Charlotte Was Just Ranked As One of America’s Best Cities To Live In

Here is an article I came across on CharlotteStories that listed the best cities in America to live in today.  Out of 49 others, Charlotte is the only major city that was included. If you need more proof why, keep on reading.

The Queen City was just ranked on 24/7 Wall St.’s list of 50 best cities to live in.

We were officially ranked as the 26th best city in America, but given the fact that we are the only major city featured on the list, you could say that we’re ranked as the #1 best major city in America (most cities on the list have a population of under 100,000 – the only other large cities were #30 Lexington, KY and #10 Raleigh, NC)

According to the official report, “24/7 Wall St. considered roughly 590 cities the U.S. Census Bureau reported as having populations of more than 65,000 in 2016. Only the top performing city in each county was considered in our ranking. Data were collected in nine major categories: crime, demography, economy, education, environment, health, housing, infrastructure, and leisure.”

The Top 5 on the list include three small cities from Colorado, one from Georgia and one from Indiana, all will populations of less than 120,000.

Here’s what they had to say about the #26 city, Charlotte, NC:

“> Population: 842,029

> Median home value: $201,500

> Poverty rate: 13.4%

> Pct. with at least a bachelor’s degree: 44.1% (top 25%)

Charlotte is one of two cities in North Carolina with populations expanding at a near nation-leading pace and are among the 50 best places to live. Charlotte’s population increased by 24.7% over the past 10 years, more than three times the U.S. growth rate and the most of any city in North Carolina other than Raleigh or Cary.

Charlotte’s rapid growth is largely supported by a prosperous economy. North Carolina was one of the first states to allow banks to operate multiple branches within a single state, a regulation that led to banks rapidly expanding throughout Charlotte and the surrounding region. Today, Charlotte is home to the headquarters of Bank of America and the East Coast operations of Wells Fargo. Financial services is one of many sectors leading employment growth in the city, which was more than double the U.S. employment growth rate from 2014 to 2016. Charlotte is also home to numerous entertainment amenities including an NFL team, an NBA team, and the Carowinds amusement park.”

To read more about Charlotte, go here: Charlotte Ranked One of America’s Best Cities to Live In

Charlotte Ranked One Of The Hottest Hipster Markets in America (Higher Than Asheville)

 

I came across this article on how Charlotte is one of the hipster markets in the country.  Just how did Banktown become a ‘hipster’ city, you ask? Well, with the aid of Yelp reviews and the number of ‘hipster’ businesses per area, see how our beloved city fared in this article by CharlotteStories:

The list analyses the highest concentrations of ‘hipster’ businesses for home buyers looking to embrace indie culture, using the number of times the word ‘hipster’ is mentioned in each city’s Yelp reviews, and how many ‘hipster-type’ business per capita are in each city.

It may not be a surprise that Charlotte is now one of the most hipster markets in America, given our growing coffee scene, thriving craft breweries, hardcore disc-golf community, and our massive annual hippie festival, but what may be surprising is how high we ranked.

Charlotte came in at #15, ranking higher than Denver, Fresno, CA, and even Ashville.

We were given an overall hipster score of 93.6 and Asheville was given an 83.6 – even Greensboro made the list at #43, scoring a 79.5.

Realtor.com® and Yelp’s Hottest Hipster Markets:

Ranking	Market	Yelp Hipster Score*	Market Hotness**
1	Columbus, Ohio (43202)	90.1	99.8
2	Seattle (98122)	95.9	94.1
3	San Diego, Calif. (92104)	95.6	93.7
4	Fort Wayne, Ind. (46802)	88.2	95.7
5	Rochester, N.Y. (14620)	92.5	92.8
6	San Francisco (94117)	84.3	96.0
7	Long Beach, Calif. (90814)	93.2	90.7
8	Louisville, Ky. (40217)	97.5	87.8
9	Grand Rapids, Mich. (49506)	88.8	92.4
10	Colorado Springs, Colo. (80903)	86.8	92.9
11	Royal Oak, Mich (48067)	77.6	98.2
12	Oklahoma City, Okla. (73103)	94.9	87.8
13	Milwaukee, Wis. (53207)	96.4	85.6
14	St. Louis (63143)	75.9	96.9
15	Charlotte, N.C. (28205)	93.6	85.9
16	Minneapolis(55406)	80.7	92.7
17	Riverside, Calif. (92501)	88.6	87.0
18	Denver (80203)	93.0	85.0
19	Eugene, Ore. (97402)	82.0	90.5
20	Tampa, Fla. (33603)	99.5	80.1
21	Omaha, Neb. (68104)	91.7	85.0
22	Fresno, Calif. (93728)	84.5	88.4
23	Asheville, N.C. (28806)	83.6	88.7
24	Arlington, Mass. (02474)	68.2	97.5
25	Dallas (75208)	93.5	82.7
26	Boise, Idaho (83702)	89.1	85.2
27	Lawrence, Kan. (66044)	91.8	82.6
28	Santa Rosa, Calif. (95401)	68.6	95.8
29	Fargo, N.D. (58102)	89.3	82.7
30	Santa Clara, Calif. (95051)	65.7	94.5
31	Chico, Calif. (95928)	71.2	90.8
32	Richmond, Va. (23220)	94.1	77.9
33	Orlando, Fla. (32803)	94.5	77.4
34	Buffalo, N.Y. (14222)	83.8	83.0
35	Salt Lake City, Utah (84105)	85.6	80.8
36	Lancaster, Pa. (17603)	85.2	80.5
37	Ann Arbor, Mich. (48104)	80.4	83.1
38	Vancouver, Wash. (98660)	78.1	84.1
39	Gilbert, Ariz. (85234)	71.9	87.4
40	Akron, Ohio (44303)	98.5	73.1
41	Memphis, Tenn. (38104)	81.8	80.5
42	Sacramento, Calif. (94819)	53.1	97.1
43	Greensboro, N.C. (27403)	79.5	81.7
44	Santa Cruz, Calif. (95060)	60.6	92.6
45	Birmingham, Ala. (35222)	90.2	75.8
46	Tulsa, Okla. (74120)	87.9	76.4
47	Indianapolis, Ind. (46205)	95.3	72.6
48	Provo, Utah (84601)	82.3	78.9
49	Nashville, Tenn. (37204)	81.1	79.3
50	Alexandria, Va. (22301)	72.6	83.8
Read more about this article here: //www.charlottestories.com/charlotte-ranked-one-hottest-hipster-markets-america-higher-asheville/