Raleigh or Charlotte. Charlotte or Raleigh. Which city is the best place
to live in North Carolina. We're going to break it all down for you up next.
Hi I'm Chris Morton real estate broker with exp realty in raleigh north carolina and on today's
video we're gonna talk about raleigh north carolina and charlotte north carolina give
you a comparison of the two so you can decide where's the best place for you to live and if
you're a local it'll give you some bragging rights against your friends that live in the other city
but before we get started i need to let you know there is no way in the world we can put
all of the facts and figures and data about Raleigh and charlotte in one video so we will
be doing a follow-up video to this if you have any suggestions please put them in the comments
below we would love to hear them first topic we need to talk about is location raleigh is located
very centrally in the dead center of the state of north carolina where charlotte is located in
the center but more to the western part of the state driving from raleigh to charlotte
is about a two and a half hour drive charlotte is closer to the mountains whereas raleigh is closer
to the coast the closest beach to raleigh is wrightsville beach at about two hours
whereas the closest beach to charlotte is myrtle beach south carolina at three and a half hours
a trip to the mountains is going to take you about an hour and 50 minutes from charlotte depending on
what part of the mountains you go to whereas from raleigh it's going to take you about three hours
next up let's talk about population the population of the city of charlotte is around 890,000 which
makes it the 15th largest city in the united states whereas the population of raleigh
is coming in around 480,000 which makes it the 40th largest city in the united states however
while charlotte is about double the size of the city of raleigh you have to bear in mind that
it's more of a metropolitan area to metropolitan area so charlotte gastonia concord metro area
has about 2.7 million people whereas the raleigh durham chapel hill triangle area has 2.1 million
people and if you know anybody in raleigh area you know it's basically one big giant city
charlotte is a little bit different but raleigh durham chapel hill cary apex et cetera et cetera
is all just one big giant city hard to decide where one city ends and the other city begins
next up let's talk about the feel of each city each city has a very different vibe to it
charlotte is much more centralized and their downtown area is actually called uptown i wonder
why they don't have an uptown area they call downtown but we're not going there all in all
charlotte is a much more denser packed city than raleigh is raleigh has a very nice downtown as
well although again it is not as densely packed as charlotte's there's still stuff to do there
but it's not that big city metropolitan vibe you're gonna get from charlotte in raleigh in the
triangle where people go to hang out is much more spread out you've got not only downtown raleigh
but you've got durham you've got chapel hill you've got north hills you've got north raleigh
as well as all the other cities like cary and apex and holly springs that all have their own
downtowns and places to go overall both raleigh and charlotte are great areas but if you want
that more big city vibe charlotte is probably more where you're looking whereas if you want
a medium-sized city suburban type atmosphere raleigh and the triangle is probably your best bet
next up we'll talk about the culture both cities are changing dramatically with people moving in
from all over the united states and in fact all over the world the entire state of north
carolina has a great reputation for southern hospitality you're going to meet a lot of kind
nice pleasant people whether you choose raleigh or charlotte culturally raleigh has more of the
museums because it is the state capital it also has a lot more museums that are affiliated with
the three major universities among the prominent museums in the raleigh area are the north carolina
museum of art the north carolina museum of natural sciences the north carolina museum
of history and the contemporary art museum and on and on and on raleigh also has the duke center for
performing arts as well as the durham performing arts center in nearby durham north carolina where
you are going to be able to catch a broadway show and lots of really cool shows like that charlotte
also has many many museums among them the harvey gantt center for african american arts and
culture the beckler museum of modern arts the mint museum and the nascar hall of fame charlotte also
has the blumenthal performing arts center where you're going to be able to catch broadway shows
as well next up let's talk about the colleges and universities in the raleigh area there are three
major universities nc state university in raleigh unc chapel hill in chapel hill and duke university
in durham according to the u.s news undergraduate rankings duke university ranks number 12 in the
nation unc ranks number 28 and nc state ranks 80th raleigh also has wake tech community college which
is the largest community college in the state with 21,000 students charlotte's largest university is
unc charlotte part of the unc system both cities have a number of community colleges historically
black universities and colleges as well as smaller liberal arts colleges as well by the way if you're
enjoying this video make sure you subscribe next up let's talk about the sports scene
raleigh has the nhl professional carolina hurricanes hockey team durham which is
near raleigh has a minor league baseball team the durham bulls so famous they made a movie about it
also raleigh is a pretty big college sports town as you can imagine with the three universities
here and all three universities are nationally known for their football baseball and of course
basketball among many other sports charlotte on the other hand has the nfl carolina panthers and
the nba charlotte hornets as well a minor league hockey team the charlotte checkers college wise
charlotte has unc charlotte as well as davidson good schools but definitely not at the level that
you're going to see with unc nc state and duke so to sum it up if you're into professional football
or basketball charlotte probably wins for you but if you're into professional hockey or a college
football basketball scene the triangle is probably best for you next up let's talk about things to do
both raleigh and charlotte have a ton of things to do and have some really amazing outdoor activities
charlotte has the carowinds amusement park which is located halfway in north carolina
and halfway in south carolina charlotte also has the whitewater center where you can participate
in a ton of outdoor activities charlotte also has lake norman lake wiley and freedom park as
well as an extensive greenway trail with over 52 miles of greenway as well charlotte's downtown is
