Hey all, my fiancé and I are thinking of moving from NJ to the Charlotte area.  Neither of us is native NJ and we don't like it much for all the reasons you can imagine.  I'm in the financial industry and she's an event planner.

Wondering what neighborhoods to look at!  We're early 40's, no kids and no plan to have them. Not sure where the jobs would be just yet but safe to say they'd be in the city so we'd like to keep commutes around 45 minutes or less.   North, South, East, West?  Ideally something with a decent yard, maybe an acre of land or more.

Thoughts on whats good or what to avoid?

Thank, yeah we sort of look at that too since we'd internet shopped a couple houses in Steele Creek.  we like the houses but the area seems newer and the houses are very close together, same way they seem to always build these days.

Cool thanks DV8, and nice handle btw

I did sort of notice that east of the city seemed to have more spread out lots which we like.


If you want land to spread out on, go east.  Far Far East.   You can find a good amount now, but it is drying up and massive developments are Being build on every spare scrap of land.   Same thing with south, the further south you go the better.   Taxes in Meck county are crazy high.  Union county not as bad, but Monroe city taxes are as high as the county taxes. Avoid Monroe for that reason and higher crime rates per capita.

Walp, if yer comin' from the northern part of Jersey you'll feel right at home in Charlotte.
But that ain't North Carolina. It's "occupied territory".
As is Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro and Asheville.  

But luckily, there's a "resistance" in all of'em if entertainment & events are more important than avoiding crowds and liberals.
Good luck to ya either way and congrats on making the move to be an SKP! d:^)  Jake

haha thanks man.  yeah we like sort of a mix honestly.  nice to have some good restaurants around.  For all its' faults, the NYC area has a billion amazing restaurants and we like that.  But we're trying to make some changes in that area, move the scales a little if you will.  She has been to Asheville and likes it (art is her hobby, shooting is mine).

also NJ taxes are among the highest in the country so everything is a win if we move to NC!

what they said....
stay out of charlotte and Mecklenburg county period.
Union in NC
Fort Mill and Indian Land in SC. Both short commutes to enemy territories

In agreement concerning the restaurants and festivities. I used to live in the NoVa area and that's pretty much all I miss about the place.
Got a cousin used to live up in Asheville. Real artsy-fartsy and all the hippies ya wanna smell. He now runs a Saloon in a place not too far from there called "Love Valley". A little "old west" type place where ya can't drive a car in city limits. Horses only. Neat place.
Got a bud who lives on Lake Norman just outside of Mooresville, near cHarlotte. Great place and plenty to do, but everybody escaping the big city loads that little joint up in the summer on weekends especially.
Wilmington's a good mix if ya like coastal living. We're in Southport down on that southern-most corner of NC. But selling our place here and moving to Burgaw so momma's commute to the VA ain't influenced by bridges anymore.

I'm in the Danbrook Park neighborhood of Mint Hill and there are a couple of houses for sale around here.  

Neighborhood was built in the late '80s.  Decent sized lots (i have 3/4 of an acre myself), cool neighbors (at least on Aylesbury Lane), easy to get to downtown if you need to plus all the major highways and streets in the area.

Look into the Plaza Midwood area.  Close to uptown and a lot of people in your age range

And a good bit of sketchy areas too

Check out Belmont NC. We are just outside of Charlotte and Mecklenburg county but only 15 min from down town. We are West of charlotte on the other side of the Catawba river and lake Wylie. Belmont has been booming in growth the past several years because of everyone wanting be near Charlotte but not in Charlotte.  

Yea there are but they are quickly being priced out.  

Good stuff guys keep it coming!  We did a little online house hunting in Mint Hill. Looks like a good option. Great to hear how possible the commutes are.  We are currently less than 10 miles from work and it can take up to two hours if there any traffic or train issues!

ETA my bad double post

If wanting in on trendy and upcoming, the Milestone and the history of westside is hard to beat.

