North Carolina Growth Trends and Policies

North Carolina metropolitan areas frequently show up at the top of lists of the nation’s best places to live or work.This year, Forbes magazine ranked 200 metro areas by wage, salary, and job growth, and increases in high tech clusters.Charlotte was 14th, Raleigh was 21st, and Wilmington was 35th. Money magazine’s, “The Best Places to Live, 2000” rankedRaleigh-Durham 2nd, Greensboro/Winston-Salem 11th, and Charlotte 12th among large metropolitan areas in the South.1The Research Triangle Region alone was highly ranked in over 40 magazines, books, reports and newspapers over the lastseven years.2 Yet, the very things that make North Carolina desirable become threatened when too many people act on theirdesires and move there. Thus, urban growth, and its environmental, social, and economic consequences, has become apressing political issue across the state.