#Growing February 25

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I got asked by a friend that lives in the Northeast what are the fastest GROWING places to live in North Carolina? He also inquired about North Carolina’s most affordable cities to live in.

I went researching his question. I was not surprised when the list of 10 Fastest GROWING Cities in North Carolina was dominated by locations outside of Raleigh and Charlotte. In fact eight of the ten on the list were part of the Raleigh or Charlotte market. The other two (St. James and Leland) were located in Brunswick County which is piggy backing off of the popularity of Wilmington NC. Here is the list of North Carolina’s Fastest GROWING cities:

I had to share with my friend that the law of supply and demand was in play in North Carolina. I told him that the list of affordable and GROWING cities unfortunately did not have any overlap. Here is the list of most affordable places to live in North Carolina. None of these locations was within 45 minutes to Charlotte, Raleigh, or Wilmington.

Like the advice new restaurant owners have been receiving for many years GROWTH is connected to “Location-location-location” that phrase is spot on to what parts of the state are GROWING.

In 2019 I remember reading the following in the Charlotte Observer

“While 15 of North Carolina’s 100 counties GREW 10% or more in population between 2010 and 2018, 43 counties saw a net loss of people.”

For my friend living up North the secret to relocating to North Carolina is finding that sweet spot between GROWTH and its urban sprawl and affordability. The good news is there are a lot of choices in North Carolina that fall in between both lists.