There was a cut and paste of a comparison between this area and Colorado Springs. Also a hotlink to the site: Best places

Oh sure, but what about a comparison of the humane societies???

-- BrookS (tabbies@R.us), May 06, 2002.

CS is MUCH better! (CS has a humane society that takes care of all animal problems; here the Health Department's Animal Control dept. takes care of licenses, pickup, bites, law enforcement, etc.) Also, no annual license fee for cats. (Here it's $5/year if your pet is spayed/neutered, so we save $40 right there

I could never do a "city". I thought when I traveled through the Raleigh area that it had some rather pretty countryside nearby. I would think property would be substantially cheaper in the Raleigh area than the Colorado Springs area, but then I sure do love the mountains. What a choice............they both sound like areas that have decidedly different callings.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), May 06, 2002.

Raleigh is much prettier than Durham, far more trees and tighter restrictions on development; it's also the state capitol, of course. Actually, property is a little less expensive in CS. Real estate taxes certainly are. Here, we pay $1800/year, there it would be $600. It was explained to me that there are so many military folks and military retirees who put money into the local economy but don't take money out of it (as in indigent medical care, wrecks, fires, jails, etc.), the taxes are quite low.

As I wrote on some other thread, there are things to be said for both areas, but I hope you can stay around the Triangle for your health. I'll be looking seriously at that area and Hilton Head for retirement. One plus about the triangle is that the hurricanes are generally less severe that far inland (yes, I know they're still a problem.)

My health problems are debilitating but mundane. If I had some rare problem, then I'd be more concerned. If you're set on this area, I'd suggest Cary first, Raleigh second, in terms of safety. Raleigh would be better for transportation if driving becomes a problem. There's a very good area where nice apartments, houses and good shopping are within reach without a car. Not so in Cary. Chapel Hill is actually easier than Raleigh for mobility but is quite expensive for housing.

Hilton Head is really vulnerable to hurricanes. Oh--when I was checking out Hugo (which caused a lot of problems in Charleston in 89, I think it was), I found out Charlotte was very badly affected too. I believe Charlotte is further away from Charleston than we are from Wilmington. And you might also check out Asheville.

FWIW, I liked Col Springs a lot better than Denver propper. Downtown Denver has those wonderful trolly cars (that's how they solved their parking problems), but traffic in and out of the city is a daily nightmare.

We would never consider Denver. Well, not unless someone offered Sweetie a job with a VERY high salary! But the weather there is more severe than CS, also it has some very liberal problems :)

One can grow some lovely gardens in CO -- think alpine flowers, such as edlewiess (sp?)

-- (Meemur@Rainy.Street), May 08, 2002.

I've found some articles on an experimental xeriscaping garden in CS, been there since 78, I believe. Thousands of plants can grow in the high desert climate and, of course, fabric, rocks and pebbles are a good choice! Apparently, there are microclimates varying fairly widely in the city itself. Should be interesting.

Here's another interesting feature of the bes places site: Compare costs of living in two cities

Plugging in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill v. CS gives: To maintain the same standard of living, your salary of $75,000 in Raleigh, NC could decrease to $69,847 in Colorado Springs, CO.

Stated another way, it's 6.9% cheaper to live in Colorado Springs, CO than in Raleigh, NC.

I checked Charleston--it's only a little higher than CS. Asheville is a little less than this area.

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2002

Answers

And for those who love to dig, this is a great demographics site, with clearly designed maps and charts showing various and sundry demographic features--variety beyond the dreams of avarice:

Everything you always wanted to know about a city (well, almost).

-- Anonymous, May 13, 2002