Miami vs Raleigh: which should you move to?
Miami or Raleigh? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly, and Miami costs about $1,596 a month more to own: mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,404 on Miami's typical home against $2,808 in Raleigh, even with Miami's mortgage priced at August's 6.67% and Raleigh's at September's 7.03%. Against local pay the gap is wider, roughly 80% of the City of Miami's median household income against 40% of Raleigh's. Unemployment is level, 3.0% in Miami-Dade in June 2026 and 3.1% in Raleigh-Cary in July, but Raleigh's jobs grew 2.1% on the year against 0.7%. Crime is close on the FBI's own counts: 358.6 violent offenses per 100,000 in Miami against 396, and 26 homicides against 25. Choose Miami for a 20.3 C January, a car-light life on the Metrorail corridor and a gateway airport to Latin America. Choose Raleigh for a house at 5.0 times local income instead of 8.8, faster job growth and Medicaid expansion.
| Measure | Miami | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 489,812 (2025) | 506,306 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 6,391,072 (2025) | 1,595,720 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 10.8% (2020-2025) | 8.2% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Miami | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $582,621 (June 2026) | $428,671 (August 2026) | Raleigh |
| Detached house benchmark Miami publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $582,621 | $440,555 | Raleigh |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | Not published | $270,056 | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $3,004/mo (median, June 2026) | $1,655/mo (average, August 2026) | Raleigh |
| One-bedroom rent | $2,583/mo | $1,409/mo | Raleigh |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 54.3% of a year's income | 23.3% of a year's income | Raleigh |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both. | $2,998/mo at 6.67% | $2,288/mo at 7.03% | Raleigh |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 8.8× | 5.0× | Raleigh |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $10,808/yr (1.855%, 2025) | $3,717/yr (0.867%, 2026) | Raleigh |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | $3,496 (seller pays) | $857 (seller pays) | Raleigh |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | Forbidden by state law | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Miami: About 1.86% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.9878 mills charged here, and the difference is Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. The state assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the school district, which levies 6.4990 of the 19.9878. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. A homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is therefore about $10,808 on the $582,621 typical home value here. Miami runs its own fire department, so it pays none of the county's 2.3965-mill Fire Rescue district levy. One of only five municipalities in Miami-Dade in that position, and worth more than most municipal rates on this table. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is. Raleigh: About 0.87% of market value. Raleigh levies 90.91 cents per $100 for fiscal 2027, Wake County's 53.71 cents plus the City's 37.20 cents, against values set at the 1 January 2024 revaluation. North Carolina measures the gap itself: the Department of Revenue puts Wake's assessment level at 95.39% of sale price, which is how it publishes an effective county rate of 0.4933% against a nominal 0.5171%. Wake revalues again on 1 January 2027 and every two years after that, so the next bill resets to what houses are worth then. Inside the downtown municipal service district the bill carries a further 6.8 cents per $100.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Miami | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 | 359 (2025) | 396 (2025) | Miami |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 2,241 (2025) | 2,316 (2025) | Miami |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 26 (2025) | 25 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
FBI CDE counts for Miami PD show violent offenses falling from 2,245 in 2023 to 2,225 in 2024 and 1,787 in 2025 (a 20 percent one-year drop), property offenses from 13,928 to 11,178, and homicides from 61 in 2020 to 26 in 2025. Mid-2025 the department reported robberies down 17 percent and auto thefts down 37 percent against the first half of 2024.
What the rates cover: Miami Police Department (ORI FL0130600), FBI Crime Data Explorer NIBRS summarized data, 1,787 violent offenses in calendar 2025 against a CDE agency population of 498,792. 2024: 2,225 offenses, 483.1 per 100k. Miami PD moved to NIBRS mid 2022, so 2021 is blank and 2022 is a partial year in the CDE.
Homicides: Miami PD, FBI CDE: 26 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025, 5.2 per 100k. 2024: 29 (6.4 per 100k), 2023: 32 (7.1), 2020: 61 (12.8). Miami PD said in July 2025 the city might beat its record low of 24 set in 1946.
On the FBI's definitions, violent offenses in Raleigh went from 2,573 in 2023 to 2,399 in 2024 and 2,007 in 2025, a 16% drop in the last year, and property offenses from 12,665 to 13,854 and then 11,725. RPD's own 2025 report shows motor vehicle thefts down 32% (2,444 to 1,664), thefts from vehicles down 27%, non-fatal shooting incidents down from 91 to 79 and aggravated assaults without a firearm down 12%, while its all-assault total was flat at 7,418 and murders held at 25 after 24. The 2025 CDE counts were read on 26 September 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.
What the rates cover: Computed: 2,007 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the Raleigh Police Department (ORI NC0920100) in calendar 2025, divided by the 506,306 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 508,719 the rate is 395. RPD's 2025 annual report does not publish a count on this definition: its total violent crime of 8,541 counts every assault, simple assaults included (7,418 in all), and lists no rapes, so it runs more than four times the FBI figure and measures something else.
