Relocate to Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill?

To put things in perspective in the Triangle wide real estate market, there were 236 homes sold in 2009 that were greater than $800,000 or 1.2% of all homes sold. In 2008, still not a great year, that number was almost double (410 homes) or 2% of the all homes sold.

Gallup knows a little about polling and Healthways knows a little about well-being, so together they periodically publish their Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index (WBI). Of the top 10 large cities, Raleigh/Cary ranked 3rd behind San Jose, CA and Washington, DC. See www.gallup.com for more details.

The Triangle Food Tour announced the addition of a downtown Durham Walking Food Tour.

The Milken Institute completed their 2009 best cities rankings and the Triangle area has again faired well. The Durham MSA, which includes Orange County (Chapel Hill and most of RTP) is #6 and Raleigh/Cary MSA is # 10. Details

The Daily Beast published their rankings of America's Smartest Cities and Raleigh- Durham made the # 1 spot. Click here for details

The town of Apex was ranked number 3 in Forbes.com's listing of America's 25 Best Places to Move. See www.forbes.com

Downtown Raleigh R-Line (free circulator bus) made its debut in February, linking most of the major venues and restaurants that are spread across downtown "pockets" like Seaboard, Warehouse, Fayetteville St., Convention Center, Performing Arts and City Market with service every 10-15 minutes.

Home sales in October 2009 in Wake County increased by 5% compared to October 2008. The average price was 10% lower.

Downtown Walking Food Tour in Raleigh or Chapel Hill & Carrboro is a great way for area residents to get to know the inside, local dining scene, while learning first-hand about the downtown areas.

Cary now the 5th fastest growing city for populations over 100,000.

Kiplinger.com publishes their Best Cities to Live, Work and Play for 2009 and Raleigh ranks #10.

Cary has been recognized as the 3rd safest community among US municipalities with populations between 100,000- 499,999 by CQ Press, publisher of "City Crime Rankings 2008-2009: Crime in Metropolitan America". Amherst, NY and Irvine, CA were numbers 1 and 2, making Cary the safest city in NC and the Southeast Region.

2 area high schools, Raleigh Charter and East Chapel Hill ranked among the nation's top 100 by US News & World Report in their 2009 list of best high schools.

Forbes Magazine ranks Raleigh #1 for the second time in the annual 2008 Top Ten Places for Business and Careers Survey.

NC is the 6th fastest growing state and remains #10 in total population..

How did Triangle area towns do in the 14th edition of "City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America"?

After only one year in operation, The Triangle Acquatic Center in Cary, the largest indoor pool complex in North Carolina, was named one of the Best Indoor Aquatic Facility in the country by Aquatics International (one of the leading sources for aquatic facilty management, products and services in November 2008.

Ever wonder where all the population growth is coming from in Wake County? Start by digesting some of the birth statistics which total 13,000 annually and growing 5-6% per year.

NC does not fare well in latest nation-wide traffic study from the Reason Foundation. At #31 it's not the worst, which is NJ (as if you needed another reason to move from NJ)

Forbes Magazine ranks Raleigh/Cary as # 1 in Best City for Jobs Survey, February 2007

Carolina News Wire features Associate Arrangements' article on attracting the best people.

Chapel Hill and Durham are the only Triangle communities to receive the first ever Fit Community designation

North Carolina ranks 3rd in Biotech industry by Ernst & Young annual survey.

Once again the Silicon Valley Leadership Group ranks the Triangle as the most attractive of the top technology areas in the US.

Associate Arrangements featured in News & Observer article.

North Carolina ranks # 3 in net population migration of people 60+.

Research Triangle Park Region Ranks # 8 in Most Unwired Cities Survey by Intel

Associate Arrangements Featured in Cary Magazine Article on Relocation

Triangle Biotech industry ranks 5th overall in the nation, ahead of other regions such as San Diego, Seattle and Chicago.