Try the West Side, it is the last close to uptown area, where you can buy an older house  and not have trendy prices. There are several barriers lines going west.  First is the 1-77 barrier, I watched houses go from 30-40k to 100k then to 300K while building up and saving to buy a house.  Then is a green way/creek then freedom drive and Wilkinson. Going out in a V.  Towards I-85 you run into Airport noise.  Getting worse the farther you go but is being phased out and bought out. The upside the whole area was a WW1 military camp called Camp Greene but there  no real major signs of it sadly. http://www.historiccampgreene.com/our-community/  is the developers push. I just got in before things started to flip, there is a lot of slumlord houses that if you don't mine home remodeling, you can have great house for cheap due to foreclosure sales. Lots of idiots bought houses from watching the real estate infomercials on thinking they could get rich flipping it.Until the last person found out they couldn't get some to rent it for what they needed to cover their uneducated business investment. A lot of theater and entertainers bought in the area after the North Davidson area and plaza Midwood became overpriced.

If you have kids avoid Charlotte-Mecklenburg(city and county are one unit) schools. Unless they are going to the school of the arts and even then I would look at Winstons-Salem's School of the Arts.

People are charging a premium for living near where the light rail lines are going to run. They are working on the Northeast Line now. Its called Lynx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynx_Blue_Line If you want an apartment/condo with easy non driving access to the bank and financial industry uptown(downtown is on a hill  and the city thinks uptown sounds classier than downtown).

This may also be of some help https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Charlotte_neighborhoods   and of course http://www.city-data.com/forum/charlotte/

Also of note is you can not shoot a gun in Charlotte https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=8&f=34&t=489527 except at shooting ranges.

Tea is sweet and barbeque debates discussion is more dangerous than religions and politics with drunks

Living in any of the "transitional" neighborhoods can be a good investment if you are willing to put up with all the negatives that happen until the area has flipped.  People used to wonder why their car was being stolen every other week until they are told that their $200k house is 50 yards away from one of the biggest dope holes in the entire city.  


Regardless of where you decide to move; I suggest swinging by the police department and asking what the area is like. Checking it out during the day AND night for yourself is a smart move as well

Thank kudzunc!  Not sure we're into a fixer upper situation.  We'd rather buy something newer or maybe buy some land and build.  We're both over 40 and don't have kids so we have a little more to spend maybe than the average Joe, though we're not rich by any stretch.  The light rail thing is intriguing since my fiancé isn't the most confident driver - capable but nervous.  And I'm a huge fan of all types and styles of Bbq and I make my own tea....unsweetened!!!    i'm originally from MA and that's the standard.  I add some honey to mine for a little sweet sometimes though.

NCPatrolAR, thanks also.  I'm definitely one to check out places day and night and also do the rush hour commutes to get a feel for it (maybe a bigger deal in NJ/NY area but commute time robs personal time).

Charlotte is in the process of having Google Fiber installed. Highland Creek just went live. So The cable company Time Warner and the phone company are suddenly increasing their efforts to upgrade and provide better and faster quality service.

The light rail is very new and you wife will age out before they get enough of the other spur lines in. Right now the run is from uptowntown/center city at 7th street  out to the  west side at I-485(beltway) near I-77 with any expansion being blocked by the town of Pineville that doesn't want the rail and "those people" to come through their town .While the Fort Mill SC and Rock Hill  SC would love to see Light rail extend out to them. Save the ride in, save the absurd parking fees. numerous wins but one town has to fight the progress. A lot of NC tends to be on the trailing end of the bell curve of human evolution and industrial advancement.

A heads up our Charlotte NC(second biggest city behind Raleigh) public mass transit while it  is one of the better ones  in the state,  it will be way worse than those up north. Do not get me started why we are not burying and making tunnels for these lines from the get go instead of building big bridges that shut shut down major roads for weeks to months. We can't see the lessons and expansions that  are being don't by more established and older systems, where we could go under ground three tunnels middle reversible and bypasses for express and  an emergency access of EMS without the dangers of traffic . Which would allow to then add service on the ground and then build up....

