Charlotte neighborhoods as best spots for young professionals in NC, study says
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Charlotte neighborhoods occupied all top 20 spots on Niche’s young professionals ranking.
- Six Charlotte neighborhoods were ranked among the top 10 places to live in North Carolina.
- The Charlotte Metro area has grown rapidly and is now nearing 3 million people.
Charlotte swept a recent ranking of North Carolina neighborhoods and suburbs for young professionals, filling all the top twenty spots.
Niche, a company that uses data to rank schools and colleges, as well as neighborhoods, released a yearly list of the best places to live in North Carolina. Six Charlotte neighborhoods were ranked among the top 10 places to live in North Carolina overall, The Charlotte Observer previously reported – more than 20 crowd the top of the list of best places for young professionals.
Counties and zip codes are evaluated separately, but neighborhoods, towns and suburbs are ranked together in the Overall Best Places to Live List. More information on how the data is weighed is available online.
Charlotte’s best neighborhoods for young professionals
According to Niche, these neighborhoods in order are:
- Fourth Ward
- Uptown
- Brookhill
- Dilworth
- Wesley Heights
- Third Ward
- Optimist Park
- Southside Park
- Wilmore
- North Charlotte
- York Road
- Elizabeth
- Cherry
- Sedgefield
- Madison Park
- Commonwealth
- Villa Heights
- Plaza Millwood
- First Ward
- Ashbrook/Clawson Village
The Charlotte Metro area has grown rapidly in past years, now nearing 3 million people.
If you need a debrief on Charlotte’s neighborhoods, The Observer put out a guide to choosing the right area for your lifestyle on Monday, May 11.
Charlotte Young Professionals Group
Gretchen Johnson, Director of Administration for the Charlotte Young Professionals Group, moved back to Charlotte after school, but she said many, if not most, young professionals she engages with are transplants.
The Charlotte Young Professionals Group organizes events and networking in the Charlotte Metro Area. Young adults may also join as members to access certain keynote speaker events and other engagements; Johnson said 20-40 apply each month.
“I think it’s a combination of both work and professional opportunities and then also the ability to get plugged into a growing community with lots of engaged people who are like-minded and around the same age. Charlotte is a very young city, and we have a lot going on,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that affordability, sports, banking and location — access to both the mountains and the beach — seem to draw young people to Charlotte.
“I think it’s kind of the perfect storm combination,” Johnson said. “It’s just the right mix of all the elements for what people are looking for in a city.”
