NC is a 'sticky' state; interesting population trends

Well, Charlotte doesn't seem to be that way. I was born and raised here and rarely meet another native.

My wife is a native of Charlotte born at Presbyterian downtown. Campbell university is as far as she has ever went. I could have left NC not long after getting here but really like the area.
 
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My wife is a native of Charlotte born at Presbyterian downtown. Campbell university is as far as she has ever went. I could have left NC not long after getting here but really like the area.

I was born at Presbyterian too. My mom and dad are also native Charlotteans. We have home movies of my mom when she was growing up on East Blvd. They just recently tore the old house down. It was across the street from Hankins & Whittington beside the church. The movies are from the early '20's!
 
Well, Charlotte doesn't seem to be that way. I was born and raised here and rarely meet another native.

According to the data, most natives are suburban/rural and the proportion in the urban centers is changing from mostly-native to mostly-immigrant.

I was born in NC (Morehead City), was away for the military and one job, but I doubt I will ever leave. I love NC.
 
According to the data, most natives are suburban/rural and the proportion in the urban centers is changing from mostly-native to mostly-immigrant.

I was born in NC (Morehead City), was away for the military and one job, but I doubt I will ever leave. I love NC.

My mom is 91. When she passes I will probably go to Colorado. Grandkids live there.
 
My mom is 91. When she passes I will probably go to Colorado. Grandkids live there.

I get that. My sis-in-law is 3 miles from us, and if it wasn't for her and her kids my wife would likely be OK to leave. I'd love to go back to the coast, and if the right opportunity came up, I could go to coastal SC or Georgia. But I really do love NC.
 
I was born at Presbyterian too. My mom and dad are also native Charlotteans. We have home movies of my mom when she was growing up on East Blvd. They just recently tore the old house down. It was across the street from Hankins & Whittington beside the church. The movies are from the early '20's!

My wife's grandfather owned a family dairy farm. It was pretty much all of margret Wallace rd but when he died at 42 of a massive heart attack they started selling it off. They had owned all of independence high schools campus all the way back to about Bible Baptist at one point. But none of his family had any interest in farming and his kids were to small. So they sold it off little by little.
 
My grandfather owned a printing business and the land it was on on McDowell St. He lost everything in the Great Depression. Some big fancy hotel sits on that land now. Sure would have been nice to have inherited it! :(
 
I worked out of state for a few years. Now I'm 4 minutes from my mom's. Kids go to the same HS I did. I'm still in a few team pictures at the school. If I ever move it would just be slightly west.
 
I was born in Cherry Point USMCAS. Lived in a lot of places for short times. Always came back to NC. Been in the Triangle for about 20yrs straight now. Raleigh is changing for sure. Not fond of the direction it's taking either. Raleigh 12 years ago was about perfect. Big enough to have what you wanted, affordable to live in, small enough to know and care. It's not like that anymore. I may not live in NC for the rest of my life, but it's always going to be home.
 
Well, Charlotte doesn't seem to be that way. I was born and raised here and rarely meet another native.
You're talking infiltration of outsiders. He's talking about people leaving. Ive had the same experience though. Seems like most everbody has been here 3yrs or less. I find most of the old timers are on the west side.
My wife is a native of Charlotte born at Presbyterian downtown. Campbell university is as far as she has ever went. I could have left NC not long after getting here but really like the area.
I was born at Presbyterian too. My mom and dad are also native Charlotteans. We have home movies of my mom when she was growing up on East Blvd. They just recently tore the old house down. It was across the street from Hankins & Whittington beside the church. The movies are from the early '20's!
I'm a native as well, born at was then called Charlotte Memorial. Though, I've recently moved south of the border. My family and work are still in Charlotte.

My grandfather owned a printing business and the land it was on on McDowell St. He lost everything in the Great Depression. Some big fancy hotel sits on that land now. Sure would have been nice to have inherited it! :(
That had to be at the corner of McDowell and Independence across from the old Ritz theater and just up the street from the House of Prayer. I grew up at McDowell and Trade St. Went to kindergarten at the Baptist Church now known as the Great Aunt Stella Center.
 
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NC is second only to Texas in retaining its native residents. ...

And that's a good thing, imo. Though I admit to being surprised nonetheless.
 
