Raleigh

Population : (2000) 276,093

Raleigh (IPA: /ˈrɑli/, ral-ee) is the capital of the State of North Carolina and the county seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees, though pine trees are the dominant species. It has a population of approximately 367,995 (2007 estimate), making it the second most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte the 5Ith largest city in the United States. Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill make up the three cities of The Triangle. This name comes from the 1959 creation of a research park Research Triangle Park, located mostly within Durham County. The Triangle is an urban region, equivalent to the U.S. Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area of Raleigh-Durham-Cary. The estimated Raleigh-Cary metropolitan statistical area population, as of 2006, is 994,551. While almost all of the city limits is located in Wake County, a few small portions of Raleigh are actually in Durham County as a result of annexation.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/41/104025801_6d88a74ddb_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/156621524_cfac795f04_o.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1099/538322059_e349967b63_b.jpg

Tiny skyline...
6/10

6/10

6.5/10

mah 6.5/10

Nice few little towers but hardly a city looks more like a metro area of a large city
5.0

looks more like a suburb...i dont get why AA has an Raleigh durham-LGW flight in a 777 7/10 though

I like it, its not big or anything....but it does it for me. One prob tho, ITS NOTHING BUT A PARKING LOT! 7/10

8.5/10 :)

6/10

6/10


small, but interesting.

No Comments >(

It is not big, but the selection of buildings is wonderful!

8/10 :)

I can see exactely two skyscrapers...:D

3.5/10

Below 3.5!

Definately crappy.

Pros: The first pic looks pretty good

Cons: The other pics show weaknesses. More parking lots than buildings and the architecture is weak.

4.5/10

It is a small downtown, but it does have some lively areas, including several arts complexes, and a terrific performing arts center. Plus, Raleigh contains a long pedestrian mall in the center of downtown (Fayetteville St. Mall):

http://www.consultwebs.com/ncphotos/images/fay_st_mall_4562_550_dpwm.jpg

http://www.consultwebs.com/ncphotos/images/raleigh/fay_st_mall_2405_550wm.jpg

Raleigh's downtown also contains (at one end of Fayetteville Mall) the North Carolina State Capital, one of the nations older state capitals. Its one of North Carolina's most important structures:

http://www.consultwebs.com/ncphotos/images/capitol/nc_capitol_32_550wm.jpg

Monument to the North Carolina Confederate dead:

http://www.consultwebs.com/ncphotos/images/capitol/ral_3372_550wm.jpg

Part of Raleigh marketplace area, another pedestrian area:

http://www.consultwebs.com/ncphotos/images/marketplace/marketplace_5383_550_dropwm.jpg

Raleigh is consistently ranked as one of the best cities in America in which to live. Its growing insanely fast. So why is the downtown so small?

1. Raleigh is only part of a greater metropolitan area called the Triangle. This also includes Durham (which has its own little downtown) and Chapel Hill and Cary (which contain nice commerical districts, although no skyscrapers).

2. The primary industry of the Triangle is research, education, and medicine. The educational facilities are the major universities in Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill (NC State, Duke, and UNC respectively). If the primary industry was more like Charlotte's (banking), Raleigh might have a skyline more like Charlottes. But, universities build campuses, not skyscrapers, which makes the Triangle a land of great campuses and few scrapers.

3. The largest commerical district in the Triangle (and one of the largest in the South) is RTP, Research Triangle Park, which contains headquarters and research facilities for hundreds of companies and government agencies in a park-like setting. There aren't really any scrapers here. However, there are some amazing modern architectural landmarks, including one by Paul Rudolph. The research park, America's largest, is about 16 square miles. There are approximately 45,000 employees. IBM alone employs 13,000 in the park. :

Parts of Glaxosmithkline campus:

http://www.robl.w1.com/pix-nc/C030800.jpg

http://www.robl.w1.com/pix-nc/C030793.jpg

So, give Raleigh's skyline whatever rating you think it deserves, but just know that there's a lot more to the place than just the skyline.

