Relocation

Welcome to Charlotte, a city with a thriving business community, family-friendly neighborhoods, a vibrant arts community, exciting sports teams and an interesting blend of natives and newcomers.

If you’ve decided to make the move, you’re not alone. In recent years, the Queen City was named the most popular place to move by the American Moving & Storage Association. Thanks to our high concentration of financial institutions and other white-collar industries, Charlotte also has seen one of the biggest population increases in the country among young professionals under age 40.

Like many up-and-coming cities across the United States, Charlotte experienced its longest economic growth period without a downturn in the 1990s. NationsBank took over Bank­America, renamed the company Bank of America, and helped Charlotte become the No. 2 banking center in the country with more than a trillion dollars in bank resources. In 2001 Wachovia merged with First Union, creating another banking giant that was eventually purchased by Wells Fargo.

In addition to banking, Charlotte offers a broad mix of employment opportunities, including information technology, retail and wholesale trade, insurance, real estate, construction, manufacturing, transportation, and agriculture. The city’s diverse manufacturing base—local companies make everything from tires to computer parts to snack foods— has traditionally helped the economy stay healthier than in other large cities.

Sitting in the middle of the Piedmont crescent, an area from Raleigh to Greenville, South Carolina, at the junction of I-85 and I-77 has catapulted Charlotte into the sixth-largest wholesale center in the country. The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce takes an active role in recruiting, and in the past decade an Uptown economic development group called Charlotte Center City Partners has taken major steps to boost the economy and promote the area. Charlotte’s variety of industry draws more than 100,000 commuters from 10 surrounding counties every day, and its business-minded outlook and can-do attitude continue to bring new companies to town.

Charlotte offers a wide variety of housing options for every age and lifestyle. You’ll find lovely restored Victorians and condo high-rises in busy Uptown, finely crafted bungalows and mansions on winding tree-lined streets in early suburbs such as Dilworth and Myers Park, new neighborhoods overlooking golf courses and lakes on the edge of the city, and quiet country homes in surrounding counties.

The Charlotte Observer’s Saturday Real Estate section should be your first stop for up-to-the-minute market offerings. There are several local publications that can be helpful if you are buying, building, or selling a home. These free guides are available at many newspaper and magazine racks or at local grocery stores such as Harris Teeter.

The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce (330 South Tryon St., 704-378-1300, www.charlottechamber.org) provides information on the city to residents and potential residents. Listings in this chapter are alphabetical; neighborhoods are geographic.