Raleigh is named the American city with the best quality of life in a new poll by Portfolio.com that ranked 67 metropolitan areas with healthy economies on cost of living, housing stocks, education systems and traffic. -- May 2010
Brookings: "New Heatland" City
The Brookings Institution reported that Raleigh is one of the country's "New Heartland" cities. The report defines this as a sort of new "Middle" America that is home to more families and to employees in the kinds of jobs that economists say are going to propel the U.S. in the coming years. The report, "The State of Metropolitan America," lists Raleigh as the second fastest-growing metro region in the country. -- May 2010
Third Best Area For Business
Forbes.com ranked the Triangle the third best metropolitan area for business. The Forbes.com rankings evaluated higher education opportunities, economic and population growth, income and employment rates in all of America’s metro areas. The rankings found the Triangle exceedingly strong in the “cost of doing business,” an index based on cost of labor, energy, taxes and office space. -- April 2010
Forbes: America's "Most Wired" City 2010
Raleigh tops Forbes magazine's annual list of Most Wired Cities in America. It made the evaluation based on broadband adoption (that is the percentage of homes with high speed); access options (that is the number of companies providing high-speed internet); and wifi hot spots. The area was third in broadband adoption, ninth in access options and fifth in wifi hot spots. -- March 2010
A City With A Strong Well-Being
The Raleigh/Cary area has the highest well-being in the South and the nation’s top work environment index. That is according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which placed the area third nationally among the nation’s most populous cities with an index of 68.6, just a smidgen behind Washington, D.C./Arlington/Alexandria, Va., at 69.1 and San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, Calif., in first place with a composite score of 69.2. -- February 2010
Building A Smarter City
The first Census data released since the recession began in late 2007 indicates that Austin, Portland, Charlotte, Raleigh and Seattle experienced significant increases in residents with at least a college degree from 2006 through 2008. An article filed by the Associated Press on the United States’ population migration data states that each city "offers the promise of specialized tech jobs and hip lifestyles." The data comes from the American Community Survey. -- October 2009
Best Place To Start A Business
Fortune Small Business magazine and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation rank the Raleigh-Cary area No. 3 on their 2009 list of the 50 best places to start a business. The list ranks large cities based on factors that help make entrepreneurs successful, including economic growth and labor costs. The rankers especially like Raleigh-Cary’s weather, strong higher education community and quality family life. -- October 2009
America's Smartest City
Raleigh-Durham is ranked America’s smartest city by the Daily Beast. The publication wrote: "Raleigh-Durham has just about every intangible useful in attracting and developing a smart populace; It’s a university hub, and those schools led to one of the nation’s great technology incubators (Research Triangle Park). On top of that, Raleigh, as the state’s capital, attracts engaged political minds as well." -- October 2009
A Post-Recession Mecca
Raleigh-Durham is among the top 10 American cities that will be “post-recession meccas for the young,” according to the results of a panel of experts recruited by the Wall Street Journal. -- September 2009
A City Of The Future
Foreign Direct Investment magazine’s North American Cities of the Future 2009-10 survey lists Raleigh as the continent’s top small city for foreign direct investment potential. (Small cities are categorized as those with less than 500,000 population.) -- April 2009
Forbes: The Best Area For Business
For the third consecutive year, Forbes names Raleigh America’s best metro area for business and careers. -- March 2009
Best Place To Launch A New Business
A BizJournals study finds Raleigh the best place to launch a new business. BizJournals used a six-part formula to analyze the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, searching for the places that are most conducive to the creation and development of small businesses. Raleigh was the only market to rank among the top 10 in four key categories: growth rates for small businesses and population and one- and five-years increases in employment. -- February 2009
Forbes: Wired City
Forbes.com ranked Raleigh the third most wired city. -- January 2009
The Best Place To Do Business
Newgeography.com put the Raleigh-Cary area at the top of its 2008 ranking of the Best Cities To Do Business In. Raleigh was up six spots from its 2007 listing of largest metro areas. -- December 2008
Men's Health: Politically Engaged City
Men’s Health magazine ranked Raleigh the most politically engaged city in America. The rankings were based on percentages of active registered voters, ballots counted, percentage of income donated in the current presidential election, campaign spending, votes cast in the 2008 primary and votes cast in recent elections for governor and senate. -- Men’s Health magazine, September 2008
