because of the tremendous growth over the last 10-15 years without much additional infrastructure to support it.

There are a few bad areas of Raleigh - but you find that pretty much anywhere.

Lots of out-of-states in the Raleigh / Durham / Cary area. CHLs are 'shall issue'. IIRC $90 for 5 years. Gun laws are tolerable but not as loose as some states. We have a 'Castle Doctrine'. No restrictions on magazine capacity.

Good selection of in-state universities.

Climate - we have 4 seasons. Can get in the teens and 20s in the winter. As high as the 100s in the summer. It is pretty humid in the summer.

NC is pretty nice - it's not perfect but you could do a lot worse. I live in Johnston County - which is much more (R). Like the highest vote turnout for Trump in the whole state IIRC.

--------------------------------

Grew up in SW Michigan, knocked around the Northeast and Silicon Valley for a couple decades and wound up in Chapel Hill.

It's a great place. After Silicon Valley we could have moved anywhere - literally - and this wound up our top choice. Been here 10 years and have no interest in moving. Best thing we've ever done.

Compared to MI and not liking winter, you can expect 4 more good months per year, including long, world-class Springs and Falls. Winters are brief and not so cold. The infrastructure here is not geared for winter, so things you'd laugh at in SE Michigan can bring things to a halt here. Happens once or twice a winter, and generally things work around the issue just fine.

It does get hot in the summer - not TX/FL/AZ hot, but more humid than MI and for longer. But that is why they make air conditioners. And sell beer.

Things to be aware of.

1) Raleigh is a large city with all that implies. Lots to do, traffic, areas to avoid. There are some nice areas that are commutable. I know folks in Chapel Hill that work in Raleigh.

2) If you have kids, some counties pivot around where you live in assigning schools and other don't. Raleigh is in Wake County, which follows the latter approach, so your school assignment in Wake County is a crapshoot, and their schools range from great to inner-city horribad. This was the main reason we wound up not considering Cary, which is otherwise quite pleasant.

3) Tea. Sweet Tea is essentially a liquid sugar cube with some passing acquaintance with tea leaves. It is best left to professionals.

4) Northerners. Yes, the state (and the Triangle) is expanding, and many of the folks coming in are from the North. It works out OK.

Side note: If you haven't noticed, BBQ sauce is like religion in the South. It's not like the "Barbecues" (aka "Sloppy Joes") they used to serve in MI public schools - some BBQs down here are actually pretty good.

Raleigh/RDU area is booming and has been booming for the last ~15 years or so. So many people moving here, the infrastructure is struggling to keep up. I work in residential construction and we can't build the houses fast enough. A couple of suburbs have been named "best places to raise kids" or "safest town in America" or something along those lines.

The area of Raleigh where PF Changs is (Crabtree Valley) I try to avoid at all costs. The traffic in that part of town is arguably the worst in the area. The PF Changs in Durham is in a better location. But Durham has a lot of bad/crime-ridden spots too.

If you want to get into specific suburbs/areas of town, let me know.

That being said, we love living here having moved from the mid-west. For the most part, the cost of living is cheaper than a lot of places up north where a lot of people are moving from.

PF Changs at Durham/Southport isn't a bad area, as long as you don't venture north into Durham. Durham city and county have the all the vibrancy and culture of, let's say, Flint. Also, avoid the US-1 corridor running northeast out of Raleigh to the I-540 outer belt. Kinda' rough crime-wise.

I worked in Raleigh almost weekly 2007-2010. I stayed by Crabtree Valley Mall much of the time. Yeah, it's some of the older suburbs of Raleigh. Traffic is penned in by roads that can't grow.

The forced busing thing in Wake County is a mess. White guilt and racial identity politics at their best. In 2007-2008, young elementary school kids were on buses up to 3-4 hours a day. I passed up a relocation from SC to NC, in part, because of this 10 years ago. Folks with kids were ending up in Orange County NC and Johnston County NC to avoid Wake. The commute to Raleigh from Orange or Johnston counties wasn't worth the sacrifice of uprooting family for a job that ultimately was not going to be career advancement.

Other thoughts:

MI and NC seem to have the same pistol purchase permit laws, unless you have a concealed carry license.

Make sure you look at what it costs in state and county taxes to get NC plates. There used to be a pretty hefty "welcome to NC" vehicle tax based on assessed value.

Outdoor-wise, folks I knew in the Cary area who enjoyed parks and such liked the Umstead State Park. Others would go to Falls Lake State Rec Area further north of the Raleigh area. Lots of folks would make the weekend run east to the Outer Banks. Not so many would run to Asheville for mountains stuff because it's an hour+ further than the Outer Banks area and, 10 years ago, I-40 had a lot of construction around Greensboro.

