CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Apparently, there’s just something about North Carolina. For the second year in a row, America’s best city in which to live lies within its borders, according to Relocate-America.com’s annual list.
This year, Charlotte, N.C., is in the top spot, the site announced this week. Last year’s winner was Asheville, N.C., which slipped to No. 7 on this year’s list.
“North Carolina is very active on our radar,” said Steve Nickerson, president and CEO of HomeRoute. “It continues to get a flood of interest from all over.”
HomeRoute is the real estate firm that operates Relocate-America.com, a source of community information and real-estate resources for those who are relocating. Each year, the site ranks the top 100 places to live in the country.
Areas need to be nominated on the site in order to be eligible for the list; more than 2,000 were nominated this year, Nickerson said. Special efforts are made to prevent spamming campaigns from influencing the results, he added.
But the site’s editorial team also takes into account an area’s growth, its educational and employment opportunities, crime rates and housing options before granting it a spot in the top 100. Environmental highlights also play a role, with a city gaining points for good air and water quality or the strength of its recycling efforts, Nickerson said.
6 Comments
I’m happy about this. Won’t it make some folks move to Charlotte (instead of Asheville)? Surely some folks move here and then get frustrated because Asheville doesn’t have five big malls or six Olive Gardens, etc.
For those folks, Charlotte is the place to be.
I, for one, would like to see Asheville drop off the radar as the "best place to live" or "best place to retire". Stories like that have drawn too many flies already.
As for the cost of living being cheaper: well, you get what you pay for.
Ugh. Charlotte: Land of the Soulless.
well, the cost of living in charlotte is about 30% less than it is in Asheville. That has to count for something.
Charlotte sux. Simple as that.
=WL=
Guess they missed all that suck, too.
guess they missed the 30 or so percent jump in violent crime last year in Charlotte… huh?