How many inhabitants have?
poor skyline, does not seem a city.
4,5/10

Raleigh has 306,944 people, making it the nations 58th largest city.

The population of Wake County (in which Raleigh is situated) is 675,518.

The entire Triangle region (which also includes Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas) has a population of 1,187,941. Incidentally, it feels much larger than this since it's so spread out, and has multiple urban centers. The metropolitan area's growth rate from 1990 to 2000 was an astounding 38.9% (the same as Atlanta's!).

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill is the 12th fastest growing metro area in the nation. In terms of major metro areas (metro areas with over a million people), it's the 4th fastest growing, after Las Vegas, Austin, and Phoenix, and tied with Atlanta.

Its highly recommended that you visit this place, which doesn't receive nearly enough publicity, outside of college basketball of course!

Originally posted by dcb11

Raleigh has 306,944 people, making it the nations 58th largest city.

The population of Wake County (in which Raleigh is situated) is 675,518.

The entire Triangle region (which also includes Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas) has a population of 1,187,941. Incidentally, it feels much larger than this since it's so spread out, and has multiple urban centers. The metropolitan area's growth rate from 1990 to 2000 was an astounding 38.9% (the same as Atlanta's!).

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill is the 12th fastest growing metro area in the nation. In terms of major metro areas (metro areas with over a million people), it's the 4th fastest growing, after Las Vegas, Austin, and Phoenix, and tied with Atlanta.

Its highly recommended that you visit this place, which doesn't receive nearly enough publicity, outside of college basketball of course!

58th largest city with 350.000 people?? My city is 240.000 and is the 90th largest in Brasil!! There is something wrong with your stats, since USA has many large cities!

I understand your confusion, AcesHigh. I'm using the most up-to-date data I can find. The official census estimate for Raleigh's population on July 1, 2002 (if there are more up-to-date data, I can't find it) is 306,944, as I stated.

Population Estimates (http://eire.census.gov/popest/data/cities/tables/SUB-EST2002-01.php)

The city has probably moved up a few spots since it has a higher growth rate then almost all of the cities in the US larger than it. (About the same growth rate as Charlotte and Phoenix!)

Your confusion is based on one thing: metropolitan areas. The way cities work in the US is very different than the way they work in Brazil. In the US, metro differ largely from place to place in the way they are organized. City population is largely arbitrary.

Okay, this is a little complex. Raleigh incorporates areas that are what we would call both urban and suburban. Thus, its population is somewhat large, but thats about all there is in terms of metro area (not counting Durham and Chapel Hill). On the other hand, some metro areas have small central cities, but huge suburban populations outside of city limits, usually in other, smaller cities or towns.

Raleigh-Durham is tough to use because it has multiple urban centers, so I'll simplify this a little. My hometown, Columbus Ohio, has 711,470 people. This makes it the 15th largest city in the the US. It incorporates all kinds of areas, and takes up a huge amount of space. Furthermore, it is always annexing new areas (something which, i believe, is fairly rare in brazil, but I may be wrong). There are suburbs, but not as many people live there as live in the city of Columbus. Columbus is not really the 15th largest metro area, just the 15th largest city. Its technically the largest city in Ohio. However, Cleveland has more than twice the metro population of Columbus. But, in the Cleveland area, a majority of the people live in suburban cities.

There are extreme legal cases that also skew the system. For example, sometimes cities merge with their counties, thereby making the whole metro area one city. This is why Jacksonville is the largest city in Florida, even though Miami is a much larger metro area. On the other hand, some cities are pretty much confined to a specific area. San Francisco and St. Louis are examples of this. Neither city annexes territory. They are both relatively small, but have HUGE metropolitan populations. San Fran is, in fact, about the size of Columbus, but its MUCH larger than that in metro area, and people think of it as a big city, even though technically it isn't. This is because the city of San Fran only includes the central area of the metro area, and does not include areas like San Jose, Oakland, and the many suburbs.