If you go to work for Bank of America and work in their main tower,, you are literally on top of gold . When  blasting the footings and bedrock they hit a vein of gold.....Charlotte was mining town at one time with its own Mint. So literally there is gold in  and under the streets..... old mining tunnels     The sad part Charlotte does little to preserve its own history. There is lot of Mayberry wanting to be a big world class city.  The nightlife downtown came about when BOA bought the bank of San Fransisco and moved their staff here. They couldn't believe at 5pm the city rolled up the side walks.  Getting after work drinks and/or food was hard and on the weekends only at the hotels if that.  The downside they saw houses for so cheap compared to where they lived  and jumped at the asking prices, and prices climbed highly from it. No wanted to live up town in the 1980's the now million plus dollar homes were hard sells at 30-40 K into the 1990's  
Besides BOA we have  First Union that was headquartered here before the merger with Wells Fargo.  Plus several smaller banks and decent Credit Union.  So we are banking city.

 Also be ready for the Snow Apocalypse/Blizzard of ___(insert current  year) if we get snow and it is over an inch. The city freaks and shuts down for days and weeks from any thing like a 1/4 of inch  to 1-2 inches of snow. Ice is even worse. If we get a real 4 inches & up in the middle of the state, it is school  closed. With  signs of a few snow flurries they  send the kids home  as soon as they clock enough of the day to count for not requiring a makeup day.   Think 22 cal was hard to find...., try finding bread and/or milk if a snow storm is coming.

People can not drive on snow and/or ice  and in part is because there is so little, they don't have practical time  doing it. Now add the large gaps between times , what skills they learn fall out of muscle memory.   In places of blizzards you will have Hurricanes risks that may be downgraded to tropical storm s by the time they make it this far inland. However the mountains do get snow and have skiing and even ice climbing. Although the weather can vary and it is hard to plan, numerous ice climbing trips  were spent rock climbing in a T-shirt because it was that warm in winter at altitude in the mountains.

An upside not mentioned is we're about 2-3 hours away from anywhere in the Appalachian mountains and have the highest point east of the Mississippi at mount Mitchell. head the other way 2-3 hours and your at the beach. The  Blue Ridge Parkway(runs the length & only  through of the Appalachian mountains)  is nice but the largest city is Ashville which is very Hippie filled. Lots of great food, craft beers, arts..... but you get the politics that come with it. The upside lots of land in the country and the 3rd-ish largest gunshow in the state per city. Heard it is grown greatly over the past few years.

Charlotte has gun multiple gun shops(one famous for their high prices) and ranges but you do a lot of mail order. PSA/Palmetto State Armory https://palmettostatearmory.com is right across the border so shipping when packed (the panic adds days/week to the normal couple day delay to ship) so you wind up ducking sales tax which can vary for the amount of order verses shipping charges. Once shipped its next day usually for delivery.   Classic Arms is  another discount retailer but in NC and will let  one local FFL pick up or it is shipping and tax that sucks from Monroe(Indian trail) to Charlotte.  So it is their one and only allowed FFL, for info and rates https://www.classicfirearms.com/about-us/ . word of warning, before you sign the forms  go over that weapon with a fine tooth comb, I have had numerous returns for  the same broken firearm to be sent back with the same pink electrical tie on the sling loop saying it was a new gun. With maybe gun oil sprayed on it once.... problem never fixed eventually got a refund but the fight was a never again experience.  Several times in a row, they returned the exact same gun that was non functioning No magazine would work/stay  in the gun and another had a underfolder rear trunnion smashed Ididn't catch until it was out of warranty because I put it to the side since I was too busy too shoot for several months.....    Prices may be good but customer service isn't the best and the religious  show is more pantomime  than behaviour based. Cheaper Than Dirt comes to mind when thinking about them.

