| The city of Raleigh is consistently voted one of | | | | companies to the area. An economic development |
| the best places to live in the United States and | | | | program assists new businesses with such things |
| offers an excellent environment for businesses | | | | as locating a building or site, assisting new |
| and their employees. The city boasts affordable | | | | employees with relocating and undertaking |
| housing, excellent schools and medical facilities and | | | | research. RTP also goes to great lengths to |
| a wide variety of cultural, leisure and sporting | | | | attract new businesses, by offering an established |
| opportunities. Raleigh is about a two hour drive | | | | infrastructure and zoning; and diverse real estate |
| from the coast and a three hour drive from the | | | | options ranging from multi-tenant buildings offering |
| Blue Ridge Mountains; RDU airport has nonstop | | | | office and lab space, to large parcels of land |
| flights to almost 40 domestic destinations as well | | | | ready to be developed. |
| as London. Not surprisingly, the area has been one | | | | There are also various tax incentives aimed at |
| of the fastest growing regions in the US for the | | | | businesses and designed to help with the financial |
| past ten years; on average, Wake County sees | | | | burden of relocating to the Raleigh area. These |
| 100 new residents every day. | | | | include credits for creating jobs, as well as a tax |
| The Raleigh area is also home to RTP (Research | | | | credit for investing in business property. For larger |
| Triangle Park), the country's largest planned | | | | development projects, the city offers a job |
| research park, home to such famous names as | | | | development investment grant; and companies of |
| IBM, Nortel and Ericsson and employing around | | | | any size can qualify for the research and |
| 45,000 people. The emphasis in RTP is on medical | | | | development tax credit. Raleigh and the |
| research, textiles and biotechnology, although the | | | | surrounding area boast around 120 million square |
| Raleigh area is also well known for education, | | | | feet of office, industrial and commercial space, of |
| health care and government jobs. Biotechnology is | | | | which around 14 percent is vacant at any time. |
| especially important here - the Raleigh area has | | | | One of the biggest draws in Raleigh and the |
| the third largest concentration of biotechnology | | | | surrounding area is the cost of housing and the |
| companies in the country and a large training and | | | | relatively stable housing market. As of the end of |
| education facility offers state of the art training | | | | 2009, the average house price in the Raleigh area |
| and research options for any newly relocated | | | | was around $214,000 as opposed to the national |
| biomanufacturing company. There is also a | | | | average of $260,000. The area offers a wide |
| growing number of computer and video game | | | | variety of homes from apartments and |
| companies - over 30 at the last count - making | | | | townhouses to luxury gated communities and it's |
| the Raleigh area home to one of the largest such | | | | still possible to buy a house on several acres of |
| clusters in the country. | | | | land in the country, but with a relatively short |
| Raleigh and Wake County both offer a range of | | | | commute. |
| incentives to attract new businesses and | | | | |