charlotte rates very high in quality of life issues: climate, cost , congestion, crime, jobs, etc. a better indicator of the new south than Atlanta.

I wouldn't use the word "affordable", this place is CHEAP! They are practically giving away mansions down there! I lived there for three years, but then again, I still moved away. I liked it all right. They had some good local restaurants. I disagee that there is no history or culture, you just have to look for it. It is the second most important center for the banking industry in the US after NYC. This place is both very new and very rich, especially since people are hardly paying anything for their mansions. Traffic was worse than most places I've lived. Go Panthers!

HELL NO! I almost passed out when I saw this one. I lived there, it's OVERRATED oh man is it overrated. It needs to go down on the list.

I despise NC. I live in Raleigh, and you could easily blindfold anybody take them to raleigh, take off the blindfold, put it back on, take them to charlotte, and take of the blindfold, and they would never know the difference. All both of these places are are just miles and miles of tract housing filled with disfunctional families. No character, no history, no culture, no life! For the life of me i can't figure out why this is on the best cities in america list

New is how I'd describe Charlotte as well. I've been there twice and it has all the amenities and looks quite nice as far as cities go, but you kinda wonder Where's the history? Where's the unique sense of place? Where's the river? Charlotte seems like a good city to move to if you just graduated from College and are looking to be in an affordable, urban environment with a good job. It also seems like an acceptable southern metropolis for someone from a smaller environment who wants to live in an urban area without being overwhelmed by the elements of a big city. Charoltte made me thing of Judgement City in the movie Defending Your Life. Nice city overall.

A new looking city with an influx of white-collar workers. Airport is terrific (big enough to have lots of flights-not enough volume to have lots of delays.) Good but not great nightlife plus affordability give it 3 stars. Not much history and culture, though. . .