 Same can be said of one Church in Charlotte  where all the political people go, its the old "...just because your in garage weekly doesn't make you Christian....". Attendance id more political than worshiping and being a better person. We have pretty much every faith and domination represented in the city and  from the gigantic 3-4 services on morning and evening Sunday  super sized churches to the small very intimate where if you aren't there the congregation will notice and check on you. In the non cult way of caring about you as person. While we are mostly a Red State  the governor is bad news , he was horrid for his city and is a career politician and North  Carolina suffers for it. This is a non worker's right you can be fired without reason. If injured on the job you are screwed, if permanently disabled that only matters for 500 weeks and the insurance company can drag your claim out that long easy with the lack of accountability from the system even when they deny multiple court orders but as injured worker if you do the same you're nailed hard at the first time.... I  suggest caution about you wife if she works on site for event planning for the risks.

I would suggest just jumping over the South Carolina line for better taxes and the towns/cities near the border are suburbs of Charlotte. The Blue Laws(alcohol and adult entertainment) are bit weird, in NC you can only buy liquor at the state monopoly stores(beer and wine is at sale at every where that wants to) which are of course higher priced verses South Carolina with lower liquor /alcohol taxes and private run companies  selling all types. Meaning better sections and competition. Frugals(alcohol store) across the state line draws a lot of Charlotte business for the savings and you can get the gift sets of shot glass and  keepsakes for cheaper than the same size bottle. Plus you have way better selection for brands.  The catch is no sales on Sunday(last I kept up with it) and you have to buy the beer and wine from a separate store than the hard liquor which is literally in the same building with a glass wall running down the middle.  

South Carolina is better at Castle Doctrine rights.  NC you need a handgun permit to buy any pistol and in SC you can buy between parties with the show of driver's license. The CCW in NC allows you to duck the pistol permit,which can get used in place of background check. $5 verse the wait and if the system is overloaded and you get denied for a delay it becomes a $5 get it now option verses shipping of $25...  The Pistols permits are background checks that take a bout 21 days to a month plus,  despite that the whole requirement was going to speed all that up with the  mandatory background checks.  Which you can only get three permits at a time for about $5 each, which can get used in place of background check.

Plus there is amusement park Carowinds splitting the border() which the use to their advantage for selling products with different state laws like alcohol sales being allowed on Sunday is why the amphitheater concert venue is in NC side of the park. If you like roller coasters. Has a large water park because you're never to old to enjoy those.  https://www.carowinds.com/

There is also the old PTL Heritage USA  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_USA  Housing complex that was built as a Christian Theme park and Community . The hey days were in the 1980's before Jim Baker got caught.  There are hopes that it will see the reinvestment it needs to reopen everything.

If into adult alternative lifestyles you find http://carolinafriends.com/  and http://www.capex.info/  should have you covered and help you find the others groups in the area.

If you like the outdoors you will love the south, minus humidity that can reach 100% without it raining and temperatures to match, you can find plenty of forests, and vastly different types of landscapes  beaches,inlet shoals behind barrier islands sloping up to the mountains. all with in 5-6 max driving times from tip to tip.  


Charlotte has the White Water Center which is dealing with an issue but is normally a great place. http://usnwc.org/


If you like NASCAR we have large  base of teams that live here, lots of support and the history  is here.  

Be warned if you buy near Harrisburg(north-north east wards ) and the Amphitheater(I-485 highway 29 & 49) and Charlotte Motor Speedway, you can expect be to be locked in or out due to traffic for concerts and/or races. When on the same dates be ready to to see gridlock for hours.   Of course the Bass Pro Shop happens to be in the largest mall right there..... The whole area is highly & densely event  developed with poor infrastructure. people complain about noise when the bought a house between a rick venue Amphitheater and major NASCAR track with additional drag strips . that they blocked  and then had to pay 80 million to the owner to keep him here and let him build the very strips he was building at his sole costs.  Concord was textile town that has their textile industry disappear like the steel mills cities.