An obvious example of a city being legally confined to a small space is Washington DC. This city has a huge suburban population in Maryland and Virginia, but the city itself if confined to a small area set aside in the 1700's (The District of Columbia).

One more example. I'm sure you know that Atlanta has one of the largest metro areas in the nation. However, its only the 40th largest city! Again, this is because in this particular metro area, a majority of the people live in areas outside the city limits of Atlanta.

In conclusion, for better or worse, city boundaries are largely arbitrary in the US. The way city boundaries work differs from place to place. There are many reasons for this, often just being based on the historical nature and culture of a city. Some cities have easily definable borders, like those in Europe (and I think Brazil), while others are much more organic, growing entities. Suburban population is not predictable by looking at the central city population. Hell, Boston's city population is smaller than that of Columbus, but you'll never convince a Bostonian that Columbus is larger, except in a technical sense.

Basic point- City population is basically meaningless in terms of a city's feel and "true size" in the US. If you want to really consider which "cities" are the biggest, look only at metro population.

thanks for the lenghty explanation. As for cities "anexxing" other areas its exactly the contrary in Brasil. Big municipalities sometimes have far away neighborhoods that evolve like a independant urban nucleus, so many times the main city where the executive and legislative power of the city seats is not able to rightly supply the demands of that nucleus, so such nucleus emancipates from the main city, becoming another municipality. This happens a lot. Thats why my state has 680 municipalities :)

This is something that rarely happens in the US. There are a few cases of this, but usually places don't secede from a city. The San Fernando Valley is an exception to this. They attempted to secede from Los Angeles, but the motion to do this failed with voters. It happens every once in a while, but its not as systematic as the system you are describing. Its more likely to see big cities swallow up suburbs, or at least unincorporated suburban areas. An huge example of this is when New York and Brooklyn merged. That more than doubled the size of NYC.

Poor skyline of it's size, need some more buildings

7.5/10

small but quite nice
6/10

i do not like the tall building. decent skyline. 5/10

5/10

not bad but for about 1,360,000 in the metro it could be better but I guess its understandable with Durham on the other side. It will grow as the population is doing now 5.5/10

Umm. No. This is a disgrace.

average....5/10

Again, this is not a great skyline, but the real heart of the metro area is in Research Triangle Park, the nation's largest research park. RDU is the nations 4th fastest growing metro area (tied with Atlanta).

I gave it 6.5/10. I live in Raleigh and work downtown, and while I will be the first to say that DT Raleigh is a nice place to be, the skyline needs some serious work. Some infills are about to eliminate several parking lots and low-rises, but nothing is going to make a huge difference in the skyline. The largest proposal is a 34, or 37 (depending on who you ask) story tower, which will become Raleigh's new tallest. Alas, it won't alter the core's image, but it's location will help boost another area of DT Raleigh and create a second skyline, to the West, in parallel with the existing one. Anyway, DT Raleigh's skyline is nothing to write home about, but the area isn't bad at all.

Not as great as it should be. Blame the planning departments and politicans for allowing the Triangle to become a sprawled out mess.

I see no picture...

from this angle, it looks small for its population, but still it looks to have a decent size...
http://www.mae.ncsu.edu/Programs/Graduate/raleigh.gif

but it looks even smaller from the air, since the tallest building in the front and the black one in the back, which seem to be distant, from the air, are just 2 blocks apart... or even less...
http://www.consultwebs.com/ncphotos/images/aerials/Raleigh-98-0924839_large_dropwm.jpg

here are some pictures of my city... it has 240.000 people. And thats all. I mean, there is no metro area at all! I know Brasil had a completely different way of building cities. We have many more residentials. But I guess Raleigh, for its pop, could also have some highrise residentials. Why not? And some more commercial highrises. You dont even need really tall towers to have a cool skyline. Several 20-30 highrises already give you a great effect in a skyline.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=130106

