Truth.

Fuckin' dit dotters.

The area is referred to as the "Research Triangle".

It's also susceptible to Southern Ice_tm in the winter.

Gotta get that bread and milk!

Cary = Containment Area for Relocated Yankees

South side represent!!!

Raleigh is fantastic if it is only for location; close to the beach and close to mountains. Relatively speaking here and depending entirely where you travel to in either of those locales. There are some really cool festivals, the city itself is very clean for a city and the restaurant/bar scene is plenty happening.

There are plenty of .gov jobs, but the recession affected us as well. There aren't nearly the amount of liberals here as is being portrayed in this thread. Chapel Hill is ground zero. Every place else around isn't nearly as bad.

Cary and Apex area are very nice and clean. Some of the safest areas to live in the country and with the best schools as well. Any retail or restaurant establishment you can imagine has a footprint there. If you want it, it's there. They also have some really nice parks, almost like a wilderness experience. Greenways and bike trails throughout the city. As mentioned previously, the population is approximately 50% relocated residents. Really from all over the U.S. and abroad. It is probably the best area to live in the entire state though if were strictly talking about a suburban type area.

If you get out away from Raleigh and into the country or smaller towns, you can expect to find the old south experience. Poverty, mobile homes and shacks, astonishingly bad school systems and very little culture or civic pride of any sort. I hate to paint a glum picture, but many of these towns are just shit holes where people simply exist. Don't get me wrong, there are some nice small towns/areas around Raleigh. This is when/where you need to do your research before pulling the trigger on a house. Just because it's out in the country doesn't mean it will be safe, have decent schools or have a small town feel. Choose wisely...

it's full. Anything below KY/VA is full.

Raleigh and the surrounding areas (Cary, Apex, and other smaller areas) are great places to live.  Especially if you're in the tech sector; Raleigh and the RTP area have a booming IT industry.

People here complaining about "traffic" clearly haven't ever left the state and been somewhere with actual traffic.  It feels like there's lots of traffic here because Raleigh is a large, sprawling city.  It grew out instead of up so it might take a bit of get from point A to point B.

For the people whining about Cary and Chapel Hill being liberal...don't live there if you don't like it.  Simple as that.  I've lived in both areas and loved each of them.  Each might have lots of liberals but they also have lots of good people, too.  They're very safe areas with good schools and good neighbors if you're into that sort of thing.  Less so for Durham.

I spent the first 18 years of my life living in eastern NC and after living in the Triangle and Triad region of the state for the past 13 years, most of eastern NC is poor and run down unless you happen to live near a military base.  Lots of retirement communities with money but most of it is cotton fields, tobacco fields, poverty, and not much in terms of economic advancement.  The schools in rural areas are pretty terrible, but they're pretty good in upper-class suburban areas.

The coastal areas are booming...during the summer. Mostly dead during the winter.  The Outer Banks are great areas for vacationing.  The mountain region of NC is beautiful and not nearly as oppressively hot and humid as the rest of the state (most of the time).  They actually get a decent bit of snow, too.

Also, the people who don't like eastern NC vinegar-style BBQ are filthy communists.

The most true statement in the entire thread.

I was looking into applying for the Durham Police Department years ago.
The Raleigh-Durham metro area is like any other city. Upscale rich folks. Middle-class urban sprawl suburban communities. Lower-income communities and then, poverty-stricken areas of high-crime. 
If the job is good, then go for it. If it's not, skip it.

Shitty liberals.  It's like the fucking San Francisco of the east.

Former brother moved their from Long Island.
My Aunt moved their and lived in the area for decades before she passed, several cousins were born and raised there
and still reside there.

I remember my first visit to see my former brother. I went an entire week before I met someone with a southern
accent and it was the fella working at the local Arby's. It was infested with people from NY, NJ and CT. The former
brother lived a new community and he called it the United Nations, people of every color and from all over the planet
lived in his neighborhood. He took me further south and west a few times and I can assure you that it was still the south,
it had that nice rural feel and a little southern charm.  There were a few areas that looked like something out of the movie
Deliverance though.

The most beautiful woman and person I ever known was from NC and lived in Raleigh.
She was the perfect southern belle, but sadly was gone way to soon. RIP Lisa Leisten.

I live in Apex. Lots of Libtards, traffic sucks cause the Yankees that moved here to escape the hell that they created don't know how to move their shit. But you have everything you could reasonable need in a short driving DISTANCE, time depends on when you decide to go. Decent ranges though are a bit of a drive if you want to shoot any decent distance and not be overwhelmed by other people. I am a member of a range in Mebane, it takes me a little over an hour to get there, but it's worth it to get away from the crowd.

In regards to the snow, we get snow but it promptly melts and turns to ice. Yankees always forget that then bitch when they wreck due to ice. I can't drive on ice, I admit it and keep my happy ass at home. In a day or so it will warm up and melt off.

I second this. After living in the Northeast corridor the traffic here is nothing, the cost of living here is nothing, the liberal feel is nothing. Go try living in Boston or NYC and then tell me what you guys think of the Raleigh area.