North Carolina members, read this!

[maddogg]

Statesville. Your welcome.

[Julien]

Well, having lived in Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Wilmington I feel pretty comfortable weighing in.

Asheville - absolutely awesome place. Pros: Food, beer, atmosphere, scenery, music and art scenes, all top notch. Cons: the entire town is based on service. There is very little industry, so finding a job in IT will probably be tough. It's also a fairly expensive place to live.

Charlotte - where I presently am. Pros: Great job market, plenty of size, tons of stuff to do, great location central to the other areas in NC and upstate SC. There are also NFL, NBA, and minor league baseball teams if you're into live sports. Cons: it's huge, and there isn't really a good way to get anywhere. Traffic can be a pain, depending on where you are going to and from and at what time. Strangely, for a city of this size, the food is somewhat subpar. There are some good places, but very few that are outstanding. Real estate can also be expensive, depending on the area of town.

Raleigh - this area has changed a lot since I lived there about 8 years ago, and the woman and I have discussed a move up there. It's smaller than Charlotte, but still a good sized city. Pros: high concentration of tech firms, especially in RTP, which bodes well for your job search. The night life there has improved, as have the restaurants. It also has an NHL team if you're into hockey. Real estate isn't too bad, even in decent areas. Cons: like Charlotte, it sprawls and frequently there isn't a good way to get where you're going. Traffic can also be pretty bad, depending on the time and area.

Wilmington - don't live there. There is no job market whatsoever, and the traffic is god awful.

About restos: I would say there are, they are just out of our price range lol and way to forget about charlotte bishes :mrgreen:

Having lived in AVL/CLT/RDU here is my tl/dr list.

Avl: Only place you might find good $$ in IT is working for the hospital system (Mission). Awesome little town but getting overcrowded IMHO. Very liberal place, unless you live in south Asheville, which is a tad more conservative. Also not very religious at all (something worth noting as NC is in the bible belt). Don't move here unless you have a job lined up, unless you want to end up as a barista or working at best buy. That all said, roads around asheville are awesome. Heck, it's probably why I got into e30s.

CLT: If you avoid the suburban sprawl and live close to center city (I live in uptown) its great fun. I park my car Friday nights and don't look at it until Monday morning. I can walk to grocery shops, bars, clubs or even take the light rail down to southend etc. Job market is good, very blue collar/middle management focused though. AWESOME AWESOME automotive scene here . Underground Racing (Builds turbocharged lambos) Eurowise (Builds stupid fast VWs and some BMWs), GMP (blings out Maseratis and Porsches) and Lotion Lab (asian car place).
Charlotte is very "show it if you've got it" place. Material is very important here (maybe it has to do with the retarded amount of people in the finance industry that work here). If you go out uptown you'll notice many "barbies" and "kens" walking around.. or driving around in a new s5/amg/m something/porsche

RDU: It has had somewhat of a cultural revolution since I've lived there. However that said it is nothing close to Asheville or Charlotte level of fun. I have heard it referred to as the new "Austin" because of all the startups/tech firms there. Living in Chapel Hill might also be a good option to look into if you want more "fun"

Greenville: This place also seems to have been through a center-city cultural revolution. Might be worth checking out. But you'd have to tell people you live in SC (it's like topgear.. you'd have to say you drive a vauxhall)

meh go wherever you find work

[redsubdivisions]

I'm doing a bump on this thread for a few reasons:

-I'm in the mindset to move to NC next year. Where I currently live, the cost of living is rising exponentially and my pay is not keeping up with it, even with my recent promotion and small pay raise. I am making almost $60k/year and I am barely getting by. If anyone on here plans to move to Naples, FL...do yourself a favor and stay the fuck away. Renting or buying, it's horrendously overpriced. This place is extremely seasonal and it has taken its toll on me. I'm ready to get the fuck out.

-I want my children to live where there are real season and not just "hot" and "hot as hell".

-No family or support system down here, whereas NC (specifically around Charlotte) has been a home for my grandparents and a couple of my uncles for almost a decade now. They has told me that moving was the best thing that could have been done for them, especially my uncle who left a $100k/yr job to move up there.

With that said, I have my mind set on Charlotte or at least the outer lying areas. If anyone reading this lives in this vicinity AND works at a dealer as a parts guy, I would love to have your input. I plan on applying to a few dealers a month or two before I move up there so I can have something locked down before I make the journey. I plan on doing this in October of next year (2016) when my current apartment lease is up.