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/Mauricio%20Cardoso/119_1935.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/Mauricio%20Cardoso/119_1936.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/Mauricio%20Cardoso/119_1943.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/Mauricio%20Cardoso/119_1946.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/Mauricio%20Cardoso/119_1953.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/Mauricio%20Cardoso/119_1962.jpg

is the above downtown? Of course not. Just a part of a residential neighborhood. In this picture you can see the north area of downtown
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/Mauricio%20Cardoso/119_1973.jpg

here the entire downtown area
http://img26.photobucket.com/albums/v77/rogerpenna/nh_panos/panoramica3_800x600.jpg

I live in Raleigh the reason why the skyline is so small is because, the economy in the area is based on Research Triangle Park. Over 52 big name companies employ people in the region. It is a center of technology and medicine research. Also the pictures you are seeing are not updated there are several more buildings under construction and a few that are already finished.

8.5/10

The buildings are quite nice, but skyline is really average. 6/10

I agree with the average rankings. Downtown Raleigh is as dead as a hammer, featuring a sparse skyline and grotesque government buildings including perhaps America's ugliest historic capital building. To its credit, Raleigh is the repository of this state's outstanding wealth of museums, but to its discredit, some of those museums... *cough* North Carolina Museum of Art *cough*, are located in the middle of nowhere in buildings that look like insurance company headquarters.

Better than just plain average, but not by much. 6.

Oh, i rather like the North Carolina capital building. It reflects the states history as a once sparsely-populated, poor southern state.

I think the NC Museum of Art has a great collection, but the building is a little strange, you're right about that. It really should be located somewhere in downtown Raleigh.

The downtowns in the Triangle Area are mostly relics of the past since the majority of people work in areas like RTP and in the universities. Still, there are a number of historic and interesting buildings to see in these downtowns. I particularly enjoy Durham's historic tobacco warehouses. Just don't go there at night, especially wearing gang colors...

Looks good at first, but grows old fast. I give it a 5/10. :(

Could be better, being as it does have an NHL hockey team. :) 6/10.

6/10

Let me share a few photos of mine. Nothing to make you change your mind, but nevertheless a change from the usual web finds.

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/29084217.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/29084224.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/34970544.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/45171374.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/42292696.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/44604740.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/45171443.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/45171379.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/raleighmsa/image/45171497.jpg

It's alright, 5/10

8/10

I'm probably impacted by the dozen or so new projects approved and /or under construction downtown. With the addition of these projects Raleigh's downtown will finally begin to reflect the highly rated image of the metro area. We have a ways to go but there is quite a buzz about downtown around Raleigh.

It's small, but it looks nice. 6.5/10

Wow, I was so surprised to see this thread coming back from the dead, so let me post something that most people haven't seen yet, the skyline after the mixed-use RBC Tower gets built:

http://www.raleighmsa.com/images/projects/DowntownRaleigh/RBC-CenturaTower/RBCTower-RaleighNC-3m.jpg

Nothing to really impress people who are accustomed to much more attractive skylines, but what the heck? Raleigh's skyline is about to change significantly by 2008. It won't push the rating by a point, but we should get at least half a point :) If RBC Tower goes above the proposed height, which is still a rumor, then we may get the whole point :lol: I will try to post some images I manipulated to include several other projects, but I will need a little time, so I can upload them and link to them.

6.5/10

5/10

Raleigh has 306,944 people, making it the nations 58th largest city.

The population of Wake County (in which Raleigh is situated) is 675,518.

The entire Triangle region (which also includes Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas) has a population of 1,187,941. Incidentally, it feels much larger than this since it's so spread out, and has multiple urban centers. The metropolitan area's growth rate from 1990 to 2000 was an astounding 38.9% (the same as Atlanta's!).