Milken Institute: A Best Performing City
The Raleigh-Cary metropolitan area is ranked number two in the nation’s “Top 100 Best Performing Cities” in an annual economic performance index released by Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate partners. The annual study ranks metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The Raleigh-Cary area rose from number 10 in 2007. -- September 2008
MSNBC: America's Best City
MSNBC.com ranks Raleigh America’s best city. “Raleigh, N.C., it seems, is the best place to be in the U.S. right now. It ranks No. 1 in Forbes’ 2008 list and was also top in 2007 – consistent placement among these lists is truly rare. It ranks No. 2 in Kiplinger’s list this year. The city is also Fortune Small Business magazine’s No. 20 place to live and launch.” -- June 2008
Kiplinger's: A Top Urban Area
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance names the Triangle the second best urban area in the U.S. It highlighted undeniable date: population growth since 2000 of 19.9 percent; percentage of the work force in the creative class, 36.1 percent; cost of living index, 99 with 100 being the national average; median household income of $56,150; and income growth of 10.3 percent since 200. This ranking dubbed Houston the best in America and Omaha, Neb., the third best. -- July 2008
Forbes: Recession-Proof Local Economy
Forbes magazine ranks the Triangle’s economy as fifth on a list of 10 recession-proof local economies. -- May 2008
Best Place For Young Adults
A study conducted by American City Business Journals ranked the Raleigh-Durham market as the best in the nation for young adults, defined as ages 20 to 34. The study examined 10 factors, including growth rates of employment and per capita income, unemployment, percentage of people holding bachelor’s degrees and median rent in the nation’s 67 largest metropolitan areas. Austin was ranked second, Washington, D.C., third. Charlotte placed seventh. -- May 2008
Fortune: A Best Place To Live And Launch
Raleigh’s growing tech industry, support of entrepreneurs and the $2.5 billion renaissance downtown place the Capital City at No. 20 in Fortune’s “Best Places to Live and Launch.” -- May 2008
Rachel Ray: Best City For Singles
Raleigh is named The Best American City for Singles” in Every Day with Rachel Ray magazine. -- January 2008
Late 2007 honors
Money magazine ranks the Triangle the seventh top appreciating metro area. (December 2007)
MarketWatch list Raleigh in the top 25 places for retirement jobs. (November 2007)
The Association of University Research Parks names North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus the top research science park. (November 2007)
North Carolina is listed as the number one business climate in the U.S. by Site Election. ( November 2007)
Fall 2007 honors
The National Policy Research Council names Wake County the third hottest economic development spot. (September 2007)
The U.S. Census Bureau list Raleigh the third techiest city in America. (September 2007)
Bizjournals list Raleigh as the 12th best market for female execs and women business owners. (August 2007)
Forbes: Best Place To Sell A Home
Raleigh is the best place in the nation to sell a home, according to an analysis by Forbes.com. Forbes cited Raleigh’s “moderate growth and disciplined building” for keeping its real estate market healthy. The analysis used market and real estate data to rate cities by sales rate, recent sales trends and price stability. -- July 2007
Business Facilities ranks Raleigh work force America’s 15th best educated. -- July 2007
One Of The Best Cities For Young Singles
Raleigh joins Washington, Denver, Austin and Lexington, Ky., in Kiplinger magazine’s salute to the best cities for young singles. Among Kiplinger’s criteria: “Four young singles, two factors can be crucial to choosing where to live: Can I afford the rents? And what can I do there? Raleigh is 99 on the cost-of-living index with 100 being the national average." -- June 2007
Prevention: Leading Walking City
Raleigh is named the 12th “best walking city in the U.S.” by Prevention magazine. The criteria used were: percentage of population that walks for exercise; use of mass transit; parks per square mile; points of interest per square mile; average winter/summer temperatures; and percentage of athletic shoe buyers. -- July 2007
Forbes: Best Place To Do Business
“After three years as runner-up, Raleigh grabs the top spot on our list,” Forbes magazine wrote in announcing the Capital City’s placement as the best place in the U.S. to do business. Factors: Raleigh’s economy has expanded 6 percent annually over the past three years; business costs are 13 percent below the national average and 38 percent of the labor force has a college degree. --May 2007
Third Best Area For African-Americans
Black Enterprise magazine named Raleigh-Durham the third best area in American for African Americans. The listing sited higher education, technology and health care as reasons for the exalted ranking, along with the cost of operating a business being 12 percent below the national average. -- May 2007
