Triangle Starter Guide
So you’re curious about the Triangle, North Carolina, aka the “Research Triangle,” aka “Raleigh-Durham” (though locals will remind you that “Raleigh-Durham” is not really a thing). First things first: why is it a triangle? The three points of the triangle are the cities of Raleigh and Durham, and the town of Chapel Hill. It’s called the Research Triangle because each one of these cities is home to a major research university: N.C. State University in Raleigh, Duke University in Durham, and UNC Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill. The area is well-known for Research Triangle Park, which describes itself as such: “Founded in 1959 and located at the center of three Tier-1 research universities, RTP is the largest research park in the United States and a premier global innovation center. Its 7,000 acres house hundreds of companies, including science and technology firms, government agencies, academic institutions, startups and nonprofits.”
Sometimes termed the Silicon Valley of the East Coast, the Triangle is a high tech hub whose residents are very highly educated. In a recent list of the top 50 most highly educated cities in the United States, Raleigh weighed in at #13, while Durham/Chapel Hill was at #4, behind only the DC metro area, San Jose, and Ann Arbor.
With jobs and universities drawing residents who hail from all over the United States and the world, the Triangle also enjoys great racial, ethnic, and religious diversity. Culturally, one could say the Triangle shares many qualities with Atlanta and Charlotte, in the sense that it’s a southern metro area with national attention as a sophisticated hub of innovation and progress.
The Triangle is located in central North Carolina, in a geographic region called the Piedmont. Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, is about 2.5 hours away. Triangle residents can generally make it to ocean beaches in under 2 hours and the mountains of western North Carolina in under 3 hours.
Describing the Triangle as a single unit only gets one so far, as there are cultural and other differences between the Triangle’s cities and towns that offer quite different vibes and combine to create a sum that’s greater than its parts.
RALEIGH AREA
Raleigh is North Carolina’s capital city, the largest city in the Triangle, and the second largest city in North Carolina behind Charlotte. Raleigh is growing at an extremely fast rate — it’s one of the top ten fastest growing large cities in the country, and consistently shows up in top ten lists for nearly every metric you could think of. Directly west of Raleigh is the town of Cary, often described as a Raleigh suburb, but on its own is the third largest municipality in the Triangle, between Raleigh and Durham. Raleigh and Cary comprise the Raleigh-Cary Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). For more detailed information about the Raleigh area, see our blog post coming soon.
DURHAM AREA
Durham is a 20 to 30 minute drive northwest of the hearts of Raleigh and Cary. It’s home to Duke University along with a rich cultural history, thriving arts scene, and many politically engaged citizens. Durham’s vibrant downtown has been undergoing a renaissance for many years, and doing a great job of thoughtfully blending old and new. Research Triangle Park is located in Durham, close to Cary. For more detailed information about the Durham area, see our blog post coming soon.
CHAPEL HILL AREA
Chapel Hill is the brainy little sister of the Triangle. Much of its identity is unmistakably tied to the beautiful University of North Carolina — if you don’t like the color robin’s egg blue, I suggest you not walk even a block down Franklin Street, Chapel Hill’s main-main drag. The neighborhoods around the heart of town near the university are peppered with gorgeous, stately homes inhabited, no doubt, by art-collecting professors and university officials donning horn-rimmed glasses. But there’s a lot more to the Chapel Hill area than UNC; for more information, see our blog post coming soon.