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill is the 12th fastest growing metro area in the nation. In terms of major metro areas (metro areas with over a million people), it's the 4th fastest growing, after Las Vegas, Austin, and Phoenix, and tied with Atlanta.

Its highly recommended that you visit this place, which doesn't receive nearly enough publicity, outside of college basketball of course!

I live here, in the boring sterile town of Apex... The Triangle is ok, but it is so incredibly overrated it makes me sick. Not really a bad place to live, but not the utopia so many people move here expecting to find. Raleigh's skyline isn't too bad though, I'd give it a 5.

I wanted to share a few more photos I took recently. Again, nothing to change the overall impression, but nevertheless something different from the usual web finds. The first photo is taken from the currently under construction Quorum Center:

http://www.pbase.com/image/55088825.jpg

From Broughton High School; nice angle, but the trees are hiding the two tallest buildings :(
http://www.pbase.com/image/56429861.jpg

This shot will have to be revisited in 2008; the skyline will be dramatically altered by then:
http://www.pbase.com/image/56278433.jpg

From the parking deck of Duke Health Raleigh Hospital... one of my favorite angles:
http://www.pbase.com/image/56278669.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/56278662.jpg

7/10- nice buildings, not much of a skyline.

5/10

6.5/10

I used to live in Raleigh, so I'll be kind

4/10

Nice skyline...I think this skyline in a few years will be compared to Charlotte..

I know that we are all rating the current skyline, but here are a couple of images I would like to share that will give you an idea of what is coming up. The first image puts emphasis on the latest incarnation of RBC Centura Tower (image was posted at Raleighing.com).

http://worthymusic.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/rbc_new.jpg

The following image (courtesy of Raleighing.com) gives a rough idea of what the CBD will look after all major projects are complete. The RBC Centura tower (in the middle of the skyline) is shown as a 29-story tower, but the developer has pushed it to 31 and could possibly become the new tallest for DT Raleigh, unless the 32-story Reynolds Tower 1 grabs that title. However, the new tallest for Raleigh will be built outside downtown and will stand 47 stories tall.

http://worthymusic.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/skyline_master_full_3.jpg

Please, keep in mind that the entire downtown skyline will be much larger. Currently there are 2 towers at the West side, with 3-4 more under way. In general, we are talking about the doubling of the skyline by 2008, with two towers between 29 and 32 floors. I am not saying this to impress anyone because we all know this is nothing impressive, but those of you familiar with Raleigh will understand the excitement we feel these days as more and more major projects get announced. I heard of 4 more "secret" [big] proposals, but nothing has become public yet. I must admit, though... I can't wait until we create another "Rate Our Skyline" two years from now ;)

I'd put Raleigh in the same league as Austin, TX - maybe mediocre skylines of large states with important (economically, educationally) capital cities has something to do with it. Raleigh's skyline - for region (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) that's so dynamic and growing so rapidly - is criminally dull. Even the new RBC headquarters building is - at best - boring.

The city has a small skyline. I thought it would have been much larger. Nothing to look at.

kinda reminds me of sao paulo. yet smaller ^_^
anyways, its a really nice city but not enough skycrapers =P i'll give it 7.5
BTW how do you pronounce the name of this city?

We do have a rather uninteresting and small skyline, I must admit. Coming from New York City it was a big change for me, but Raleigh has great standards of living and this is the major selling point for the entire area. Fortunately, this will translate to some major corporate relocations and eventually a few nice towers to spice up our skyline ;)

@yuval5: I am not good at these things, but I will give it a shot. Raleigh is pronounced as "Raly", or "Ralii", with the accent on the "a". Anyone who is good with phonetics please feel free to jump in.

oh, I think i got it :) like ralei?(with the accent on the "a") it's a hard question to ask on the internet

I cant see the first few photos but I was there 7 or 8 years ago. It was ok 4.5

Boring city, Boring skyline 5/10

really nice..7/10

dcb11 your picture make it seem that the downtown area is huge

^^
Downtown Raleigh is about 1000 acres big/small. Of course, the CBD is not that large; it is more like 16-20 blocks.

