Looking for info on North Carolina

Hi everybody! My husband is applying for post residency jobs and has received two interview offers for positions located in North Carolina. We've never actually been to North Carolina, but we have heard it is beautiful and everyone we talk to seems to love it. And we've also heard the cost of living is pretty low. Does anyone here have any info about North Carolina....schools, best places to live, etc....? We've been doing a lot of research on the internet and it seems like the crime rates in North Carolina (mostly in the larger cities) are pretty high. I don't know if this is really true or if the crime indexes are just wrong.

My husband will be interviewing for positions in Charlotte and Pinehurst (which I guess is a small town about 20-30 minutes outside of Fayetteville). I would love to hear any feedback you might have on these areas or any part of North Carolina. Thanks!!

El

I only know a little about North Carolina -- we've spent some time on the Outer Banks, the coastal area that often is hit hard by hurricanes. It's really beautiful, seemed safe and was a little pricey. I'm not too sure about inland North Carolina, though I've hear Durham is really nice. Are you going along on the interviews? Maybe hook up with a relator to get some inside information once you get there? I've always imagine the state to be a nice one to live in.

Good luck and keep us posted! You must be so excited to be at this stage (we'll be there in a year!).

[DCJenn]

I have been to both Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham and they're both nice medium-sized cities. Raleigh has UNC and all of the resultant pluses and minuses of a college town. Raleigh is also part of the "Research Triangle" and there are a TON of biotech and related firms.

Charlotte seemed to be a little quieter and laid back.

NC is a beautiful state with mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. Plus, you're not too far away from DC or Florida!

Jenn

I live here!

We've lived in North Carolina for a year and a half and we LOVE it. I've lived in several places- Chicago area, Indiana, So California, Rhode Island- and North Carolina is by far the best place I've lived.
For one thing the housing is incredibly affordable. The people are extremely friendly. We bought a new house in a regular little neighborhood and within 2 days, all of our neighbors had gone out of their way to introduce themselves.

I don't know specifically about the places that you are thinking about moving as I live in Durham. Durham is where Duke is, which is right next to Raleigh (duh), and then Chapel Hill- these three make up the "triangle" as the pp mentioned. Chapel Hill is a little bit more expensive housing-wise but supposedly they have the best schools (my kids are still babies, so not a concern yet). Chapel Hill has UNC-chapel hill and their major med center.
My dh is applying to UNC and it's in his top 3, mainly because I want to stay here and throw down some roots in this lovely town!

And I wanted to add that the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area was voted #1 best place to live by Sperling's. I couldn't agree more

http://houseandhome.msn.com/Move/BestPl ... e2003.aspx