If you only are vising & checking out the city, I highly suggest you make time for the Carolina's Aviation Museum  http://www.carolinasaviation.org/  . They also have a great library that is worth it if into aviation & aviation history.  Expect school tours when in session and the staff will show you more if you ask questions and the fact you aren't kids asking which button drops the bombs. Only risk is check to see if their planes are out at an air show for weekends and return flights.. The plane that went down in the Hudson is  semi-restored/preserved on display. It is a little known secrete but a great place. I miss the old  original location in the first hanger built for the Douglas airport as part of public works but adding a third runway is needed. Bonus is they re-broadcast over the radio the air traffic control communication so you can hear and watch planes land. The airport took away their watching spot because terrorism, although terrorists would ignore the no parking rules.......

Heating will be cheap, basements are rare, the air conditioning electricity increase  will shock you for the first bill.

Probably more than you wanted or needed now but hopefully some of it will help. Our state needs some the good North  but we don't want the bad North....

Biggest thing I forgot Charlotte loves to change street names in the middle, more than the East blvd and West Blvd or North Tryon and South Tryon.Type of compass point chnages.  You can actual drive to where your 4 road options are all Queens road at the intersection.


Charlotte is the larger city by people, business,and amenities.

Charlotte has a bigger and better Mass transit but it is no where as developed as the ones in the denser North East who have had the problems longer and had to use the solutions decades to century before.
.
Raleigh is the capitol city of the state of NC with several great Universities. If you like sports you will have several quality teams to support and hate the others.  Raleigh is spread out more and the surrounding cities often get referred to as one city/region.  

Charlotte has  several but the universities don't really bring much to the community for a college town effect, sports or  atmosphere. Charlotte has started the building upwards due to land costs verses building sprawl costs.  Going back to the turn of the last century style, with urban dense housing closing in was the way cities were built and we're even putting in light rail right where the trolley service used to run. The irony of it all? They dig up the old trolley tracks regularly when prepping for the new system and redoing city services in the older parts.  

Charlotte has  more Sky Scrappers I believe and that has to do with all the Banks.  
Bank of America(to save my fingers aka BOA from here out) and First Union both built their main skyscrapers at the same time and wanted to be taller than the other. Other banks also had their skyscrapers. BOA also built a mini-me skyscraper on the next block over because they needed the space. For a good chart to give you clue of how  this happened and how much was recent to the last few decades... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Charlotte  The developers have started buying up,  tearing down and re-developing the older industrial and poorer sections with the rundown  buildings to new high dollar Condos which  are starting at the minimum of 5-8 stories compared to 3 being the max.  Plaza-Midwood (at & around Central  ave [ becomes Kings at 7th Street  which 7th turns in Monroe road, as all numbered streets  become names as they head away from the center city]  is the hip area) is starting to get all the holes and spots filled in with High rise town homes/condos. Which is full of controversy, since the people who helped turn it around are getting pushed out due to increased rents..

There literally has been a flip in attitudes about living near downtown in the past1.5 decades. All the "projects"  that NCPatrolAR warned about that were  once grouped together at 7th street at Brevard and down around 11th & Siegle Ave _ Being Fairview Housing (apartments)and Piedmont Courts(brick and concrete yet the ghetto hood rats managed to destroy even that structure base) both  were crime ridden and have been bulldozed with "affordable lower income housing available for 80K+" to former residents.... Hence they were purged.  Both being gone has made it  safer uptown  during the day and night.  The old Mill at Davidson St and 36th-ish in NODA (North Davidson Street former Art galleries and trendy places to eat and hang for the arts crowd)  was so infested with termites that everyone had to leave immediately . So out with  the  poor, now a few years later, the places is being upgraded for high end purchasers.    For more on the "Projects" and their disappearance, which will give you warnings for area pockets that may  still be near there....  See http://clclt.com/charlotte/where-have-all-the-ghettos-gone/Content?oid=2359312  Creative Loafing is free weekly arts and happening newsprint magazine. It has a few articles but mainly lists places to eat, films to see and events happening with some reviews.  Drops Tuesday evening, Wednesday Morning and their weekly schedule layout reflects that.


