Raleigh Durham Metro

The Raleigh Durham metro area has a great deal to offer prospective home buyers. Whether you're moving within state or coming in from outside, North Carolina's Heartlands are rich in gently rolling hills and fairly easy drives to the rest of the state.

The three major universities of the immediate area--Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State--gave rise to the public/private research facility Research Triangle Park. The 7,000-acre park--which lies between the Raleigh Durham metro areas--is home to more than 100 facilities, employs more than 38,000 area residents and pays some $1.5 billion in salaries.

Aside from first-rate higher education, the Raleigh Durham metro area offers cultural and leisure activities as well as numerous sporting venues. Golf is an important sport for North Carolina, the best known of its 600 courses the renowned Pinehurst, some 60 miles to the southeast of Raleigh. The Triangle area is home to major league hockey, several triple-A baseball teams, and the three strong college teams--the Blue Devils, the Tar Heels and the Wolfpack.

Numbers on the Raleigh Durham Metro

Median household income in the Triangle area is approximately $79,800. Median age is 33 years old. In 2003, on the ACCRA cost of living index in which the national average is 100, Durham ranked 95.3 against New York's 219, San Diego's 140 and Atlanta's 97.9. Population in 2000 for the city of Durham was 187,000 and for the city of Raleigh was some 317,000.