Homicides: 25 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in both RPD's annual report and the FBI CDE, against 24 in 2024, about 4.9 per 100,000 on the city population. RPD's wider count of homicide incidents, which adds one negligent manslaughter and two justifiable homicides, was 28. The high point in the CDE series since 2021 is 45, in 2022.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Miami | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 20.3 °C | 5.5 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 28.9 °C | 26.9 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 1,712 mm | 1,170 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 0 cm | 13 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 3,154 hours | 2,606 hours | Miami |
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 monthly normals at Miami International Airport (USW00012839): January mean 68.6 F, July 84.1 F (August is warmest at 84.2 F), annual mean 77.4 F, annual precipitation 67.41 in, snow 0. Sunshine about 3,154 hours a year comes from NOAA Comparative Climatic Data (older period), not the 1991-2020 normals. Hazards: hurricanes and storm surge, seasonal king tide and rainfall flooding, heat and humidity from May to October, frequent thunderstorms (roughly 80 thunder days a year).
Hazards: Hurricanes and storm surge every June to November, with chronic tidal and rain flooding; windstorm and separate NFIP or private flood cover are a real carrying cost and coastal home premiums commonly run $4,000 to $7,000 a year or more.
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for Raleigh-Durham International Airport (station USW00013722): January mean 41.9F, July mean 80.5F, annual mean 61.2F, 46.07 in of precipitation, 5.2 in of snow. July is the warmest month, ahead of August's 78.8F, with a mean high of 90.8F; January's mean low is 31.8F. Most of the snow falls in January (2.6 in) and February (1.4 in), and September (5.15 in) and July (5.02 in) are the wettest months. Converted here to 5.5 C, 26.9 C, 1,170 mm and 13.2 cm. Sunshine hours are the older 1961-1990 NCDC means (2,606 hours, 58% of possible), since the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.
Hazards: Humid subtropical, with long hot summers and thunderstorms, and winters mild enough that snow is an event. The record storm, on 24 to 25 January 2000, left 20.3 in (52 cm) at the airport, 17.9 in of it in 24 hours, beating a 1927 record of 17.8 in. Hurricanes reach Raleigh weakened but not harmless: Fran in September 1996 dropped 8.80 in (224 mm) of rain at RDU, uprooted trees across the region and did about $900 million of damage in Raleigh and Wake County, and the State Climate Office writes that no storm since has had so wide or lasting an impact on the Triangle. Flooding along the creeks after heavy rain and summer heat are the routine risks.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Miami | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $66,337 USD (2024) | $85,060 USD (2024) | Raleigh |
| Unemployment rate | 3.0% (June 2026) | 3.1% (July 2026) | Miami |
| Sales tax | 7% | 7.25% | Miami |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 37% | 41.25% | Miami |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method. | $13,449 USD | $17,157 USD | Miami |
Nonfarm employment in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall metropolitan division was 1,351,000 in June 2026, up 8,800 (0.7 percent) over the year, led by education and health services (+6,100) and professional and business services (+4,800); Broward shed 5,000 jobs over the same period. MIA handled nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo in 2025, the most of any US airport.
Main sectors: Trade, transportation and logistics (port and airport), Tourism and hospitality, Finance and professional services, Health care and education, Real estate and construction.
No state or local income tax. Property tax and insurance are the taxes and costs that bite in Miami: homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3 percent assessment cap favour long-time owners over new buyers.
BLS counted 784,100 nonfarm jobs in the Raleigh MSA in July 2026 (not seasonally adjusted), up 15,900 or 2.1% on the year. Construction grew fastest (+6.8%), then education and health (+4.7%), while information (-5.9%), manufacturing (-1.7%) and trade, transportation and utilities (-0.4%) shrank. Professional and business services is the largest sector at 156,200 jobs, and government, with the state capital and NC State inside it, employs 107,400. The seasonally adjusted series (FRED RALE537NA) reached 786,100 in August 2026, 2.5% above August 2025. Average weekly wages across Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties were $1,621 in the first quarter of 2026 against $1,654 nationally. The newest large employers are drug plants in Holly Springs: Fujifilm Diosynth plans 1,400 jobs there by 2031 after a $1.2 billion expansion announced in April 2024, and Amgen about 725 across two plants after a $1.02 billion second one announced in December 2024.
Main sectors: Professional and business services, the metro's largest sector, Government (the state capital, NC State University, the county school system), Education and health care (WakeMed, UNC Health Rex, Duke Raleigh), Trade, transportation and utilities, Biomanufacturing and life sciences (Fujifilm and Amgen in Holly Springs, Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham).
North Carolina's flat rate has come down every year since 2022: 4.99% (2022), 4.75% (2023), 4.50% (2024), 4.25% (2025) and 3.99% for 2026 and later, with further cuts from 2027 only if revenue triggers are met. Property tax is separate, with Wake County and the City of Raleigh each levying a rate on assessed value.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Miami | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | Miami-Dade Transit (Metrorail, Metromover, Metrobus); Brightline and Tri-Rail regional rail | GoRaleigh city buses (38 fixed routes), GoTriangle regional buses to Durham, Chapel Hill, Research Triangle Park and RDU, and Amtrak's Piedmont, Carolinian and Floridian at Raleigh Union Station; no rail transit inside the city | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 7.7% (2024) | 1.7% (2024) | Miami |
| Walk or cycle to work | 5.7% (2024) | 1.5% (2024) | Miami |
| Airport | Miami International Airport, MIA, 55.3 million passengers in 2025 (about 1 percent below 2024's record 55.9 million), per Miami-Dade Aviation Department release of May 4 2026 | Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), 15.6 million passengers in 2025, a record just above 2024's 15.5 million, per the Airport Authority. It sits between Raleigh and Durham, and a $1.1 billion replacement primary runway, 10,639 ft long, has been under construction since October 2023. | Not directly comparable |
Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA ridership report, as cited on Wikipedia): Metrorail 14,971,300, Metromover 7,683,800, the rest on Metrobus. Q4 2025 weekday averages: Metrorail 50,300, Metromover 25,600, system 259,400.