a beautiful walkable area with lots of things to do you can catch a sports team go to a bar food
museums just about anything you can imagine doing you can do downtown or in their case
uptown charlotte raleigh on the other hand has the north carolina state fair which brings people
from all over the state and all over the region in the fall of the year
it's a big giant event as well raleigh has the state farmers market which operates seven days
a week and is a great place to get vegetables fruits plants just about anything you can imagine
raleigh also has a number of parks with pullen park dix park and umstead park with an easy
driving distance of anyone in the raleigh area near raleigh in durham at duke university is
the sarah p duke botanical gardens and the duke university lemur center so if you're into lemurs
duke's place for you as well durham has a really cool downtown area we've talked about before
a very very happening food scene happening in durham then you've got chapel hill you've got
all the other cities so pretty vibrant area good stuff to do raleigh also has plenty of outdoor
spaces including the falls lake recreation area where you can go boating as well as the raleigh
greenway with over 112 miles of trail for biking hiking running jogging whatever you want to do
downtown raleigh isn't as large as charlotte's downtown but there are still lots of fun things
to do bars restaurants great places to hang out downtown glenwood south is a area in downtown
raleigh that's really really happening really hot and popular great place to go as well of
course you have the north hills complex which we talked about in an earlier video we will link our
walking tour of the north hills video down below in the description so please go check that out
after you watch this video the next thing to talk to you about is the restaurant scene of course
both cities are in the south so you can definitely get your southern cuisine your fried chicken your
barbecue your collard greens your mac and cheese and all the other delicious things we make here
in the south but because both cities are growing the amount of food the variety of food is growing
as well just about any kind of cuisine you can imagine can be found in both raleigh and charlotte
also because of all that growth several celebrity chefs and award-winning chefs make raleigh home
and have really improved the scene as well food halls have also become very popular in both cities
in charlotte you have the 7th street public market and optimist hall in raleigh you have
morgan street food hall and the transfer food hall next up the important topic of shopping
we'll start with grocery stores both cities have a ton of really great grocery stores including
harris teeter lowe's foods food lion trader joe's whole foods lidl aldi and just about any other one
you can imagine however raleigh has three soon to be four wegmans charlotte doesn't have any
if you're not familiar with wegmans it's like the mecca of grocery stores highly recommend you check
one out mall wise charlotte has south park mall which is a really really nice mall that has a
neiman marcus louis vuitton tiffany and a lot of other really high-end stores raleigh however has
two primary malls crabtree valley mall in raleigh and southpoint mall in durham on the airport side
of durham where a lot of the really nice stores exist as well but just not as many of the high
high-end stores that you're going to find at south park next up we'll talk about the economy
and job opportunities luckily both charlotte and raleigh are thriving areas with plenty
of job opportunities charlotte is the number two largest banking center in the entire united states
just behind new york city and so of course banking is one of their primary industries
raleigh is known for the research triangle park also called the silicon valley of the east
which is the largest research park in the united states rtp has hundreds of different
companies in areas such as science technology government biology academic institutions and
health care and the list goes on and on overall the raleigh economy is more diverse and therefore
is more likely to weather the storm of a downturn than charlotte which is more dependent on banking
overall both cities have a similar unemployment rate with the per capita income of raleigh being
slightly higher than that of charlotte next up we'll talk about housing both raleigh and
charlotte are insane real estate markets right now there are a lot of people moving from out of state
to come to both raleigh and charlotte the current median home price for a home in charlotte is
$322,000 whereas the current median home price for a home in raleigh is $317,000. typically homes in
raleigh cost more than homes in charlotte but with the way the housing market has been going lately
it's been a little bit topsy-turvy but overall the trend is generally that homes cost more
in raleigh next up we'll talk about transportation both cities have fairly similar traffic and
transportation issues going on right now because of the growth they're experiencing in both cities
traffic is definitely getting worse and in fact it may be worse than you'd expect depending on
where you're coming from charlotte has a light rail system which makes it a lot easier to get
from point a to point b raleigh however does not have a light rail system so you're going to need a
car to travel around the raleigh area raleigh and charlotte are also connected by a train charlotte
has the charlotte douglas international airport which is ranked among the top 10
busiest airports in the world with approximately 178 non-stop destinations you can get to from
charlotte raleigh on the other hand has the raleigh durham international airport with over 57
non-stop destinations you can get to from raleigh next up let's talk about the ratings each city
gets niche.com gives charlotte an overall rating of A while raleigh gets an overall rating of A+
charlotte's schools are given a rating of B plus where raleigh schools are giving A rating
of a charlotte gets a B+ for jobs whereas raleigh gets an A- for jobs cost of living is a B for both
cities and for diversity both cities get an A+ these ratings by niche.com are based on millions
of independent reviews as well as government data so which city is the best place to live well it
depends if you're looking for a dense big city cosmopolitan urban vibe then charlotte's probably
a good place for you if you're looking more for a spread out city mid-sized city suburban vibe then
raleigh and the raleigh area is probably right for you i can't make the decision for you although i
can say raleigh definitely should win because i live in raleigh so you know that's gotta count
for some point so that's all we got we appreciate you guys watching please subscribe and like the
video we love you to do so and we'll see you next time this has been chris morton take care bye-bye