The Raleigh area is great but comes with issues expected of a popular growing area. Some things to consider:
- housing including rental has gotten really expensive in the nice areas and convenient locations
- this pushes folks out to the surrounding areas making traffic a mess in many locations
- so definitely check out housing and commuting in the areas you’re looking at
- downtown has really grown and revitalized with lots of great restaurants
- things are very spread out with lots of suburbs worth considering too

I’ve lived here for almost 30 years and things have changed a lot. Don’t see that slowing down any time soon.

Let me know if I can help with any specifics.

Moved here almost 5 years ago from Birmingham, AL (relocated for work, much much much more IT work here). Wife and I love it here. As was mentioned before, 4 hours to the mountains (my favorite), 3 hours or less to the beach. Cost of living is higher than in AL, but most places are. If you get specific questions feel free to email me, our previous office was across the street from Crabtree Valley Mall before we moved to Research Triangle. As others have said, that section of Glenwood Ave is pretty bad for traffic as it's also at the entry point to 440 as well. Upside is its that much closer to downtown if that's your thing which is a plus. Good luck with your decision.

I live in TX, work in NC/RTP and also considering a move there soon. I travel there pretty often and have an apt. in the RTP. I take people to Triangle Shooting Academy in NW Raleigh for "team building" events fairly often.

Southgate area of Durham is nice, there are some nice duplexes down Fayetteville Rd and and Think off of 751 as well. Went to school in Chapel Hill years ago and Durham proper used to be a great place if you wanted to get stabbed but has been getting gentrified lately and might actually be t0o spendy at this point (plus its a liberal cesspool and the taxes are high I think). Orange County / Hillsborough is also nice but very pricey housing and tax-wise. Outside of Durham proper is sketchy until you get to the more rural burbs.

Cary is really pretty busy (bedroom community with cookie cutter houses on tope of each other) and I live in an area much like that now and don't want to live like that any more. Schools are good. Green Hope School district is the best. Avoid East Cary closer to Raleigh.

South of Cary is Apex and that is somewhat more rural and pretty nice and still accessible to Southgate via 540 or 55.

South of Raleigh is Garner, Holly Springs and Fuqua Varina. H.S. is blowing up, F.V. still pretty rural but will likely get subsumed in the future. East of Raleigh is more affordable but you have to contend with Raleigh traffic which as previously mentioned is awful at rush hour, especially I-40 from SE Raleigh to Durham/147 area.

For my possible move Im thinking of the Wake Forest / Youngsville area over to the Durham county line (theres four counties that meet in that area, Wake-Raleigh/Cary, Franklin and Granville are north of Wake east of Durham county) and possibly Apex.

Greensboro area is probably less busy and growing, but still growing, and Alamance county East of Greensboro is pretty rural with some nice small towns (Elon, nice town, small private college). Don't know much about Guilford City/G'boro area.

I moved to Wake Forest from Montgomery County Maryland about three and a half years ago. Only rented there until we found a place to buy. As mentioned, taxes are high in Wake county and the accents you hear are definitely Northerners who have moved here. We moved to Youngsville in Granville county, which is probably 17 miles or so from downtown Raleigh. No traffic around here to speak of (course I was used to the Washington Beltway traffic) but Raleigh traffic looks like it can be bad. We cut our mortgage in half and have three times the property. We can even shoot in the backyard. Gun laws are considerably better than in Maryland, and I mean considerably! My son is staying with us and works at Crabtree and his commute is around 40 minutes. So, I would stay away from Raleigh proper, but there are really great areas surrounding Raleigh. We really like it here. Feel free to drop me a line with any specific questions.

I live in Charlotte. I have some friends in Raleigh. I moved here 12 years ago from Central Ohio. I have not regretted ONE SINGLE DAY!!!!!

Do you remember what blue skies look like? You likely have not seen one since October. In NC blue skies are a daily occurrence even in the winter. Bring your sunglasses.

The weather is great. The people are great. the BBQ is outstanding - even the vinegar based sauce.

I strongly encourage the move but don't count out the Charlotte area. Visit both, I don't think you can go wrong.

Armedprof is right especially about our BBQ. Lexington is the best but there are several others that are good as well, Smithfield,Stameys (in Greensboro), Kepleys in High Point and then there is Wilbers in Goldsboro. Each one is just a little bit different but all are good.

Our sales taxes are anywhere from 6.5% to 7.25% (I think these are correct) depending on what you buy, no tax on meds. County taxes largely depend on which County you are in.

Whatever you decide good luck.