How did Triangle area towns do in the 14th edition of "City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America"? Here is how North Carolina cities with 75,000 or more residents ranked, from most safe to least safe, among 378 cities nationally:

Forbes Magazine ranks Raleigh/Cary as # 1 in "Best City for Jobs" Survey, February 2007. Here are the top 5.

Chapel Hill and Durham are the only Triangle communities to receive the first ever "Fit Community" designation.

The criteria, developed by Active Living, a Chapel Hill based non-profit organization that consults with commuities throughout the country on health issues, involves much more than just exercise related resources. Commuinities also had to demonstrate and prove their long-term committment to the health and well-being of their residents, not just the number of parks or bike trails.

North Carolina ranks 3rd in Biotech industry by Ernst & Young annual survey.

The Triangle area has the most critical mass of Biotech related activities in the state, but NC trails Massachusetts and California.

Cary designated #7 of the "Top 10 Places to Raise Your Family in 2006" by Frommers

Cary is the only city in North Carolina making the top 10 list in Frommer's first addition of "Best Places to Raise Your Family: The top 100 Affordable Communities in the US". The factors compared in the study included affordability, education, health and safety, standard of living, lifestyle and family population profile. So what does the top 10 look like? See below:

For the 2nd year in a row, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group ranks the Triangle as the most attractive of the top technology areas in the US.

In a recently published report entitled "Projections 2007, this group concluded the Triangle was #1 in overall attractiveness compared to several other major technology areas. Here is how the areas were ranked:

North Carolina ranks # 3 in net population migration of people 60+ during the period 1995-2000. As you would expect, NC trails far behind FL (#1) and AZ (#2), but ahead of NV (#4) and TX (#5).

In a study by the Milken Institute, a California think tank, the Triangle area ranked 5th in overall attractiveness for life-science companies and research. The Triangle bested regions such as San Diego, Seattle and Chicago, but trailed Boston, Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco. The Triangle stands out with it's skilled work force that grew 20% faster than the national average and only Boston has more graduates with doctorate degrees.

In a study by the US English Foundation, Wake County was found to be the most linguistically diverse county in the state of NC, with 70 languages spoken. During the past decade, the county's foreign born population has reached 500,000. Most common languages spoken:

NC population grew 1.4% from July 2003 to July 2004, adding more than 120,000 people. The top 10 states are ranked below:

TOP-GROWING STATES (7/03-7/04)

1. NEVADA: 4.1 percent
2. ARIZONA: 3 percent
3. FLORIDA: 2.3 percent
4. IDAHO: 1.9 percent
5. GEORGIA: 1.8 percent
6. TEXAS: 1.7 percent
7. UTAH: 1.6 percent
8. DELAWARE: 1.5 percent
9. NORTH CAROLINA: 1.4 percent
10. NEW MEXICO: 1.3 percent
Source: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Fortune Magazine's 2005 annual List of The 100 Best Companies to Work For has four area companies that have made this prestigeous list- Kimley Horn (#20), Cisco Systems (#25), Network Appliance (#27) and SAS Institute (#30). In 2004, SAS was the only NC company that made the list. Congratulations to Cisco Systems and Network Appliance who are also supscribers to the Triangle Gateway web resource for all their local employees.

Home sales in October 2009 in Wake County increase by 5% compared to October 2008. The average price declined by 10%.

Wake county home sales in October 2009 were 1,216, 5% higher than October 2008. The average price of $244,000 was 10% lower than the prior year. The inventory of homes for sale, 8,153 declined slightly. At the October sales pace, this inventory is equivalent to a 6 1/2 months supply.

2 area high schools, Raleigh Charter and East Chapel Hill, were ranked among the nation's top 100 (gold medal recognition) by US News & World Report in their 2009 list of the nations top high schools.

In the 2009 report, a total of 7 Triangle area schools were recognized as being among the top 1.942 schools in the country. A total of 21,000 schools were evaluated in 48 states. Green Hope HS in Cary was the only area school to receive "silver medal" recognition. NC as a whole ranked #25 among all states. Click on link below for full listing

Forbes ranks Raleigh #1 overall for the second time in Best Places for Business & Careers in 2008 survey.