Just to provide the latest numbers, Raleigh is about 353,000 people strong - strictly within city limits, with growth of about 1000 new residents each month. The current population within downtown is 4000, but the city leaders estimate that this may jump to 10000 in the next 4 years. For those who love playing with numbers, the population within 1-1.5 miles from downtown is about 15000, I believe.

"raahly" is how I pronounce it

^^
That's correct, too.

6/10

There's little to see there now. So us Raleighers are mostly interested with the future. The future looks a lot better. Meeker's Council is undoing a lot of the damage Coble and Fetzer caused by doing nothing for downtown. We're getting a lot of residential developments there, which will be great for the nightlife.

As for the skyline, that's a tricky task. Until the RTP fills to capacity, downtown Raleigh will have to fight it for big company headquarters. Durham is having largely the same problem.

Our best interests would be served by building the Triangle Transit Authority's Regional Rail. This would not be cheap or easy, but I think with the prospects of a 2-million resident metropolitan area, this will become inevitable.

I can't rate Raleigh until the next wave of stuff gets built, because its level of success will largely determine the path the city will take.

6.5/10

7/10

7.5/10

7/10

6/10

9/10

6/10

A recent photo...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/2897017877_9a1b4d893b_o.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jularun7/2897017877/sizes/o/

7.5/10

7.5/10

6/10

7/10

4.5

6/10

i live an hour from here so i gotta love it! not as good as charlotte btu its a contender

6/10 not much there, but good for its size...

WooHoo 1800th post!

Nice skyline for its size and nice city too. 8/10

what skyline?

a 2.5

6/10

4/10

things are moving too slowly

it will look like this for a while :(

8/10

7/10

6,5/10

10/10 i love it since i live an hour away lol

8. Good. Regards.

6/10

http://s004.radikal.ru/i206/1002/d8/f64d2e75b06f.jpg
http://s003.radikal.ru/i202/1002/1e/28836dd7d29e.jpg
http://s55.radikal.ru/i150/1002/57/178d88eaf030.jpg

7/10

http://images.raleighskyline.com/images/2011/03.24/march_24_2011_raleighskyline.com_11.jpg

^^
That's one bulky building!

Nice little skyline, 8/10 from me :)

http://images.raleighskyline.com/images/2012/pnc-bank-in-the-raleigh-skyline/PNC_bank_sign_raleighskyline.com_02.jpg
http://raleighskyline.com/content/2012/02/15/pnc-bank-in-the-raleigh-skyline/

8/10

http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii590/cjreisen/543537_3548308827267_1258952515_33597903_800417161_n.jpg

Just took this pic today!

6/10

6/10

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5022/5886174421_a3a182275d_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tshadow13/5886174421/)
City of Raleigh (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tshadow13/5886174421/) by Photony13 (http://www.flickr.com/people/tshadow13/), on Flickr

7.5

6/10

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8039/8064015526_1ac2368d90_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronbo1/8064015526/)
RaleighSkyline-BW-FoodaliciousJan12 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronbo1/8064015526/) by Ronbo1 (http://www.flickr.com/people/ronbo1/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8064008009_4e4904ac03_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronbo1/8064008009/)
RaleighSkyline-Panorama (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronbo1/8064008009/) by Ronbo1 (http://www.flickr.com/people/ronbo1/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/8073759317_16b089c3a0_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bz3rk/8073759317/)
Raleigh skyline (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bz3rk/8073759317/) by Willamor Media (http://www.flickr.com/people/bz3rk/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8185/8082038151_f77219d9b2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfmobility/8082038151/)
Raleigh, NC Skyline (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hfmobility/8082038151/) by Bunk71 (http://www.flickr.com/people/hfmobility/), on Flickr

4.5/10