Raleigh, North Carolina, isn’t any small city. Residence to about 470,000 residents, it doesn’t register as a major U.S. city both. Nonetheless, this Southern gem spoils locals as if it had been — with a booming foodie scene, an abundance of craft-breweries and top-notch arts and cultural choices (most of which are free!), plus greater than 9,000 acres of parkland.
The Metropolis of Oaks can be notably extra numerous than North Carolina as a complete and celebrates this truth. The Out! Raleigh pleasure celebration and the African American Cultural Festival are simply two examples. Each occasions roared again to life this previous summer season after having been on pause as a result of pandemic.
Loads of different occasions dominate the streets of downtown Raleigh, too — together with Hopscotch, an annual multi-day music pageant that pulls the hipsters from across the East Coast. The occasion is a crown jewel of the realm’s thriving music beat, which has produced the indie darlings Bowerbirds and Sylvan Esso (technically from neighboring Durham).
These components are main contributors to Raleigh’s placement because the No. 4 Best Place to Live nationwide and helped it clinch the highest spot on this regional list.
To find out the perfect locations to dwell within the South, we targeted on locations with populations of not less than 50,000 that had been situated in 16 Southern states as outlined by the U.S. Census. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
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We additionally restricted the rankings to at least one place per county and two locations per state. As with our core Best Places to Live rating, we collected roughly 350 items of knowledge on every Southern place and grouped that data into 9 main rating classes corresponding to facilities, value of dwelling, variety, financial alternative and extra. (See our full Best Places methodology for extra particulars.)
Whereas Raleigh gives an amazing high quality of life with tons of choices for leisure, maybe the strongest issue of all is its financial system.
Between 2016 and 2021, the town noticed an 11% growth in job development — doubling the nationwide common — and over the subsequent 5 years, Moody’s Analytics predicts extra development of greater than 10% (an particularly spectacular feat for an already massive and numerous financial system).
As a 3rd of North Carolina’s prestigious Research Triangle, Raleigh has courted many big-name employers, together with IBM, Cisco Programs and Pfizer. North Carolina State University is a significant native employer, as are native branches of Duke University’s hospital system.
Plus, as the house to NC State and the HBCUs Shaw College and Saint Augustine’s College, Raleigh can be a higher-education powerhouse. Duke College and UNC- Chapel Hill are only a quick distance away in Durham and Chapel Hill respectively — and are the opposite two factors that full the Analysis Triangle.
To high all of it off: Raleigh’s public college system is extremely regarded, with college students scoring effectively above common in math and studying.
After all, the South boasts loads of superb locations to dwell as effectively. Right here’s a have a look at another stand-out cities.
The ten greatest locations to dwell within the South
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Columbia, Maryland
- Tampa, Florida
- Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- Arlington, Virginia
- Rockville, Maryland
- Franklin, Tennessee
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Marietta, Georgia
- Bentonville, Arkansas
Editor’s observe: We excluded Atlanta for this regional record of greatest locations to dwell. Atlanta ranked No. 1 on our general Greatest Locations to Dwell record, and we devoted an entire cover story to sing its praises. Right here, we spotlight different distinctive Southern cities.
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The 50 Best Places to Live in the U.S.