Understand there is a   rivalry  between Raleigh and Charlotte, which Charlotte gets professional sport teams that Raleigh can't. Although the have the professional Hockey team while we have A lower division which is still a good team to watch.  Raleigh gets the medical and science tech business & people that Charlotte can't. If you have a real bad "Dr house" style health issue you go to  Raleigh-Durham &Chapel Hill (also known as the Triangle region of North Carolina ) hospitals and their experts. Charlotte NC has Carolina Health Care Systems known as CMC(last name was Carolina Medical Center) which has top of the country emergency departments and heart specialists if you have heart attack. Do Not ever go to the hospital in Rock Hill. if you buy in South Carolina, there are more humane ways to end your life. Misdiagnose is the specialty from everyone I know that has been there.


Charlotte has started Light Rail (extended Line to the north east to the UNCC(Charlotte not Chapel Hill is due for completion soon.) and has buses. You will likely have to use both to get around.  Raleigh only has buses  with light rail  in the future, whenever that might eventual start.......  More Charlotte info http://www.lynxcharlotte.com/  the light rail is nicer and newer than the buses.    We do have an express bus service that uses a special buses only lane coming in and out of uptown from the east side out on highway 74 aka Independence blvd although that ends at Albemarle road ( NC 24/NC 27) and Sharon Amity intersections area.


Of interest for you http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/September-2015/Charlotte-Vs-Raleigh-Business/

And a Raleigh verse Charlotte thread collection from city data http://www.city-data.com/forum/north-carolina/406904-what-difference-between-charlotte-raleigh.html

A bit long but trying to give you as much info as I can.  We haven't even touched on gun shops, fish camps,Barbeque places, other good eats,must see and do places.  There is a push to attract the younger crowd to settle here with  facilities that  are fun but that wear an older body out.  Crowders ( aka "crowded mtn"on the weekends if you use the main park entrance and trail heads) and Kings Mountain about 15-30 minutes from Charlotte are great for hiking and nature. Plus allow rock climbing.  History bonus is Kings was involved in American Revolution battles , so you get a great history boost right in the area.

A word of caution Gastonia and Belmont which are west of Charlotte have taken a hit for the uprooted  scum that used to be in Charlotte.  Towns suffered from the NAFTA deal closing plants and with it, the city's economy......   But if.you get away from their pockets there is still some land and nice homes that are safe.

Also gas is about 10 cents cheaper a gallon in SC due to all the taxes from the state, the county and city of Charlotte .  Sales tax is 7.25% and Rock hill SC is 7%  Tobacco is taxed higher but is way cheaper than up north.

Some great info here guys thanks!  I've been away for a bit and actually just got laid off last week - crazy timing.  I'm meeting with some recruiters next week and Charlotte will be at the top of my short list!

If anyone here needs an experienced Risk Manager for a brokerage firm, let me know haha!

I've heard that somewhere before.. d;^)  Jake..

Risk Management

Figure these might help you understand some of the local oddities  & weirdness.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/19/15-reasons-why-charlotte-is-weird_n_4941553.html

and
http://clclt.com/theclog/archives/2014/03/19/nine-better-reasons-why-charlotte-is-weird


Good luck with the job hunt.

You can tell whoever wrote that HuffPo article has never been to Charlotte



Btw it's called uptown because it's on top of a hill

Uptown means the Cabaret  by the convention center right?  

Here is the Onion's take on living in Charlotte http://www.theonion.com/article/horrified-man-suddenly-realizes-hes-putting-down-r-35102

I remember as a kid the city boosters trying to do the ""uptown"" image  re-branding, while  trying to clean up the image & city itself with removing the "  Trading on Tryon" for the hookers work area......  So that would place it at least in the early 1980's and/or late  1970s' . The sky walk way aka rat maze between buildings connecting all the buildings for multiple blocks, so workers didn't have to go outside was a major deal during that time period also.  I think the uptown name has been tried and failed about as many times as The Feds  have tried make $1.00 dollar USA coin work and then failing...

