Most of the towns on the list are suburbs of a large city. Eden Prairie at #1, Plymouth at #11, Woodbury at #13, Eagan at #15, and Apple Valley at #20 are all suburbs of Minneapolis/St Paul. A lot of these towns, like Cary, were founded as railroad or telegraph stations. They became suburbs later.

I believe Cary has a reasonable claim to consistency. It may not be for everyone’s liking, but 130,000 people like it.

Cary and Chapel Hill are complete opposites but both deserve recognition. Chapel seems to thrive on its young adult and older populations while Cary is a haven for people raising families. Chapel Hill has a cultural focus while Cary has a Family Focus. Chapel Hill has the smell of vomit and stale beer while Cary has bland architecture and chain restaurants. Despite the positives and negatives of both towns they are still great places to live and should be praised.

That being said is Cary really a suburb? The business center of our region is RTP so realistically Cary and Durham are the closest housing areas to this business center. Remember we are one of a few regions that have a reverse commute so essentially Raleigh and Chapel Hill are suburbs of RTP. I guess Raleigh could be considered the “Buckhead” section of RTP where business and condo living are taking hold because of the explosive growth of RTP.

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it depends on what the definition of “suburb” is. There was a time when people only lived and shopped in suburbs; they worked in the big city nearby. But even in places that have no counterpart to RTP, the old definition of suburb has broken down.

Among those suburbs of Minneapolis/St Paul that I mentioned, I’ll bet that the majority of suburban residents work in the same or another suburb — not in downtown Minneapolis or downtown St Paul. That’s certainly true in Atlanta, where the majority of people in the metro area don’t work inside the city limits (despite all the large office buildings).

The suburban nexus these days is more about media, transportation, and entertainment than employment locations. From those perspectives, Cary still has ties to Raleigh.

20 years ago, I suspect a higher percentage of Cary residents worked in RTP than is true today. The Triangle has grown so much that job commutes are very scattered.

Cary may have a larger population than Chapel Hill, but Chapel Hill definitely has more of a city feeling than Cary. Like you said, a series of sprawling subdivisions. There’s no “there”, there. Chapel Hill actually has an urban component (although small)….sidewalks, buses, streets lined with pedestrians, density, etc.

I can understand why Chapel Hill is on the list… it clearly shows an extremely high level of living when even the lowly college students get free trips to South Beach, Bentleys, free rent, etc.

Chatham street… not Market street.

sorry, I’m ragging on Cary here, not Charlotte.

The results are interesting. Living in Chapel Hill is a unique experience. All residents definitely felt the town center, the axis Franklin Street / Carr Mill. But Cary feels like a series of subdivisions and strip malls. Thanks for great information