GoRaleigh carried 7,991,200 unlinked trips in 2025 and about 25,300 a weekday in the second quarter of 2026 (APTA ridership reports, as cited by Wikipedia). Fares came back on August 1, 2024, at $1.25 a ride after the pandemic fare-free years, and riders 65 and over or 18 and under still ride free once enrolled. The half-cent Wake Transit sales tax pays for the expansion. Its first bus rapid transit line, on New Bern Avenue east of downtown, has two of three construction phases under way, and the city expects the corridor finished by the end of 2028, with lines south to Garner, west to Cary and north to North Hills planned after it. Commuter rail between Durham and Clayton, the rail half of the same plan, met what GoTriangle calls significant feasibility challenges, and the two regional planning bodies are now studying smaller, incremental passenger rail options instead. Intercity rail is moving faster: NCDOT holds a $1.09 billion federal grant (December 2023) for the Raleigh to Wake Forest segment of the S-Line to Richmond, with bridges replacing road crossings under construction in 2026, and Amtrak counted 289,230 passengers at Raleigh Union Station in fiscal 2025.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, and Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so the uninsured share runs above the national rate and emergency rooms carry the gap. Jackson Memorial, the public safety-net hospital with more than 1,500 licensed beds, is the teaching hospital of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Baptist Health South Florida, Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Miami VA are the other large systems.
Education
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the third largest district in the country but enrolled 313,220 students in 2025-26, down about 13,000 in a year as charters and vouchers grew, and the board approved school closures and consolidations in 2026. Florida International University enrolls roughly 50,000 students and the private University of Miami about 20,000; magnet programs such as Design and Architecture Senior High and the choice-heavy system mean school assignment is something families actively manage.
Living there
The city proper is dense, young and majority Hispanic, with Spanish as common as English in daily business, and it has grown almost 11 percent since 2020 on finance and tech arrivals who pushed rents and condo prices up fast. Summers are long, wet and hot, winters are the reason people stay, and every household budgets for hurricane season, windstorm insurance and flooded streets at king tide. Driving is the default outside the Metrorail and Metromover corridors, and traffic is the complaint residents raise most.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or individual private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and North Carolina expanded Medicaid on December 1, 2023; about 740,000 people are covered by the expansion. Federal changes narrow it: non-citizen eligibility rules tighten from October 1, 2026, and from January 1, 2027 most expansion adults face a work requirement of 80 hours a month (or equivalent earnings) and renewals every six months. Three systems run Raleigh's hospitals. WakeMed's Raleigh Campus is a Level I trauma center, with a Level III center at WakeMed Cary, and WakeMed describes itself as Wake County's only provider of trauma services. UNC Health Rex, founded in 1894, is the UNC Health hospital in the city, and Duke Raleigh Hospital has 204 inpatient beds for cancer, heart, neuroscience and gastrointestinal care. The academic medical centers of Duke in Durham and UNC in Chapel Hill are inside the same region. This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.
Education
The Wake County Public School System is one county-wide district and enrolled 160,413 students in 2025-26, 702 fewer than the year before; it projects 161,461 across 204 schools for 2026-27. More than a quarter of the county's students now attend charter or private schools or are home-schooled, according to the News & Observer. Every address has a base school, and families can also apply to magnet and year-round calendar schools. NC State University enrolled 40,503 students in fall 2025 (30,504 undergraduate, 9,999 graduate) and is the city's research university; Meredith College, William Peace University, Shaw University and Wake Technical Community College are also in Raleigh, and Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill are in Durham and Chapel Hill. Saint Augustine's University, a historically Black university in the city, filed for Chapter 11 in April 2026 after a long fight over its accreditation and is offering no classes in fall 2026.