And that's a good thing, imo. Though I admit to being surprised nonetheless.

That is what is keeping NC a 'purple' state instead of going solidly blue in the elections....

My obs: When my dad retired from the Marines we moved to Hillsborough. Town was filled with multigenerational businesses, and there were families there who had been there for 200 years. No more. It has turned into a bedroom community for Chapel Hill, and is Chapel Hill Lite, with property values to match.
 
My wife's grandfather owned a family dairy farm. It was pretty much all of margret Wallace rd but when he died at 42 of a massive heart attack they started selling it off. They had owned all of independence high schools campus all the way back to about Bible Baptist at one point. But none of his family had any interest in farming and his kids were to small. So they sold it off little by little.
Wow, that very close to where I live and pretty much where I grew up. My wife's grandparents also had a dairy farm but outside Hickory NC.
 
Wow, that very close to where I live and pretty much where I grew up. My wife's grandparents also had a dairy farm but outside Hickory NC.


About 2-300 yards before you get to sam Newell rd on the right side of the rd there are two brick house one has a big Chain welded to be a mailbox holder but hasn't had a mailbox in years. That is grand nana's house she is 96 and still alive.
 
my family founded the town I grew up in. Someone along the way got a case of envy, and instead of naming it after my family Surname (which is on half the roads) they named it after the train conductor that worked on the train thru town lol.

But yeah, Dad's family got off the boat in Jamestown VA in 1799. We been here a while :D
 
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Born in Asheville. Moved here at ~1.5 years old. Wife was born here. One of the few couples we know that are both basically from Charlotte.

But I’ve been to 49/50 states (45 before I got out of high school), so I’ve seen what else is out there. Could count on one hand other places I’d be ok moving to.
 
Only way I’m leaving is if I hit the lottery and had to get away. I’ve lived in Chatham county 26.5 of my 27 years and have no plans to change that. Was born in Siler City and will likely die here.
 
Born in Winston Salem, grew up in Fayetteville, been in Alamance Co for the last 20 years.

Family "roots" are in TN and I'm a first gen Tarheel. Rest of my family is in TN, TX, or Alabama. Been to all three, I'll stay here.
 
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As much as I tell myself I'd like to move to the northwest (Montana or Idaho), reality is that I ain't leaving. Born here; will probably die here.

Love this state.
 
As much as I tell myself I'd like to move to the northwest (Montana or Idaho), reality is that I ain't leaving. Born here; will probably die here.

Love this state.

If I ever won the lottery I'd buy a few hundred acres in one or the other. That's probably the only way I would move.
 
Well, Charlotte doesn't seem to be that way. I was born and raised here and rarely meet another native.

Presbyterian, circa 1970. Grew up over by East Meck. Got smart and moved to the better Carolina. Actually my grandparents went back down south and I followed. My mom and dad were/are Charlotteans. It's almost scary how much that city has changed. My mom would give me $10 and drop me off at Eastland Mall and I'd go ice skating all day, that was in the late 70's.
 
I ain't from here, but I got here as fast as I could ;)

Truth is, Army sent me to Bragg in '95 after 4 1/2 years in Germany & I was not at all happy about it. But when they closed post that winter for an inch of snow, I laughed & knew I was never goin' back to friggin' KS. Then I met & got to runnin' around with some local folks, realized I'sa redneck 'n ain't even know it & just fell in love with NC.

Other than a 3 year pull in Germany & the odd deployment, I've been here ever since. Moved up here to Alamance Co. after I retired in '08 & couldn't be happier. Wife & I (she's from IL) have talked once or twice about possibly relocating, but have realized that we're home. We've put down roots here & will be buried here.
 
Presbyterian, circa 1970. Grew up over by East Meck. Got smart and moved to the better Carolina. Actually my grandparents went back down south and I followed. My mom and dad were/are Charlotteans. It's almost scary how much that city has changed. My mom would give me $10 and drop me off at Eastland Mall and I'd go ice skating all day, that was in the late 70's.

Hah, I got dropped off Eastland to ice skate three times. It was a long drive for my parents, but I loved it.

