Thinking about moving to North Carolina? Want to call the Tar Heel State home? Today I'm going to
give you 10 things you should know about before you make that move or even start thinking about
it. North Carolina is a great southern state with mountains, great cities, and 300 miles of amazing
Atlantic coastline. They're known for having great food, drink, and people. In the last 20 years
North Carolina has gained a lot of popularity. Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, and Asheville kind of
leading the charge in their popularity, and that's where most of the people are moving to. What you're
going to get in this video is things you should know before you make that move, both good and bad
things. At the end of the video, leave me a comment. Let me know if anything stuck out to you that
might make you change your mind about North Carolina. Or if you're from the Tar Heel state
let me know if I missed any or there's anything you'd like to add to it. Got it? Get it? Good
Let's take a look. Number 10, the transplants. North Carolina has sort of turned into a tech
job hotspot area. This has led to a steady stream of out-of-state millennials showing up in the Tar
Hill state, looking for better opportunities. And it's not just like in Charlotte. Most of their
bigger cities have started attracting tech companies and tech workers in recent years
They're doing much better than a lot of other states in this department. If you're in this situation, there's a couple of reasons you should choose North Carolina over some of these other
states. Number one, the locals aren't too upset about it. I mean, I'm sure you're going to find
some that have an ax to grind with people moving to their state. There's always that 10%. But what
I've seen from North Carolinians, they're not like that. This is the South. Being nice and decent to
people is kind of in their blood. The second thing is buying a house. If you're coming from someplace
like New York, DC, California, the prices in North Carolina, even in their big cities, is relatively
low compared to a lot of other states. Are they the cheapest? No. Are they almost half price of
California, New York, and Washington, D.C., absolutely they are. Number nine, the health care
If you're in poor health or maybe a little bit older and have some issues you may need
help with, this is one of the best states to choose. Also, if you work in health care, North Carolina is a great state
They have many great hospitals and facilities, but two of their main ones are Duke University
Hospital in Durham. It's considered one of the highest performing facilities in the nation, providing nine different
procedures and is nationally ranked in 10 pediatric specialties and various adult specialties. Then
you have the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. That's ranked number two in the state and it
provides pretty much the same stuff, just not as many pediatric or adult specialties. Yeah, so if
you retired and poor health there a lot worse states you could move to Number eight a reasonable cost of living North Carolina is not that expensive especially when you consider it a very attractive state to move to I mean it got coastlines got beautiful mountains
beautiful land, thriving cities. It's a good place to live, and it's still not terribly expensive
Like I said in the last video, I could give you all the numbers, you know, how much the average energy bill is
and it's just all over the map, and things are changing rapidly right now because of the economy we're in currently
so I'm not going to get all into it, But I'll tell you this, they are ranked 12th or 14th, depending on how you look at it when
it comes to cost of living. Different organizations have different ranking systems
But compared to the average, let's say $100 in North Carolina to buy $100 worth of stuff
it costs you $90.60. That's very much a broad brush way of looking at it
But just know that the cost of living in North Carolina is a lot cheaper than most states
When it comes to long term fiscal stability, the state itself is ranked fifth in the nation
If you want to live in a cheaper state than North Carolina, you've got to move to places like
Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama. Georgia is a little bit cheaper. Nebraska, Ohio, and Arkansas are a
little bit cheaper. Everyone else is right around the same thing or a lot more expensive
Number seven, public transportation sucks. Now, we just talked about this one in Arizona. Arizona
is very much a car type state. North Carolina is pretty close to the same thing outside of their
major metro areas, and normally it's just downtown, their public transportation offerings
are very limited. And Charlotte's their best city when it comes to public transportation
If you look at the 25 major metro areas in the United States and rank them by their public
transportation, Charlotte is 24th. So you're going to need a car just about any place you move to
in North Carolina. For some of you, that's great. That's not a big deal. Some people don't want to
use public transportation. If you're one of those people that rely on public transportation, and don't expect much from North Carolina
Number six, Fayetteville sucks. Yeah, there's no getting around it. Fayetteville just blows
It's a horrible place to live, horrible place to visit. Fayetteville has a crime rate
that is 87% above the national average and their violent crime rate is 152
above the national average. The median household income in Fayetteville is $43,882
That was at the end of 2021. That was the average. That's 21% lower than the national average
The good news is they got a pretty low cost living and their median home value is 31% lower
than the national average. Fayetteville is right outside the main gate of Fort Bragg, North Carolina
which yeah, been there too many times. If you do wanna move to a metro area in North Carolina
