These North Carolina cities are among ‘most desirable’ places to live, US report finds
North Carolina is one of the “most desirable” states — and boasts three of the nation’s top cities to call home, a new report finds.
Charlotte, Raleigh and Winston-Salem all rank among the country’s most attractive places to live. North Carolina cities also made their mark in other categories in the rankings from the real estate website Clever. Here’s where they landed:
- Charlotte at No. 1 among “most underrated cities”
- Raleigh at No. 4 among “most underrated cities”
- Charlotte at No. 2 among friendliest cities
- Raleigh at No. 6 among friendliest cities
- Charlotte at No. 7 among “prettiest cities”
To create the lists, Clever said it conducted an online survey of 1,000 U.S. adults from June 14 to 16.
“Each respondent answered 25 questions related to where they live, which areas of the U.S. they prefer, and what they believe makes a city or state desirable,” Clever wrote in an Aug. 5 report. “In addition, we examined migration data from the U.S. Census at the state and metro level to determine which states and cities Americans are moving in and out of.”
More about the top-ranked NC cities
When considering the nation’s 50 largest cities by population, Charlotte ranked No. 2 and Raleigh was the No. 6 “most desirable.”
And among mid-sized cities, Winston-Salem landed at No. 6, a Clever spokesperson told McClatchy News in an email.
The top-ranked destinations might not come as a surprise, given North Carolina as a whole ranked as the sixth “most desirable” state. In the past, North Carolina cities also have been named hot spots for people ranging from recent college graduates to retirees, McClatchy News reported.
The most recent results come as survey respondents shared which factors help them determine the best places to live. Lower crime, affordable prices and pleasant weather top the list.
Also in the rankings, Charlotte reigned supreme on the list of underrated places that leave visitors “pleasantly surprised.”
“Charlotte offers the best of both worlds: an affordable cost of living with an expanding array of amenities, making it a hidden gem compared to more well-known, but pricier, urban centers,” the spokesperson wrote.
Some North Carolina cities also ranked among the “prettiest” places to live and those with the “nicest” people. But they didn’t fare as well when it came to having the best food, scoring just about average in that category.
Overall, rankings show the No. 1 place to live in the United States was Tampa, Florida.
This story was originally published August 16, 2024 at 10:56 AM with the headline "These North Carolina cities are among ‘most desirable’ places to live, US report finds."