Now the city is trying to get people out of buildings and on the streets, from the rat maze. I always use to speak loudly making comments about "...I know the cheese is here..." or "...just around the next two maze turns is the cheese..."       So we have a never ending loop of changing the behaviour patterns  to only bring back the previous style, to just change it back to what they left and repeat ..... Given it is nice in the summer to avoid the heat   but in winter it is seldom so cold as you really need it. Unlike up north.    We also had  "City Fair"   a mini-mall ( and horrid musical venue inside the food court , acoustics are as bad as you would think...)  that was built  on College St. between 5th and 6th streets backing up to the Carolina theater on the on North Tryon side of the block.  Now the Hearst tower (BOA mini-me stands there) with the Old Carolina theater  is still there  in preservation purgatory.

Charlotte has a pretty violent past http://clclt.com/charlotte/police-blotter-rape-violence-murder-mayhem/Content?oid=2145405 with a very biasedness and unequal court system. Your looks and story could get you off for serious crimes due to public sway/sympathy. Well that hasn't changed much the poor go to jail more often and for longer than the rich. Charlotte even had two different charges based on the size of the rock you used for the assault and battery. You didn't want to get caught with high capacity ounces rock

Belmont, NC
Sheriff is friendly, once the renovations are done at the range by Waco, it's an easy drive.


York / Lake Wylie SC

Lake area that hasn't went full retard on pricing, lake properties around still sub 100k for lake front.


Steele Creek, nope.


What's your price point?

I want to thank everyone who has posted in this thread.  My wife and our 2 young boys have been offered the opportunity to relocate to the greater  Charlotte, NC area.  We are planning a trip down there this fall, Belmont seems to be a great fit for us, based on the research and comments thanks to this thread.  We are in NJ in a great family town (yes there are a few), but our oldest is yet to start kindergarten and timing looks like we would be in NC before he starts.  

Interesting tidbit, my wife's corporate relocation coordinator, will not advise on the Charlotte school system.  Is it that bad ?  She has hear a rumor, a law in trying to be passed where ones address would not guarantee enrollment in the better schools.  Is this just for the Charlotte school system or NC statewide?  


Have a great one

One of the best places to ask and search answers on the school system is http://www.city-data.com/forum/charlotte/

From 2015 http://www.progressncaction.org/news/1000-teachers-resign-from-charlotte-area-schools

To answer and give some background,
Yes Charlotte-Mecklenburg (the city and county is one whole system)School System is bad. The magnet schools are a little better but getting in can be tricky. We do have an upper end of the 12 grades school for the arts, if your kids feel that is their direction in life. With Winston-Salem's (University, has some high school programs but I am not current on the options)School of the Arts being a very great school.

I don't have kids, just know parents and teachers.

The school system illegally bused kids for decades to create racial balancing, after the illegal segregation(the Jim crow laws).   Which was also ruled illegal by the courts. They school system keeps getting busted by the laws and courts for behaviour not in the best interest of the students fairly and equality.  Is funding schools equally that hard?  Parents in richer neighborhoods give more to the school, and maybe that needs to be spread across the system better .  More than just all donations tied to the school,since schools in poor areas have less parent  resources to help teachers, even the bake goods for the kids for holidays, and so on. That if the good school has enough books for every student, than why doesn't the poor school needs to be answered?  your quality of education varies by where you live and  the forcing people to go to bad schools to balance things out and raise their test scores...   That does not work in the best interest of ether student, the poor or the rich kid. Both have different needs from the school system.  Trying to force fit one size fits all has failed every single time. They already divide classes up by intelligence testing scores, which the level of material taught between the different same required subject matter is amazing. Having tested up and shown interest in learning  a couple teachers went to bat and moved from advance  level to AG Academically Gifted class level. Was the school worker harder, yes but you also were learning instead of doing time and file the multiple choice copy machine paper busy work.

