There are lies, damn lies and then there are best-places ratings. Such ratings and rankings have their place, I suppose, but they're intrinsically subjective. The Triangle -- the local name for the two metro areas of Raleigh and Durham (with Chapel Hill), glommed somewhat artificially together into "Raleigh-Durham" -- rates high on some lists because of certain economic statistics. If you move here for a job in tech, health care, drug development or maybe real estate or construction, you'll benefit from the conditions those statistics reflect. Otherwise, just know that while it's not awful, there might not be much more that's particularly attractive. I like outdoor pursuits like mountain biking, trail running, some paddle boarding, skiing, that kind of thing, and while there's some of that here (even skiing if you're willing to drop everything and go when the snow is good in the mountains about three hours to the west), it's kind of mediocre. The vaunted restaurant scene in Durham is overblown. How many fancyfied and overpriced "authentic Southern" joints and mediocre microbreweries do we really need? And enjoy cruising for parking while your dinner reservation time gets closer and closer. If you want mountains, go to Asheville. If you want the ocean, go to Wilmington or Charleston or Norfolk. Hey, you can drive to all of them on the weekend, but do you really want to spend your time off in the car? The climate has mild winters, sure, but the summer is brutal and forces people to live in air conditioning for months on end. The biggest drawback, though, and it's hardly unique to this area, is the spiraling cycle of sprawl and traffic brought on by the lack of viable housing for people who aren't well off. And what affordable housing there is largely cut off from any kind of meaningful walkability -- especially in the dangerous summer heat. Good luck finding a corner store, coffee shop, take-out restaurant, anything that doesn't require driving in most of the area. "Sprawleigh" is not without reason. Come here for a great job, business opportunity, school, or to be close to family, but know that's about it.
David | Durham, NC | Report Abuse

I have been to the RDU area 3x now. And we have been seriously considering moving there. Anytime a house catches my eyes, I STUDY where it is on the map in great detail, the "amenities" nearby, flood zones, etc. And I look at the "street view." What SHOCKS me is that -- with climate change clearly a reality -- all of the developments have been built and continue to be built in ways that make it IMPOSSIBLE to walk instead of driving! I am 64 and my husband is 75 -- we walk half a mile to the store -- and back up our STEEP street because it's faster than taking out the car and trying to find a parking space -- and also we like the exercise. We will walk 2 miles down to the ocean and have a beer and walk back. But most of the streets I see don't even have sidewalks! And most of them are cul-de-sacs within cul-de-sacs that lead to main roads that also have NO way to walk safely on them! WHY? These layouts mean that, even if a restaurant or store is, say 1/3 of a mile away -- an easy distance to walk -- by the time you circle and circle and get out of the maze the developer has created, you'll have had to walk 3/4 of a mile! And walking on the shoulder of a 4-lane road isn't safe. TERRIBLE planning. Disastrous for the long-term. I know it's a lot hotter in the summer than where I live but -- for the environment and for the health of people, all these cities should be doing everything in their power to make it safe to ride a bicycle or walk (or walk to public transportation) -- and encourage people to do so. I know what I'm speaking about -- I watched a gorgeous place, "the fruit basket of the US" be transformed from the Santa Clara Valley into a nightmare known as "Silicon Valley." With the explosive growth of the RDU area -- the city councils should use the mistakes made there as a "cautionary tale" -- and NOT repeat them.
steve | San Francisco, CA | Report Abuse