avoid Fayetteville. Number five plenty of golf courses and other sporting events North Carolina is a very sports state A lot of these people lose their frickin mind over college basketball here too
And on top of that, they got the Carolina Panthers in the NFL. They got the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL
They got the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA. I don't follow the NBA, but it seems like every time I turn around
some team has left the city. So the Hornets could be gone in a year or two
for all I know. I mean, the current Charlotte Hornets started in 2014. Now, there was a Charlotte Hornets there before from 1988 to 2002, and then they moved like New
Orleans and Oklahoma City. At one point, they were the Bobcats too. Weird. But back to golf
it is really hard to drive for like 20 minutes without passing a golf course in North Carolina
If you're big into golf, you'll be able to play year round. If you're a retiree, this is big. I
mean, everyone likes golf. Well, I shouldn't say everyone. Most people like golf, and it seems to
be something very popular when you retire. And if that's your thing, North Carolina is not a bad
choice. Beautiful. And they got a lot of golf courses. Number four, the weather. North Carolina
is a southern state, so you should expect some really hot, humid summers. I've been in the south
far too much and they get rough. They say you get acclimated to it or used to this weather. I never
did. I normally stand around in the summer in the shade, having daydreams about AC and losing weight
Now, the mountain areas get some snow like most mountain areas do in this country
and the lower part of the state will get very little snow with the occasional big snowstorm
that comes through. In January of 2014, they got hit really bad
But most years, unless you're moving to the mountains, you can forget about shoveling snow or putting your snow tires on or chains
You might as well sell that stuff and use the proceeds to buy shorts and tank tops. You'll need those every single year
Maybe some Weight Watchers food. You're not going to need that extra insulation most years here
The good news is the weather before and after summer is pretty mild until hurricane season hits
Then it can get bad. They've had some pretty bad hurricanes over the years. I mean, Florida gets way worse than other states do
but North Carolina has been hit pretty hard with some serious hurricanes over the years
Hurricane Florence in September of 2018, Hurricane Floyd in September of 1999
Hurricane Fran in 1996, Hurricane Donna in 1960. All these things happen in September
So plan your vacation around the early to mid part of September and you might be able to dodge a bullet there
But if you ask anyone from North Carolina, they'll tell you that the best season in North Carolina is spring, maybe fall
Winter gets a little crazy and summer's just a little too hot. Number three, taxes
North Carolina has a little bit higher taxes than other states. They're not the worst, but they're up there
North Carolina is actually ranked as the 19th most taxed state in the United States On average state and municipal taxes will cost you about 9 of your yearly income North Carolina also has a good size sales tax
Their combined rate is 6.97%. The state tax rate is 4.75%. Then the average local tax is 2.22%
The good news is prescription medicine, groceries, and gasoline are all tax exempt in North Carolina
number two not a great state to be an employee every year oxfam does a study where they rank
all the states best to worst for american workers and once again north carolina came in dead last
the study kind of shows where they rank for different categories the first one is wages
what's their wage score they came in second from the bottom on that one only being beat by
south carolina the next thing is the worker protection score where they tied for the bottom
of the barrel with Georgia and again, tying Georgia for dead last with right to organize
Basically what that says is they don't have a laws protecting union organization, things like that
And they're ranked 12th when it comes to worker safety. That one's from another study, not the
Oxfam one, but yeah, the absolute worst places to be a worker when it comes to worker safety
is Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, and Alabama. In those states, you could remove
of asbestos with like a Halloween mask. All right, before we get to number one, don't forget
we have another channel called On This Day. There's a link down below. And don't forget to give this
video a big thumbs up. Let me know what you thought about the list in the comment section below. All
right, on to number one. And number one, outdoors. North Carolina has some of the best outdoor
activities you could do. We talked about golf earlier, different festivals, music festivals
drinking festivals, whatever you want to do. It's going to be outdoors along with hiking
you got the outer banks, the ocean, the coastline. It is amazing to be outdoors in North Carolina most of the year
And when you're outdoors, most of the time in North Carolina, it includes a barbecue
North Carolina is one of the best states when it comes to barbecue. I would say they are definitely in the top four
The Appalachian Mountains make up a majority of North Carolina's territory, and this gives you hundreds of miles of hiking trails, mountain biking, horseback riding
all the good stuff to do outdoors here. North Carolina is a great state to get pictures for your Instagram
Probably one of the top five in that category too. Honestly, I think North Carolina is often overlooked in a lot of different categories
I don't think people see it as good of a state that it actually is. What do you think about North Carolina
Are you from there? Have you visited? What are your thoughts on North Carolina? I'd love to hear in the comment section below
All right, everyone. That's today's video. Have a great day. Be nice to each other