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Richard Kane's avatar

Unfortunately I had to move to NC because of my job. It's amazing the differences! Here in Raleigh, there's no usable mass transit. You would think an area that encompasses the state capitol, RTP, multiple universities, an international airport, would have a good public transportation system. Nope, no commuter rail at all between the capitol, universities, the airport, and the bedroom communities. They brag about how great Wake Co. schools are but they can't hold a candle to the schools my children attended in NJ. The majority of jobs are low paying. Hi-tech firms that move here for tax breaks usually relocate their people here (and boy do they get culture shock!) so those companies really don't benefit the majority of the area's population. They really do live in a different world in a red state.

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Terry Mc Kenna's avatar

We lived in a town, Whippany NJ that was close to Bell Labs and Allied Chemical - this was 40 years ago. We would see lots of corporate transplants. I would meet them at soccer games and other kids events. They invariably spoke of how good our schools were. For me - a lifelong Jersey Boy, I saw our schools as nothing out of the ordinary and knew that 3 towns in our county had "better" schools so better test scores. Across the Northeast you would find the same - schools routinely good. Of course poor cities are challenge, but they are a challenge across the board, not just schools.

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Robin's avatar

A friend of mine moved to Charlotte from Illinois and loves it. She was also a pretty conservative person in a sea of liberals 😆.

Several years ago I looked at moving back to my red home state. I could not find a job that came close to paying me what I made then. I would've had to take about a 20% pay cut, even factoring in the admittedly lower cost of living. And I would've had to start driving to work every day. It was really eye opening. And so 10 years later I am still in Illinois.

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rlritt's avatar

I moved out of IL some years ago although I was educated in Chicago suburbs and worked a good part of my adult life the city, I took for granted great restaurants, parks along the lake and incredible museums. I don't regret moving to Southern CA though, because Chicago's one evil is miserably cold winters and driving on ice and snow.

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