$100k salary, packing up from Raleigh

change
Asheville, NC cityscape

instead of raleigh

Asheville

nc · metro 417k

a dispatch from

asheville

NC

35.58°N

82.55°W

Asheville is what happens when a mountain town and an art school have a baby and raise it on craft beer. Downtown packs more breweries per capita than almost anywhere in America, plus buskers on every corner and Art Deco buildings the Depression accidentally preserved (the city went broke before it could tear them down). The Biltmore, America's largest private home, looms on the edge of town like a stone-carved flex. Remote workers keep showing up, which is how you know.

metro417k

01 · the verdict

the verdict

$75

more each month than Raleigh ran you

Almost a wash on cost. The case for Asheville is about what you'd do there, not what you'd save.
landable, recorded on the asheville entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,738/mo

5% more expensive than Raleigh(vs $1,663/mo)

02state income tax

4.5%

vs 4.5% in Raleigh

03after rent

$6,220/mo

$75 less than Raleigh

gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.

04a house here

$430k

2% cheaper than Raleigh

vs $440k in Raleigh

05metro size

417k

vs 1.5M in Raleigh

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

201

pleasant days a year, in asheville.

Raleigh barely cracks 201 pleasant ones.

Comparable to Raleigh for events and concerts.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

66/100

14% higher than Raleigh

vs 58/100 in Raleigh

Closest outdoor draw: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 74.8 mi.

·walk score®

63/100

35% lower than Raleigh

vs 97/100 in Raleigh

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

8

79% fewer than Raleigh

vs 39 nonstops in Raleigh

04 · see also

cities that play in asheville's register:

compare asheville with: