Charlotte falls behind Raleigh on ‘Best Places to Live’ ranking

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte metro has fallen out of the top 10 in U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the best places to live in the U.S. The latest ranking also moved the Raleigh-Durham metro area ahead of Charlotte, replacing it as the best place to live in North Carolina.

Charlotte landed at No. 20 in the 2021-22 ranking, down 14 spots from No. 6 last year. Raleigh-Durham, meanwhile, jumped nine spots to No. 2 in this year’s ranking.

[ALSO READ: Which area ranks as best place to live in Charlotte?]

The ranking measures the nation’s 150 largest metros across the five following categories: Quality of Life Index, which carries a 26% weight; Value Index (also called the Housing Affordability Index), 23.7%; Job Market Index, 21.2%; Desirability Index, 16.3%; and Net Migration, 12.8%. U.S. News uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Labor and its own internal resources for the ranking.

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While Charlotte performed “very well” in the ranking, the local metro experienced drops in three categories, noted Devon Thorsby, real estate editor at U.S. News.

Read more here about where the city received high marks — and where it struggled. 

2021 Hurricane outlook by meteorologist Ashley Kramlich

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