If you want to make good money and have a great quality of life you should move to Charlotte NC. We relocated here from Orlando in 2017 and it was the best decision our family made. It wasn’t easy to leave Florida after 17 years, but we were ready for a change and the new beginnings. My bank was helping me with the transfer and the only financial downside was that we were becoming the residents of a state that has an income tax of 5.25%. My paycheck was going to shrink by $13,125 and I admit that sucked. Financial reasons weren’t the main factor of our move. So what attracted us to Charlotte and why I believe this city is the best place to live in U.S. in 2020 and beyond?
Great Job Market
There are plenty of good paying jobs for Millennials in this town. Charlotte is a home to several notable Fortune 500 and 1000 companies . Bank of America, Duke Energy, Lowe’s, Nucor, Brighthouse Financial and Sonic Automotive are located here. BofA and Wells Fargo alone employ about 40,000 people. US Bank, Ally Bank, Dimensional Fund Advisors and TIAA are also building their regional hubs here. BB&T’s and SunTrust merger’s creation Truist will be headquartered in Hearst Tower in Queen City. I give 10 points for the merger and move of headquarters but only 3 for the name. Competing NC based credit union Truliant didn’t get the name at all and sued Truist. Charlotte metropolitan area is also a hub for fast growing technology companies such as Red Ventures, AvidXchange, LendingTree, Imagine Software, Financial, Tresata, Impact Financial Systems.
The Best Schools
The state of NC has one of the better school systems in the country and Charlotte is definitely the place with a wide range of great school options. There are dozens of top notch schools in Charlotte. Starting with private ones such as Charlotte Country Day, Providence Day and Charlotte Latin down to public schools like Weddington, Marvin Ridge and Ardrey Kell. Private schools are great if you don’t mind paying $22,415 in annual tuition. It will certainly give you a bragging rights about superb education your child is receiving and personal attention in small classes, but it will have a negative impact on your discretionary spending and will leave a dent in your savings account and 401-K. I am a firm believer that public education is as good as private. When I worked at the bank I had many colleagues that went to private schools and they were making the same money as I did. As a product of public school system I would say I had a way better return on investment.
Business Friendly State
According to Forbes NC is the best state for business. The State of NC and especially Charlotte have a growing workforce base, great infrastructure, and education, easy access to capital and low cost of living. When we moved here we had to get new carrier appointments for my wife’s independent insurance agency. She was able to secure direct appointments with Progressive, AmGUARD and AmTrust within 6 moths when in Orlando she tried to get appointed with those carriers with no luck for six years. With all the banks here Charlotte is becoming a FinTech center. There are more than 40 FinTech companies here, including unicorn payments automation company AvidXchange and industry pioneer LendingTree.
Great Quality of Life and Affordable Cost of Living
Charlotte has it all – Bojangles, Nascar, Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets and even Jesus Saves Guy. Those who live or ever been uptown know what I am talking about. The city has close proximity to the mountains and pretty nice beaches. I was very skeptical about NC and SC beaches after living in FL for 17 years. After visiting The Outer Banks, Carolina Beach, Hilton Head and Charleston I was very impressed by how beautiful and nice those beaches are. Our family also fell in love with Asheville and Biltmore Estate . Traffic compared to Orlando’s isn’t bad here. Yes, it gets congested during the rush hours, but nights and weekends are a pleasure to drive. Charlotte doesn’t have extra 6 million tourists flocking to the city every month like Orlando does. As for the cost of living I mitigated NC State income tax by paying only $3,000 in property taxes for my 3,500 square foot house. Utilities and food are also about 15% cheaper here. Homeowners insurance and car insurance are also half the price to what we used to pay in Sunshine State.
Live in Charlotte Once
As Buz Luhrmann sang in Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen): ” Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft” After you’re done with those two places come to Charlotte.