Living there
Raleigh is a state capital and a university town at the center of a metro of 1.6 million, and most of it lives like a ring of suburbs around a compact downtown. Two workers in three drive to work alone, fewer than one in fifty rides a bus, and more than one in five works from home. The city's greenways run for more than 100 miles along its creeks and the Neuse River, yet walking and cycling together carry 1.5% of commutes. Work is spread across the Triangle rather than gathered in the city: state government and NC State in the city, Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham, drug plants in Holly Springs, and Durham and Chapel Hill close enough to share the airport. Summers are long, hot and humid, with a July mean of 80.5F, and winters are mild. The open question is whether the region can build the transit its growth now calls for. The half-cent tax Wake voters approved in 2016 is paying for more buses and a first bus rapid transit line on New Bern Avenue, due by the end of 2028, but the commuter rail at the center of that plan is back at the study stage, so for now living here without a car depends on choosing exactly where to live.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly. Miami's typical home value was $582,621 in June 2026 and Raleigh's $428,671 in August 2026, both on Zillow's index of all homes and down 0.7% and 1.7% on the year. That is 8.8 times the City of Miami's 2024 median household income of $66,337 and 5.0 times Raleigh's $85,060. At 20% down, Miami's $466,097 loan at 6.67%, Freddie Mac's August 2026 rate, costs $2,998 a month; Raleigh's $342,937 loan at 7.03%, the rate for 24 September, costs about $2,288. At Raleigh's rate Miami's payment would be about $3,110, so the month between the two readings flatters Miami. Property tax is where Florida pulls away: a homesteaded Miami buyer's first-year bill is about $10,808, 1.86% of the price, against about $3,717 in Raleigh, 0.867%. Insurance is budgeted at $505 a month against $210, and neither includes flood. On the three lines the Miami owner carries about $4,404 and the Raleigh owner about $2,808. A median two-bedroom rented for $3,004 in Miami in June 2026 against an average $1,655 in Raleigh in August, and condominium fees are estimated at $850 against $350. Neither state permits rent control.
Both cities' crime figures come from the FBI's Crime Data Explorer on the same definitions, and on them the two are close. Miami Police submitted 1,787 violent offenses for 2025, 358.6 per 100,000 on the FBI's agency population of 498,792, and 11,178 property offenses, 2,240.8. Raleigh's 2,007 violent offenses are 396 per 100,000 on the Census estimate, or 395 on the FBI's own population, and its 11,725 property offenses 2,316. Homicide runs the other way by a hair: 26 in Miami, 5.2 per 100,000, against 25 in Raleigh, about 4.9. Both are falling. Miami's violent offenses dropped 20% in 2025, from 2,225, and its homicides have come down from 61 in 2020; Raleigh's violent offenses dropped 16%, and its homicides were 24 and 25 in the last two years after 45 in 2022. Miami's police reported auto thefts down 37% in the first half of 2025, and Raleigh's motor vehicle thefts fell 32% over the year. Neither city has a composite severity index. The Raleigh counts were read on 26 September 2026 from a feed that can still be revised, and Miami's department moved to the FBI's incident-based system in mid-2022, so its series before 2023 is incomplete.
Miami has no winter to speak of and Raleigh has a short one. January averages 20.3 C at Miami International against 5.5 C at Raleigh-Durham International, and July 28.9 C against 26.9 C. Miami gets 1,712 mm of rain a year, much of it in summer thunderstorms on roughly 80 thunder days, and no snow; Raleigh gets 1,170 mm and 13.2 cm of snow. Sunshine, about 3,154 hours against 2,606, comes from older series on both sides. The hazards are what separate them. Miami sits in the hurricane and storm surge zone from June to November and adds king tide and rainfall flooding, which is why windstorm and flood cover on coastal homes commonly runs $4,000 to $7,000 a year on top of the $505 monthly premium. Raleigh's hurricanes arrive inland and weakened, though Fran in September 1996 dropped about 224 mm of rain at the airport and did about $900 million of damage in Raleigh and Wake County. Creek flooding and summer heat are its routine risks, and the rare big snow does come, about 52 cm in January 2000. An owner's utility premium over a renter is budgeted at $160 a month in Miami and $130 in Raleigh, mostly cooling in both.
Unemployment is level and most of the rest differs. Miami-Dade County's rate was 3.0% in June 2026, not seasonally adjusted, and Raleigh-Cary's 3.1% in July, seasonally adjusted, so the two are on different bases and are best read as the same. Growth is not: the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division had 1,351,000 nonfarm jobs in June 2026, up 0.7%, while Raleigh-Cary's 784,100 grew 2.1%. Miami's jobs lean on the port, the airport, tourism, finance and health care, and MIA moved nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo in 2025, the most of any US airport. Raleigh's lean on professional and business services at 156,200 and government at 107,400, with Research Triangle Park and the Holly Springs drug plants beyond the city. Household income is higher in Raleigh, $85,060 in the city in 2024 against $66,337, and $102,144 across the metro against $80,625. Tax is Miami's. Florida has no income tax, so a single filer on $100,000 pays about $13,449, all of it federal, against $17,157 in Raleigh for 2025, a $3,708 gap that narrows to about $3,481 in 2026 at North Carolina's 3.99%. Sales tax is 7% in Miami-Dade against 7.25% in Wake, and the top combined marginal rate 37% against 41.25%.
Of the two, only Miami lets a household reasonably give up a car, and only along its corridors. In 2024, 7.7% of City of Miami workers commuted by transit and 5.7% walked or cycled; in Raleigh the shares were 1.7% and 1.5%, with 66.3% driving alone. Miami-Dade Transit carried 80,797,500 trips in 2025, 14,971,300 of them on Metrorail and 7,683,800 on the fare-free Metromover, and Brightline and Tri-Rail run regional trains. GoRaleigh carried 7,991,200 trips, all by bus, and there is no rail transit in the city; Wake County's half-cent transit tax is paying for a first bus rapid transit line on New Bern Avenue, due by the end of 2028, while commuter rail is back at the study stage. The Miami metro's transit share is 2.6%, which is the honest figure: outside the Metrorail and Metromover corridors Miami drives, and traffic is the complaint residents raise most. The airports are further apart than the transit. MIA handled 55.3 million passengers in 2025 and is the direct gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean; RDU handled a record 15.6 million, shared with Durham and Chapel Hill.
