Raleigh and Durham fall on US News’ ‘Best Places to Live’ 2022 list, but still rank high
The Raleigh and Durham metro area ranks sixth among the best places to live in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 list.
It’s the second consecutive year in which the two Triangle cities made U.S. News’ Top 10 out of 150 metro areas. But Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill — which U.S. News evaluates as a “tri-city” area — fell four spots from their shared second place rank in 2021.
The annual list crunches data to find the best places to live “based on quality of life and the job market in each metro area, as well as the value of living there and people’s desire to live there.”
Huntsville, Ala., which ranked No. 3 last year, moved to the No. 1 spot, followed by Colorado Springs, Colo.; Green Bay, Wis.; Boulder, Colo.; and San Jose, Calif. to complete the top five.
Strong job growth, a high quality of life and excellent higher education options were among the Triangle’s distinguishing features, according to the report. Major job expansion — including plans from Google and Apple to build Triangle campuses — add to the area’s allure. Google expects to bring 1,000 jobs to Durham and Apple has started hiring the first of 3,000 employees to eventually work in Research Triangle Park.
“Many people who call the Raleigh and Durham metro areas home are young, friendly, diverse and educated,” the magazine says. “They enjoy dining out in local restaurants — many of which have earned national accolades — and gathering over craft beers in one of the region’s many microbreweries. A strong sense of community is evident, as strangers are quick to provide a friendly conversation when standing in line at the supermarket.”
But a soaring cost of living, not to mention traffic, may have influenced the Triangle’s contention as a top five destination.
“I think affordability is the main reason that Raleigh dropped just a couple of places,” said Devon Thorsby, U.S. News’ real estate editor. “It is not the most expensive place to live by any means, but it’s not the most affordable either.”
The Triangle ranked 57th on the report’s affordability scale. “Compared with other technology and research hubs like San Francisco, the North Carolina Research Triangle is relatively affordable,” the report says. But ongoing growth may threaten Raleigh’s rank in coming years. Cities such as Denver and Austin that have undergone explosive cost of living increases may hint at the Triangle’s trajectory.
“This year, we saw Denver — which has every other year been in the top 25 for sure and was in the top 10 for quite a few years — it dropped to number 55 from number 14 last year,” Thorsby said. “And the biggest factor in there was the rising cost of living. ...Rising cost of living kind of takes a little bit of the shine off of those metro areas that are otherwise very attractive.”
While Huntsville’s “desirability” metric fell among the worst of the 150 cities included in the U.S. News report, its housing affordability score and strong quality of life were high enough to claim top rank.
“With the drastic price changes in the housing market and people spending more time in their local communities,” the report said, “home affordability and quality of life have increased in importance in 2022 and are reflected in these factors’ weights.”
U.S. News compiled its data from sources such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Top spot in North Carolina
Raleigh and Durham topped the list of seven North Carolina metros featured in the U.S. News report.
The others were Charlotte (No. 30), Hickory (No. 31), Asheville (No. 46), Winston-Salem (No. 56), Greensboro (No. 90) and Fayetteville (No. 143).
Hickory, a mid-sized city in Western North Carolina known for its furniture industry, was the number one “most affordable place” on the list, followed by Green Bay, Wis. and Huntsville, Ala.
Top 10 U.S. News Best Places to Live, 2022-2023
1. Huntsville, Ala.
2. Colorado Springs, Colo.
3. Green Bay, Wis.
4. Boulder, Colo.
5. San Jose, Calif.
6. Raleigh and Durham, NC
7. Fayetteville, Ark.
8. Portland, Maine
9. Sarasota, Fla.
10. San Francisco, Calif.
This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 12:01 AM.
