Infographic: Raleigh Population Density

gspot
10/04 11:40 AM

Interesting analysis. What do you think our lack of relative density implies?  Maybe we start with this question:  what are the other cities in the ballpark of 5500ppl/sq mi and where are they in terms of development?  Or… is there an argument that density doesn’t matter for us for some reason?

Matthew Brown
10/04 12:53 PM

Raleigh has low density because, like Houston, we were built mostly from 1950 through 2010—the automobile age, characterized by single-family homes with “yards.” Paris, New York, San Fran, etc. were built mostly pre-1950—when most people walked or used mass transportation, so most houses are row houses or multi-family units, with little or no yard. Singapore is mostly high-rises, as it is limited by geography. Most Asian cities are now high-rises. The old single houses are being bulldozed for high-rises.

CV
10/04 01:34 PM

The other cities built UP, not spread out.  If Manhattan/New York were built the way Raleigh is, it’d cover the counties that surround it: Rockland, Orange, Westchester…it’d even go into NJ.

Steelcity36
10/04 03:42 PM

Raleigh is low density because there were no geographic boundries to restrict its outward growth. Only since the late 70’s when the Falls Lake Watershed was planned did Raleigh beecome locked into a footprint. As it stands now we have expanded to about 90% of the maximum footprint the city can cover with areas in the North West(Glenwood Corridor) and North East (401 Corridor) available for annexation and development. The next 30 years will be about infill and the elusive density that everybody longs for.

Patrick Bateman
10/04 11:59 PM

Yea!  Let’s get the fuck out of this town!  Sprawl!  Shitty Amphitheaters!  No food trucks on every corner!  Dumb ass bike racks!  This place sucks!

Keeping You Connected!
10/05 08:01 AM

It appears that Patrick Bateman is fed up and ready to leave this city. It sounds like he’d like some of us to join him!

Annie
10/05 11:55 AM

I just moved from Raleigh to Houston, and live 1 mile from the CBD, as I did in Raleigh.  I can walk to at least 4 coffeeshops, uncountable bars and restaurants, and I have 3 grocery stores within about 1 mile.  I did not have this in Raleigh.  Raleigh does not need to be dense like NYC/etc, but it could use a livable mid-rise district with 3-5 story buildings with glorious amenities like roof top patios.  That sort of density enables walkability, retail, and restaurants while allowing suburbancity type people to still have their cars.

ejerk
10/05 03:06 PM

I moved from Houston to Raleigh about three years ago, now. The one thing to note is that in central Houston, there are no zoning laws- a bar can open up in the middle of a neighborhood and all the neighbors can do is complain, with little legal ground to stand on. When I left, the neighborhood I lived in, along with the city itself, was trying to fight a 20+story high rise mixed use building planning to build smack in the middle of only relatively well-to-do single homes. Lack of zoning definitely made my immediate environs more walkable, but that sort of convenience is a mixed bag.

That being said, I do agree that Raleigh could use a more built up, dense, central area for people who prefer that style of living.

Stu
10/06 04:38 PM

The sad thing is that there are *only* roughly 5,000 people living in actual downtown Raleigh. Knowing that my urban existence (zip code 27601) currently puts me in a smaller group than the population of the small town I grew up in is kind of depressing. That being said, it is fun to see familiar faces since the population of our downtown area is smaller than some high schools.

ct
10/07 06:12 PM

Raleigh’s density probably will increase, although the extent will depend on politics. Thing is, less than half the population of Wake County lives in Raleigh—and the percentage continues to fall, as it has for a long time. Even if density in Raleigh increases, you can expect new subdivisions to sprout all over the undeveloped portions of the county. As strange as it may be to some people, there are other people who want that lifestyle. There is still a lot of undeveloped land in Wake County. Also, Franklin and Johnston and Chatham and even Glanville counties will get in the act.

WILLNCSU
10/07 11:53 PM

How many people actually work in dt Raleigh vs rtp?  Living in rtp would really suck so I picked west Raleigh. Can get to work in 15 min and downtown in 10. Got a big house and yard for my dogs nag cookouts. Love it but I am excited for wade place to get going so there is more to do in walking distance. lots of places to hike and ride bikes safely. Great restaurants and bars near by, Bella Monica, dos taquitos, chubys, backyard bistro, maximillions, herons, an, bella mia, spirits, stuff on Hillsboro street. Convenient to state and hurricanes games. Looked at 2 bedroom condos downtown for the same price as my house but couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger.

ct
10/08 08:34 AM

The godowntownraleigh website claims 40,000. To get to this number they include NCSU (faculty and staff of about 7,000). The number of workers in RTP is about the same, but the numbers published by the Research Triangle Foundation don’t include the large office parks just outside the formal boundaries of RTP. Bottom line, the answer to your question depends on definitions but RTP employs more.

WILLNCSU
10/08 12:59 PM

Interesting, I wouldn’t consider NCSU as part of downtown. So about 33k work downtown but only 5k live there.  Maybe it’s the type of people that work downtown(government, utility, banks) that don’t want to live there?

ct
10/08 03:03 PM

The majority of the downtown workforce is employed by state, county, or local government. Many of them couldn’t afford downtown even if they wanted to.

John
10/10 02:19 PM

There is more than just one DT zip code. 27601 covers mostly the central business district to the east (Oakwood) while 27603 covers the Glenwood South/Warehouse districts and 27604 covers much of the area north of Peace street on the East side of DT.
Much of the new DT stock of housing is on the west side of DT in 27603.  With several new high density housing projects on the boards, this side of DT will continue to grow into the urban neighborhood it is already shaping up to be.  However, the stats for 27603 will not reflect this density because the zip code extends out of DT and widens deep into south Wake County past Garner. 

me
10/12 05:46 PM

I say we pour several hundred million into building a train for those 5000 people so they can conveniently travel to…...Richmond.  Sounds good.

John
10/14 02:37 PM

me,
You don’t build infrastructure for people already living somewhere,you build it strategically to shape development yet to come.  In the case of Raleigh, the limits to annexation are tightening and the city has to find other avenues for growth and revenue generation so that it can afford to maintain all the ageing infrastructure in its suburban areas that built out from the 60’s thru today.
So, in a large way, encouraging high density and urban development within the cities existing footprint allows suburanites to continue to live their dream while others take some of the future cost burdens off of them.  The one acre of land sitting under my DT condo building generates over $400,000 in yearly property tax revenues while not demanding any new roads, other significant physical infrastructure investment or extension of city services.  This is why we invest in rail service to strategic locations within the city, including DT.

John
10/14 02:38 PM

Charlotte’s footprint would be bigger than Raleigh’s because it’s even less densely populated.