The state line matters most for anyone without an employer plan. North Carolina expanded Medicaid on 1 December 2023, though from 1 January 2027 most expansion adults face a work requirement of 80 hours a month; Florida has not expanded it, so the uninsured share in Miami runs above the national rate and emergency rooms carry the gap. Miami's anchor is Jackson Memorial, the public safety-net hospital with more than 1,500 licensed beds and the teaching hospital of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, alongside Baptist Health, Mount Sinai and the Miami VA. Raleigh's are WakeMed, whose Raleigh campus is a Level I trauma center, UNC Health Rex and Duke Raleigh, with the academic medical centers of Duke and UNC in the same region. Neither profile verified a wait time. Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrolled 313,220 in 2025-26, down about 13,000 in a year as charters and vouchers grew, and the board approved closures in 2026. The Wake County Public School System enrolled 160,413, every address has a base school, and families can apply to magnets. FIU enrolls roughly 50,000 students and the University of Miami about 20,000; NC State enrolled 40,503 in fall 2025.
What people underestimate is how little of Miami's missing income tax survives the house. On the typical home in each city, property tax and insurance come to about $16,868 a year in Miami and $6,237 in Raleigh, a difference of about $10,631. North Carolina's income tax takes about $3,708 from a single filer on $100,000 in 2025; it would take $10,631 only at about $263,000 of income, and at 2026's 3.99% about $279,000. Renters meet the same arithmetic through the rent: $3,004 against $1,655 for a two-bedroom is about $16,188 a year, more than four times what North Carolina takes from that $100,000 filer. The bills also behave differently after a purchase. Florida resets the assessment to the price at sale, and the Save Our Homes cap that held the seller's bill down lapses the January after, so the seller's bill says little about yours; the homestead exemption is not automatic and must be filed with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser by 1 March. Wake County taxes 1 January 2024 values and revalues on 1 January 2027 and every two years after, so Raleigh's $3,717 carries a date too, though Wake's assessments were already 95.39% of sale prices in January 2025.
Better here
- January averages 20.3 C with no snow on the 1991-2020 normals, against 5.5 C and 13.2 cm in Raleigh.
- Florida has no income tax: a single filer on $100,000 paid about $13,449 for 2025 against $17,157 in Raleigh, and the top combined marginal rate is 37% against 41.25%.
- In 2024, 7.7% of city workers commuted by transit and 5.7% walked or cycled, against 1.7% and 1.5% in Raleigh, on a system that carried 80,797,500 trips in 2025.
- MIA handled 55.3 million passengers in 2025 against RDU's 15.6 million, and moved nearly 3.5 million tons of cargo, the most of any US airport.
- Violent crime was 358.6 per 100,000 and property crime 2,240.8 in 2025 on the FBI's counts, against 396 and 2,316 in Raleigh, and violent offenses fell 20% in the year.
- Sales tax is 7% in 2026 against 7.25% in Wake County, and the county's 1% surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of a single item.
Worse here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,404 a month on the June 2026 typical home, against $2,808 in Raleigh, roughly 80% of the city's median household income against 40%.
- A homesteaded buyer's first-year property tax is about $10,808, 1.86% of the price, against $3,717 and 0.867% in Raleigh.
- Insurance is budgeted at $505 a month against $210 and excludes flood; coastal windstorm and flood cover commonly runs $4,000 to $7,000 a year.
- City median household income was $66,337 in 2024 against Raleigh's $85,060, and the typical home is 8.8 times it against 5.0.
- Florida has not expanded Medicaid, where North Carolina did on 1 December 2023.
- A median two-bedroom rented for $3,004 in June 2026 against a $1,655 average in Raleigh in August, and condominium fees are estimated at $850 a month against $350.
Choose Miami if
- you want a January at 20.3 C and will pay windstorm and flood premiums to get it
- you can live along the Metrorail or Metromover and run the household on one car or none
- your work is tied to Latin American trade, the port or the airport
- you are a single filer earning above about $263,000, the point where no state income tax covers the higher property tax and insurance on the typical home
The Miami guide · Neighborhoods · Miami rent vs buy · Miami mortgage calculator
Better here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,808 a month against $4,404 in Miami, even at a 7.03% rate read on 24 September 2026 against Miami's 6.67%.
- The typical home value of $428,671 in August 2026 is 5.0 times the city's 2024 median household income, against 8.8 times in Miami.
- Median household income was $85,060 in the city and $102,144 in the metro in 2024, against $66,337 and $80,625 in Miami.
- Nonfarm jobs grew 2.1% to 784,100 in the year to July 2026, against 0.7% in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall division.
- North Carolina expanded Medicaid on 1 December 2023, which Florida has not done.
- Hurricanes arrive inland and weakened, and home insurance is budgeted at $210 a month in 2026 against Miami's $505 before flood cover.
Worse here
- January averages 5.5 C with 13.2 cm of snow a year, against 20.3 C and none in Miami.
