Durham vs Chapel Hill

[Anonymous]

We are considering moving to either Chapel Hill or Durham and I'd love to hear perspectives/pros/cons, especially if anyone has any recent experience there.

I lived in the area over a decade ago but get the sense from a couple business trips that Durham has changed a lot - not sure about Chapel Hill. My partner and I both have flexible jobs so we are flexible on location and have one kid under 1 year old so schools, while important, aren't pressing just yet. We live in Logan Circle now so know we'll be moving to a car culture/unwalkable situation but are excited about the lower cost of living, larger home sizes, and woodsy areas nearby.

Would appreciate any perspectives on the major differences between the two and any neighborhoods to target that are close to downtown but still have nice large wooded lots.

[Anonymous]

Durham is so cool now, why would you want to miss out?

[Anonymous]

Whenever I travel to that area I always try to stay in Durham but I will say that if you have a kid school is effectively around the corner, unless maybe you are planning on renting.

[Anonymous]

I haven't spent a lot of time in Durham, but the Walltown and Trinity Park neighborhoods appealed to me - older housing stock with big yards & trees, walkable or bikeable to downtown. The neighborhoods on the south side seemed more suburban, but I didn't get a good look at them.

Chapel Hill is nice, but pricey and dominated by the University. Neighboring Carrboro felt more like a "real" neighborhood.

If you visit be sure to see the Duke Gardens - really spectacular.

[Anonymous]

Lived in Chapel Hill for a decade, we might be moving back within the next year. We visited last fall just for fun, and CH has changed around the edges. More upscale stores, a quiet, rundown mall is now nice and hopping, just all-around fancier.

Carrboro looked exactly the same (that's where we lived). The CH-Carrboro schools are top notch (personally, I think they're vastly superior to FCPS and want them for my kids.) Compared to DMV home prices, you can live like a king there.

I didn't go to downtown Durham very often unless I needed to. There are some nice things around Brightleaf Square, I think it's called. Living in Durham is definitely cheaper. Not sure about the schools.

[Anonymous]

Chapel Hill is a tony small college town with a lot of older adults who live there. Wealthy. Good schools.

Durham is a diverse, urban small city with city schools and county schools. These two school districts are very different from each other. It is more diverse both economically, age-wise and racially.

Both are likely great places for you to live. But to give you advice on where you should live, we would need to know more about you, your family, the ages of your children, and whether you intend to send them to public or private schools.

In general, if you intend to use public schools, Chapel Hill is the better choice.

[Anonymous]

NP here. Assuming we can afford private school tuition for, say, Durham Academy, is there a reason we should still take a look at Chapel Hill if jobs are in Durham? I ask because I've heard great things about Chapel Hill public schools, but my DC was just diagnosed with mild inattentive ADHD. Because all of this is new, I haven't decided whether a nurturing mainstream private or a good public with more services/expertise is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

It's crazy to me that Duke is in the middle of a more diverse and less ritzy town than Chapel Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy to me that Duke is in the middle of a more diverse and less ritzy town than Chapel Hill.

why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy to me that Duke is in the middle of a more diverse and less ritzy town than Chapel Hill.

why?

I was thinking the same thing. It's not like Duke is some bastion of conservative politics.

[Anonymous]

Why do you want to live that far away from the city? Your commute will suck. Your are not going to find any well paid job there.

[Anonymous]

What’s traffic like these days? Asking as someone who always hated the CH-Durham drive on 15-501 or whatever it’s called.

[Anonymous]

I went to undergrad at UNC and grad school at Duke so have lived in both places. Durham is a larger city than Chapel Hill...I think the student population is larger than the town otherwise. It was great while I was in college, but I think as an adult it would be annoying. Downtown Durham and Chapel Hill/Carrboro are absolutely walkable, but I think considering schools you will likely not be living downtown in either place.

Anyway, I like Carrboro a lot, but would not want to be commuting from Carrboro to Durham every day...just annoying traffic. Durham has changed so much lately and is a much more interesting, lively city. I would pick Durham, but think bc of schools you likely might end up in the county rather than city. Also consider Hillsboro, why not?

In terms of why is Duke rich and Durham less so, while UNC is public and Chapel Hill is wealthy. Well...Chapel Hill basically exists because of the university and dominates the town. Downtown Chapel Hill is right off campus and walkable. Meanwhile when Duke was built the university bought huge areas of land all around it, so it's more of an isolated island. Meanwhile Durham is a bigger city that existed long before Duke came on the scene. The university tends to operate like an island and is not very involved in the city around it. Also, not many people from Durham or NC n general go to Duke. But UNC is dominated by in-state students. UNC IS Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill IS UNC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's crazy to me that Duke is in the middle of a more diverse and less ritzy town than Chapel Hill.

why?

I was thinking the same thing. It's not like Duke is some bastion of conservative politics.

Lol yeah because Chapel Hill is the people's university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to undergrad at UNC and grad school at Duke so have lived in both places. Durham is a larger city than Chapel Hill...I think the student population is larger than the town otherwise. It was great while I was in college, but I think as an adult it would be annoying. Downtown Durham and Chapel Hill/Carrboro are absolutely walkable, but I think considering schools you will likely not be living downtown in either place.

Anyway, I like Carrboro a lot, but would not want to be commuting from Carrboro to Durham every day...just annoying traffic. Durham has changed so much lately and is a much more interesting, lively city. I would pick Durham, but think bc of schools you likely might end up in the county rather than city. Also consider Hillsboro, why not?

In terms of why is Duke rich and Durham less so, while UNC is public and Chapel Hill is wealthy. Well...Chapel Hill basically exists because of the university and dominates the town. Downtown Chapel Hill is right off campus and walkable. Meanwhile when Duke was built the university bought huge areas of land all around it, so it's more of an isolated island. Meanwhile Durham is a bigger city that existed long before Duke came on the scene. The university tends to operate like an island and is not very involved in the city around it. Also, not many people from Durham or NC n general go to Duke. But UNC is dominated by in-state students. UNC IS Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill IS UNC.

This is only true of West Campus and also has a lot to do with the freeway, which wasn't built until the 70's and obliterated some of the parts of town closer to campus.