The school system is a repeat offender for violating children rights.  They've had  Kids standing out freezing hours before dawn to get on a bus that then takes an 1.5-2 hours to get to the school, then the school day and another 1.5-2 hours to home and then homework. Lots of kids had longer days than their parents with full time jobs and they suffered because of it.  


The school board has auctions of gear once a year(and online) and they are known as where to buy items that can be quickly resold for great profit. Never is any equipment from storage used for offices of the school board. They use a designer and buy new. Hire  a new School Superintendent (head of school system)  and given hiring bonus and golden parachutes  see http://pundithouse.com/2011/09/politico-payday-in-charlotte-mecklenburg/  For just one of the many times this crap has happened. The salaries contract meetings are made closed door, so the public has no say until the ink has dried on the paper, and if you hire someone away form a school system who chases money, guess how much commitment they have to your system.... Then they jump to the next system hiring them away, leaving us with golden parachutes to pay while they scam over another system....  

Hence why when promoting staff  from within stopped, schools started dropping in quality.  NC is ranked like 42 in for quality in the nation. North Carolina is bad for workers and even worse for school teachers. Retention of good teachers(especially with higher degrees and experience), not even a concern for the state and/or local school board.  Those kids just need someone to make sure the school scores correctly on the testing that determines how much funds they system gets. Their education is the least import thing in school politics.  The school system failed me and many of my generation hard. There were a few good teachers but they were older and staying for another tour of duty because they cared about the kids. Those teachers knew the sacrifices they made effected lives. Their numbers were far outweighed by lesser people and heard it has gotten worse from people who came after me.

Meanwhile teachers are asking for donations of supplies for the classrooms. That is the if you are at a  used book store and they have a bunch 25 cent copies of the  classic standard books everyone reads(ie: Tale of Two Cities), if you buy them and donate them the schools will be thankful. Every school system is under funded but CMS has plenty of money for upper staff retreats but not books?

Also  if you look into sports, you'll see Independence High School with a record number of winning games and championships in a row  with Butler High right behind them. Both public, 3rd place is Charlotte Catholic which is a private school. Needless to say, kids that wanted to be on winning teams(more college scouts there, so their ticket into a university otherwise denied) and were good, used a friends, a relative's ,alumni  and even staff's addresses to attend those schools. http://www.maxpreps.com/news/xvd4P2f2S0aFOyracpf6sg/top-20-most-dominant-north-carolina-high-school-football-teams-in-the-maxpreps-era.htm  The coaches were even in on getting the best Jr high school players to attend their schools and scam the system for them to go there.  Just like college corruption ...  That corruption was big news a few years back.  Someone looked into the records and founds lots of students with addresses that couldn't be real .....

CMS has had a lot growth and has been playing catch up with building new schools but  fills in the gap with  mobile (think trailer) classrooms are on numerous campuses.  Education quality for students compared to regular class room  is lower, let alone any storm dangers risks ...... In CMS logic that trailer being lost not the kids would upset them more.


I don't have it in me to write out everything bad about CMS  but try to go private and I hate private schools. NC values it teachers poorly and are doing away with raises, cost of living increase. That trickles down to quality of teacher and over worked under funded .  Now add to that an upper management that is equally as bad. School board elections are joke. Most people vote for whatever party they believe represents their values and couldn't match a single picture of a face to any name but still votes....  So trickle down effect, the school  gets a teacher who has to call the cops because they can't think to get the kids to clap loudly so the kid can't have a conversation over their background noise on a cellphone.  The School board likes  to have secret meetings behind closed doors. If you think national security is at stake  from a school board meeting.... just dirty politics.  The good teachers leave to get better jobs for pay and work conditions.  I have a family member  that it was her dream job/career to teach, to  only go work with hazardous chemicals instead.

So I would look outside of Charlotte but the outer surrounding counties are having growing pains from people fleeing the city.  I'm not able to to recall why but Huntersville school's have a higher reputation. Although they are part of CMS, the upper portion of Mecklenburg has some of the better off middle class and above.

If I  had kids I would not send them to CMS(Charlotte Mecklenburg School System) unless I had no choice.