- Only 1.7% of workers commuted by transit in 2024 and 66.3% drove alone, and GoRaleigh's 7,991,200 trips in 2025 were all by bus.
- North Carolina's income tax took about $3,708 from a single filer on $100,000 in 2025, which Florida does not charge.
- RDU handled 15.6 million passengers in 2025 against 55.3 million at MIA.
- Violent crime was 396 per 100,000 in 2025 against Miami's 358.6, on the same FBI definitions.
- Wake County revalues on 1 January 2027, so the $3,717 tax bill on the typical home carries a date.
Choose Raleigh if
- you want to own a detached house at about five times what households around you earn
- you work in state government, a university, life sciences or professional services
- you may need Medicaid, or work in a job with thin health coverage
- you would rather have 13.2 cm of snow a year than a hurricane season with storm surge
The Raleigh guide · Neighborhoods · Raleigh rent vs buy · Raleigh mortgage calculator
Miami or Raleigh, in short
Is Miami or Raleigh cheaper to live in?
Raleigh, by a wide margin. Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly. The typical home was $582,621 in Miami in June 2026 and $428,671 in Raleigh in August, and at 20% down the mortgage is $2,998 a month against about $2,288, even though Miami's is priced at August's 6.67% and Raleigh's at September's 7.03%. Property tax is about $10,808 a year against $3,717 and insurance $505 a month against $210, so the owner's three lines come to about $4,404 against $2,808. A median two-bedroom rented for $3,004 in Miami and an average one for $1,655 in Raleigh. Miami takes some back on tax: no state income tax, worth about $3,708 a year to a single filer on $100,000 in 2025, and sales tax of 7% against 7.25%.
Is Miami or Raleigh safer?
They are close, and this is one of the pairs where the definitions match, since both cities' figures come from the FBI's Crime Data Explorer. Miami recorded 358.6 violent offenses per 100,000 in 2025 and Raleigh 396; property offenses were 2,240.8 against 2,316. Homicides were 26 in Miami, 5.2 per 100,000, and 25 in Raleigh, about 4.9. Both fell in 2025, violent offenses by 20% in Miami and 16% in Raleigh. Miami's rates use the FBI's agency population and Raleigh's the Census estimate, a difference of one point on Raleigh's violent rate, and the Raleigh counts, read on 26 September 2026, can still be revised.
Which has the better climate, Miami or Raleigh?
Miami if winter decides it, Raleigh if hurricanes do. January averages 20.3 C in Miami and 5.5 C in Raleigh, where 13.2 cm of snow falls in a normal year and Miami gets none. July is 28.9 C against 26.9 C, humid in both. Miami gets 1,712 mm of rain a year against 1,170. The hazards differ in kind: Miami faces hurricanes, storm surge and king tide flooding from June to November, and coastal windstorm and flood cover commonly runs $4,000 to $7,000 a year, while Raleigh's hurricanes arrive inland and weakened, though Fran did about $900 million of damage in Raleigh and Wake County in 1996.
Does Florida's lack of an income tax make Miami cheaper than Raleigh?
Not for a typical household. A single filer on $100,000 saves about $3,708 a year in Miami for 2025, and about $3,481 for 2026 as North Carolina's rate falls to 3.99%. On the typical home in each city, though, Miami's property tax and insurance come to about $16,868 a year against Raleigh's $6,237, about $10,631 more, and North Carolina's income tax only reaches that sum at about $263,000 of income in 2025. Renters pay the difference through the rent instead: a two-bedroom costs about $16,188 a year more in Miami. The saving is real at high incomes; for most buyers and renters it is smaller than the housing bill beside it.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Miami, FL Population (2025) · Every City in the USA (republishing Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025) · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Miami city, Florida · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: population.city (page returned 403 on fetch; figure confirmed via search snippet and secondary republisher)
- Largest U.S. Metro Areas by Population 2026 (Vintage 2025 estimates) · statranker.org · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Florida MSA population estimates, April 1 2025 · Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research · retrieved Supports: population.metro (alternative state estimate)
- Miami, FL Metro Area and Miami city profiles, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter · retrieved Supports: Median household income, population.metro (ACS)
- ACS 2024 1-year table B08301 Means of Transportation to Work · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved Supports: Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Miami Police Department (FL0130600) · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Miami Police Report 20% Decrease in Homicides for 1st Half of 2025 · Officer.com · retrieved Supports: Crime trend, Homicides
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly and annual, station USW00012839 Miami International Airport · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Comparative Climatic Data · NOAA NCEI · retrieved Supports: climate.sunshineHours (approximate; figure taken from search summaries of CCD, not the table itself)
- Climate of Miami · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: climate.hazards (thunderstorm days, hurricane exposure)
- Broward County June 2026 Unemployment Data · CareerSource Broward (FloridaCommerce data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Labour market
- Discretionary Sales Surtax Information (DR-15DSS) 2026 · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2025 · Internal Revenue Service · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, taxes.incomeTaxAt100k (brackets)
- FAQ: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Tax Changes · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: taxes.incomeTaxAt100k ($15,750 standard deduction)
- Miami-Dade Transit · Wikipedia (citing APTA Ridership Report) · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Soaring cargo growth lifts MIA to #1 in the U.S., #3 in the world · Miami International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Labour market
- Miami (MIA) Airport & Passenger Statistics · RoadGenius · retrieved Supports: transit.airport (2024 comparison)
- A Guide to Florida Flood Insurance (2026) · Insurify · retrieved Supports: climate.hazards (insurance costs)
- Enrollment in Miami-Dade schools is lower at the start of this year. Why? · WLRN · retrieved Supports: Education
- FIU enrollment approaches 50,000 as fall semester nears · Miami Today · retrieved Supports: Education
