Chapel Hill named most exciting NC place

It may not come as a surprise to the people who love Chapel Hill for its abundance of restaurants, thriving nightlife, eclectic edge and Carolina blue skies — but the town recently earned a distinction that sets it apart from other cities in the state.

The online blog for Movoto Real Estate named Chapel Hill the most exciting place in North Carolina on June 24, placing it at the top of a list of ten cities including Wilmington, Raleigh, Asheville and Charlotte.

According to Movoto’s blog, cities in the state with populations of at least 25,000 were evaluated on seven criteria, including nightlife per capita, arts and entertainment per capita, live music venues per capita and percent of young residents ages 18 to 34.

The blog also evaluated factors like active life options per capita, percentage of restaurants that are not fast food and fast food restaurants per capita — the fewer the better.

Chapel Hill has the most young residents out of the top ten cities, with 45 percent of the population falling between the ages of 18 and 34, according to the blog.

It also has the second most music venues and arts and entertainment options — falling only to Asheville in both categories — and the third best nightlife behind Asheville and Wilmington.

Movoto spokesman Nick Johnson said an algorithm was used to gather information about each of the cities from the U.S. Census and business listings, and the rankings were calculated based on that data.

Johnson said he and his colleagues rank many nationwide locations on different sets of criteria. One of the reasons he said they publish the top ten lists is to get people excited about where they are from.

“We’re trying to create a conversation, to get people talking about their cities,” Johnson said.

Laurie Paolicelli, executive director of the Chapel Hill and Orange County Visitors Bureau, said she was not surprised to see Chapel Hill was named the most exciting place in the state — even though she said it isn’t considered an iconic tourist destination.

“We don’t have a manufactured, Disneyland-like appeal, we have a real community with real people trying to plant, grow, build, educate, and I think there’s just an extreme attraction to that real charm that we have,” Paolicelli said.

Sam Kimber, a graduate student at Kenan-Flagler Business School from Charlotte, said he finds Chapel Hill exciting because it provides plenty of things to do.

“It’s a small town, but it’s near a couple big cities like Durham and Raleigh, so you can do what you want,” Kimber said.

“There are a lot of great restaurants, a lot of fun bars and a lot of young people.”

Julianne Cyr, a project manager for UNC, said she loves Chapel Hill because of its location.

“You have sort of that small city feel just immediately around you — so many little shops, you know, it’s very local-centric,” Cyr said.

“But just a few minutes away you can see all the greenery you ever dreamed of, and that’s my favorite part about Chapel Hill.”

Though Paolicelli said tourism in Chapel Hill is already experiencing double-digit growth compared to last year, she believes publicity from Movoto’s ranking and others like it will help attract more visitors to the area.

“When you’re always getting these awards, people have a real interest in checking you out,” Paolicelli said.

“It might not be tomorrow, but suddenly you become more and more on the radar screen. And I think Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Orange County, it’s just on people’s radar screens. There’s a real curiosity about the area, and when people come here they fall in love.”

Contact the desk editor at  city@dailytarheel.com.