I live about a three minute walk from where I grew up. I would be fine staying in this area, but it seems Lincolnton proper and the yankee cesspool that is Denver are pushing at us from each direction. Already had yankees from the east trying to push no-shooting ordinances for the entire county.
 
Born in Boiling Springs in the shadow of Gardner Webb.
Had enough of this place around 1993 and took off. Spent twenty years seeing the country and the world.
In 2013, I finally settled down...a mile and a half from where I grew up.
I'm not going anywhere, anymore.
 
I must be the exception. I was born/raised here and do love it. But, my long term goal is to eventually move to WY or MT.
 
If I hit the lottery, I would definitely buy a house in Sand Point, Idaho. I believe that is the name of the place. I went through there a few years ago on my bike. Loved the town. It's about 20 or 30 miles from the Canadian border.
 
I got drug up here from Florida. Mom and Dad were born and raised here. Dad enlisted in the Navy and we saw a lot of the eastern US. About the time for us to start school and Dad's second hitch was up and he told the Navy he was going home. Been here since I was about 6 years old. Nothing like living in the Carolinas.

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My family has been in yancy county since the rocks were new, and even though I'm in the middle of the state now, I'll end up back there. The mountains call my name like a siren.
 
I was born in Columbus Ohio while my dad was on a short teaching stint at Ohio State.They moved back here shortly thereafter.Grew up in Raleigh but can't stand the place anymore.Started working in Fuquay and have been working there since 1986 and living in Duncan,Fuquay,Willow Spring,and Angier.

Even if I win the lottery I would stay here in the state though I did spend a lot of summers in South Carolina and would be ok there too.
 
Born in St.Louis, MO, moves to N. Raleigh in ‘71, moved to Paris for 4 years, came back to Ral, spent summers at family farm/ranch n N. CA & Farmington MO, traveled Europe, dad moved to FL, then Germany and I decided in the late 80’s that I prefer NC & the people here more than anywhere else.
 
The population in NC has increased by a couple of million since I moved back to the state from SC 30 years ago. I can remember when it was 8 million, and now it’s 10 million. Much of that extra 2 million is likely from the influx of those from elsewhere, versus “organic growth”. And most of them likely moved here to the metro areas which is why we see so many from elsewhere in the Wake and Mecklenburg metro areas.
 
I'm from Saluda County in the SC Piedmont. My family moved to the Dutch Fork area in 1745 from Germany. They have been on the same land in Saluda since the late 1700s. They grew everything through the years - cotton, soybeans, beef cattle, even had some sheep at one time. When I came along it was a dairy farm. Saluda has lost a LOT of dairy farms since then...

I was heavily involved in 4-H, but was always of a science/engineering bent. Went to Clemson for BS/MS; did two internships at Johnson Space Center, where I was like a pig in mud. Got a fellowship to get my PhD; went to CU-Boulder because I fell in love with it during a conference, and they have a good electromagnetics program. I love the low humidity, climate, etc out there. Spent summers at Wright-Pat in Ohio at the base. That was nice - "country" was close to the base and places I lived; I didn't have to be in Dayton proper. When I got out of school, RF jobs were scarce after the Berlin wall came down; I wound up in Dallas for less than a year, then to Ottawa for a couple of years, then back. It was great to cross that border for the final time on the way home. Moved down to RTP in NC, following the jobs again. Since then, I've been blessed enough, and so has my wife, that we've always found work in this area. We've been through layoffs and other changes. I'm not fond of the growth, and we never could have a big enough lot with a close enough commute for a decent amount of money (same gripe as everyone else, I suppose, but coming off a 500 acre dairy farm, I sure do feel it - moving to Dallas from Boulder was pretty rough).

Since I went to Clemson and did some geology work in NC and 4-H trips in NC, and it's so close to the line, I've never made a big distinction between the two states. Of course gun laws and gas taxes are different :) A bigger concern is the difference between urban and rural areas. We need to kick Charlotte, the Triangle, Ashville, and Columbia to the curb...apologies if I left any "deserving" places off the list :D . When we get ready to retire (maybe 8-10 years or so), I've quite a mind to move back to what's left of the farm, which is ~440 acres between my sister and me. I need some "leave me the hell alone" room...and I wouldn't mind doing some mentoring with the old school, 4-H programs, etc.
 
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