Greensboro, NC
| U.S. News Ratings | |
| Population: | 236,208 |
| Crime: | High |
| Cost of Living: | Low |
| Health Care: | Comprehensive |
| Housing Price: | Low |
| Income: | Average |
If you want to see a city that has benefited from the Sun Belt boom, look no further than Greensboro. It's the largest city of the "Piedmont Triad," a metro area in central North Carolina that's made up of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. The region is known as a textile and furniture center and, more recently, a technology and biotechnology hub because of its proximity to the Research Triangle area of Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Durham to the east. Temperatures generally range from the mid-80s in the summer to the high 40s in the winter.
Greensboro is in Guilford County, site of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in the Revolutionary War. In 1781, Gen. Nathanael Greene led almost 4,500 Americans against 1,900 British troops under Gen. Charles Cornwallis. It is considered one of the decisive battles leading to Cornwallis's eventual surrender at Yorktown (the site of the battle is within Guilford Courthouse National Military Park). Visit the city in March each year, and you'll be able to see re-enactments of the battle in local parks. In 1808, the town of Greensborough—named after the general who won the battle—was planned around this site. It later became known as Greensboro, the Gate City, after the construction of a new railroad line in the 1850s that made it a transportation hub. Greensboro has had its share of internationally known hometown heroes, including CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, who was born in a log cabin in Guilford County.
Today, Greensboro is the third-largest city in North Carolina, with a population of 236,208. It has been a late-20th-century boomtown, as the population has more than doubled since 1960. It's also one of the most diverse cities in the state, containing large Southeast Asian and African immigrant communities. Opportunities for outdoor recreation in the area include 122 golf courses and the Bog Garden, a botanical garden featuring an elevated boardwalk. The Greensboro Coliseum Complex, one of the largest indoor arenas in the South, hosts many athletic and cultural events, as well as conventions and trade shows.
Despite its growth, Greensboro retains a small-town feel. Devotion to green space and respect for the environment play a role: In 2004, the Department of Energy selected Greensboro for its Clean Cities Hall of Fame.
Greensboro is home to a minor-league baseball team, the Greensboro Grasshoppers. It's also less than an hour's drive from Raleigh, where the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL play, and about an hour and a half from Charlotte, home to the Carolina Panthers of the NFL. Greensboro is also close to the "Tobacco Road" powerhouses of college basketball: the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, the Duke University Blue Devils, the North Carolina State University Wolfpack, and the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons.
Greensboro is home to the University of North Carolina–Greensboro, North Carolina A&T State University, and Guilford College. The city recently gained a new law school when Elon University opened up a campus in the center city in 2006. Wake Forest University is located in the nearby city of Winston-Salem.
Greensboro has 39 hospitals and 62 elder-care facilities. It's about an hour away from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, which ranks 8th on U.S. News' "Best Hospitals Honor Roll" list.
Major companies headquartered in Greensboro include Volvo Trucks of North America, VF Corp., NewBridge Bank, and Honda Aircraft Co.
The median home price in Greensboro is $124,000.
Copyright © 2009 Onboard Informatics. Information is represented by Onboard Informatics as reliable but not guaranteed.