- Jackson Memorial Hospital · Jackson Health System · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in North Carolina: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides
- Annual Resident Population Estimates and Components of Change for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Their Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Annual Resident Population Estimates for Combined Statistical Areas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Raleigh Police Department (NC0920100): violent crime, property crime and homicide, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- 2025 Annual Crime Data · Raleigh Police Department · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Raleigh's Crime Data · City of Raleigh · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00013722 Raleigh-Durham International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall, Climate normals, January 41.9F, July 80.5F and August 78.8F from the monthly series, and annual mean 61.2F, precipitation 46.07 in and snowfall 5.2 in from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
- Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours
- Raleigh's Record Snow Surprised Everyone in January 2000 · North Carolina State Climate Office · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Then and Now, Fran a Standard-Bearer for Hurricane Destruction · North Carolina State Climate Office · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Hurricane Fran, September 1996 · National Weather Service, Raleigh · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Raleigh city and the Raleigh-Cary MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
- Unemployment Rate in Raleigh-Cary, NC (MSA), RALE537UR and RALE537URN · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- All Employees: Total Nonfarm in Raleigh-Cary, NC (MSA), RALE537NA · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS CES data) · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Raleigh, NC, Area Economic Summary · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate, Main sectors, Labour market
- FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Expanding Manufacturing Operations in Holly Springs · Wake County Government · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Amgen to add 370 jobs as part of $1B investment in Holly Springs, NC, officials say · WRAL · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Current Sales and Use Tax Rates (effective July 1, 2026) · North Carolina Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Investment in Wake County Transit System Begins · Research Triangle Park · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Transit ridership
- Prepared Food & Beverage Tax · Wake County Tax Administration · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Tax Rate Schedules · North Carolina Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes
- North Carolina Standard Deduction or North Carolina Itemized Deductions · North Carolina Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Income tax on $100,000
- 2025 D-401 North Carolina Individual Income Tax Instructions · North Carolina Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Income tax on $100,000
- 2025 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- GoRaleigh (citing the APTA Transit Ridership Reports, Q4 2025 and Q2 2026) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- GoRaleigh Resumes Fare Collection · GoRaleigh · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Raleigh City Council Awards Second Construction Contract for Wake BRT: New Bern Avenue · City of Raleigh · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Character
- Wake BRT: New Bern Avenue · City of Raleigh · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Commuter Rail · GoTriangle · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Character
- Construction Advances on S-Line Rail Corridor in Wake County · North Carolina Department of Transportation · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Raleigh Union Station (citing Amtrak fiscal 2025 station ridership) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- Just in: RDU Airport welcomed 15.6 million total passengers in 2025, up slightly from the previous year · Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority (RDU Airport on X) · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport (2025 and 2024 passenger totals) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Big Runway, Big Numbers, Big Progress · Raleigh-Durham International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- NCDHHS Launches the Know What's Next Toolkit on Medicaid Changes Starting Oct. 1, 2026 · North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Trauma Centers · WakeMed Health & Hospitals · retrieved Supports: Health care
- About Duke Raleigh · Duke Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- UNC Rex Healthcare · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Wake's student enrollment has dropped overall, but pockets of growth remain · The News & Observer (via Yahoo News) · retrieved Supports: Education
- Stats and Facts · Wake County Public School System · retrieved Supports: Education
- Base Schools · Wake County Public School System · retrieved Supports: Education
- About Us (fall 2025 headcount enrollment) · North Carolina State University Catalog · retrieved Supports: Education
- Bankrupt Saint Augustine's Will Not Offer Fall Classes · Inside Higher Ed · retrieved Supports: Education
- Saint Augustine's University (North Carolina) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- Trails · City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources · retrieved Supports: Character
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, mid-tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted: city file, June 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value for the 35th to 65th percentile of each municipality's market, computed on one method across all twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte, Orlando and Palm Beach pages use, so all four American layers can be read against each other, Year-over-year change to June 2026
- Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26: Miami-Dade · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved Supports: The adopted 2025-26 millage rate for Miami-Dade County and every municipality in it, The county's own components: countywide 4.5740, Fire/Rescue 2.3965, Library 0.2812 and the Unincorporated Municipal Service Area at 1.9090, Municipal rates from Sunny Isles Beach's 1.7000 to Biscayne Park's 9.3000