This annual survey conducted by Forbes, includes criteria on income and job growth, cost of doing business, (the cost of such things as labor, energy, taxes and office space) and other characteristics such as qualifications of the available labor pool, crime rates, housing costs and net migrations.

When Dun & Bradstreet vice president of Analytical Services Jan Rowland ran the numbers for Entrepreneur and Dun & Bradstreet's 8th annual ranking of the best cities in the nation for entrepreneurship, one thing stuck out: Metropolitan areas in the South—from Texas to Florida and up through North Carolina—dominated the top 10. But it's the way that the South achieved its lofty position that she found intriguing.

"There are a significant number of new businesses [in the South] each year," she says. It's a trend that makes the area attractive to entrepreneurs. Having other young companies nearby represents an opportunity to grow business-to-business relationships, she notes, as they aren't yet locked into long-term supplier contracts.

In the South region rankings, RTP and the Charlotte area were ranked 5th and 6^th respectively.

Spearheaded by the growth of the Charlotte and Research Triangle metro areas, North Carolina now enjoys the nation's best business climate, according to Site Selection Magazine, a trade publication for corporate relocation specialists. The state was ranked third last year and climbed to the top of the magazine's rankings largely on the strength of business expansions and relocations during 2000, before the current economic slowdown hit. The magazine said North Carolina barely edged out California, Texas, Virginia and Florida for the top spot. The rankings are determined from five criteria that include total new and expanded corporate facilities for 2000; total new and expanded corporate facilities for 1998-2000; total new and expanded facilities per one million residents for 1998-2000; total new and expanded facilities per 1,000 square miles for 1998-2000; and results from the magazine's annual survey of corporate real estate executives who work for companies with nationwide operations.

Cary named the safest large municipality in NC and the Southeastern US according to 2006 report

The Town of Cary has been ranked the 8th safest of 371 large cities in the nation in the 13th Annual Morgan Quitno Safest (And Most Dangerous) City Award. Once again, Cary is the only North Carolina municipality listed in the top 10 as well as the only southern city in the top 25. This is 8th the year in a row that Cary has been ranked in the top 10 safest cities in the U.S. Each year the Kansas-based Morgan Quitno Press analyzes crime data submitted to the FBI by city and metropolitan governments representing at least 100,000 residents. The group looks at the number of murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts to create their list. The complete list of the top 10 safest cities is shown below:

The annual study is based on 3 factors-H.S. Graduation Rates, Affordability of Housing and Access to Educational Resources.

The March 2004 issue of this publication gave high marks to The Triangle Area for it's past and expected continued ability to create and grow high-skill, innovative, high wage work. A quick look at the top 10 follow:

Rank By Job growth % and 2008 Median Salary ($)
1 Raleigh-Durham, NC 14 29,700
2 San Jose, CA 11 40,320
3 Washington, DC 10 35,220
4 Austin, TX 12 28,940
5 Atlanta, GA 13 28,910
6 West Palm Beach, FL 16 25,640
7 San Francisco-Oakland, CA 9 38,620
8 Middlesex-Somerset, NJ 10 34,040
9 Seattle, WA 9 35,270
10 Boston, MA 7 35,090

Intel's 3rd annual survey for 2005 ranks the top 100 cities based on the number of commercial and public hot spots. The Research Triangle Region ranks #8. For the complete list click on Most Unwired Cities List

Raleigh-Durham "slips" to #6 overall in Forbes 6th Annual Listing of America's Best Cities for Singles-2006

The rankings measure each of the 40 largest metropolitan areas across 6 different categories. Raleigh-Durham was #6 overall, but ironically the rankings showed the area was weakest when it comes to singles and nightlife:

1. Denver-Boulder
2. Boston
3. Phoenix
4. San Francisco
5. New York City
6. Raleigh-Durham
7. Seattle
8. Austin
9. Washington-Baltimore
10. Miami

The move into the top 10 spot happened much quicker than most forecasters predicted. .


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