- 2025 millage rates and taxing authorities, Miami-Dade County · Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: A published combined rate for unincorporated Miami-Dade of 16.9317 mills, Its components: school district 6.4990, countywide 5.7361, regional water districts 0.3911, Fire Rescue 2.3965 and UMSA 1.9090, which this layer's stack reproduces exactly, Millage code 0100, the City of Miami, at 19.9878 mills for 2025: 7.1080 of city operating levy and 0.2536 of city debt service on the countywide 12.6262, Opa-locka's municipal operating levy of 8.9797, and a 2025 total of 24.0024 for millage code 0800, A city debt service column, which nine of the twenty-four municipalities here carry: Miami 0.2536, Miami Beach 0.2779, North Bay Village 1.1666, Golden Beach 0.6000, Miami Shores 0.1331, North Miami Beach 0.2000, Miami Gardens 0.4331, Doral 0.4810 and Homestead 0.2446, A blank library district column for Hialeah, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Homestead, Miami Shores, Bal Harbour and Surfside, which are outside the county library district, A blank Fire Rescue column for Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne, which is the five this layer flags
- About Fire Rescue · Miami-Dade Fire Rescue · retrieved Supports: The Fire Rescue district covering the unincorporated county and twenty-nine municipalities, Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Key Biscayne operating their own fire departments and lying outside the district
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A Miami-Dade deed rate of 60 cents per $100 rather than the 70 cents charged in every other county, A Miami-Dade surtax of 45 cents per $100, not due on a document transferring only a single-family dwelling, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note, statewide
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: 2020 census counts and 2024 estimates for each municipality, Miami at 487,014 and Hialeah at 235,388; Golden Beach at 1,034
- Average cost of home insurance in Florida, 2026 · MoneyGeek · retrieved Supports: A Miami-Dade County average of about $6,045 a year: below Palm Beach County's $6,614, A Florida average of about $3,815 and a national average of about $2,543
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax and the non-recurring intangible tax on mortgages · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A non-recurring intangible tax of 2 mills: 0.2%, on the obligation secured by a mortgage on Florida real property
- Property tax exemptions and additional benefits · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A $25,000 homestead exemption applying to all taxing authorities and a second slice, $25,000 in the 2024 base year and adjusted for inflation each 1 January since, applying to all but the school district, The Save Our Homes assessment limitation of 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, Portability of up to $500,000 of accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead, The 1 March filing deadline
- Chapter 2023-17, Laws of Florida: preemption of rent control · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: The repeal of the referendum exception that had allowed a local rent control ordinance in a declared housing emergency
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $428,671 for the city of Raleigh in August 2026, $436,286 in August 2025, so a fall of 1.7% over the year
- Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical single-family value of $440,555 in the city of Raleigh in August 2026, down 1.5% on the year, A typical condominium value of $270,056 in the same month, down 8.0% on the year, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
- Raleigh, NC average rent and rent trends · RentCafe / Yardi Matrix · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh apartment rent of $1,588, down 1.61% from $1,613 a year earlier, updated 31 August 2026, Average rents of $1,322 studio, $1,409 one-bedroom, $1,655 two-bedroom and $2,028 three-bedroom
- Wake County tax rates, current to 2017 · Wake County Department of Tax Administration · retrieved Supports: A Wake County rate of 53.71 cents per $100 for 2026, against 51.71 cents in 2025, A City of Raleigh rate of 37.20 cents per $100 for 2026, against 35.50 cents in 2025, A Raleigh downtown municipal service district rate of 6.8 cents per $100, levied only inside the district, 2024 marked as a revaluation year
- Sales assessment ratio studies as of January 1, 2025 · North Carolina Department of Revenue, Local Government Division · retrieved Supports: Wake County last revalued in 2024, A median sales assessment ratio of 95.39% for Wake: assessed values are 95.39% of sale prices, An effective county tax rate of 0.4933% against a nominal 0.5171%, computed as rate times assessment level, A coefficient of dispersion of 8.64 for Wake, Wake's next reappraisal scheduled for 2027
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,577 for the city of Raleigh in August 2026, up 0.45% from $1,570 a year earlier
- Wake County commissioners adopt $2.28 billion fiscal year 2027 budget · Wake County · retrieved Supports: The county property tax rate rises 2 cents to 53.71 cents per $100 for FY2027, adopted 1 June 2026
- Raleigh leaders approve budget with property tax increase · WRAL · retrieved Supports: The City of Raleigh's FY2027 budget raises the property tax rate by 1.7 cents per $100
- Wake County shortens revaluation cycle · Wake County · retrieved Supports: The last revaluation took effect on 1 January 2024, The next revaluations take effect on 1 January 2027 and 1 January 2029, and every two years after that
- Commissioner Causey negotiates settlement on Rate Bureau's homeowners' insurance request · North Carolina Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: Base rate increases of 7.5% on 1 June 2025 and 7.5% on 1 June 2026 in territory 270, the cities of Durham and Raleigh, against a Rate Bureau request of 39.8%, No further rate filing before 1 June 2027
- How much is homeowners insurance in Raleigh, NC? · Insure.com · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh premium of $2,850 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026
- North Carolina homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh premium of $2,420 a year and a North Carolina average of $3,025, for $400,000 of dwelling cover
- Renters insurance in North Carolina · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Raleigh renters premium of $160 a year for $30,000 of personal property
- Monthly homeowners' or condominium association fee, table B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Raleigh city · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A median monthly association fee of $114 among Raleigh owner-occupied units that pay one, 58,527 of 108,529 owner-occupied units, or 53.9%, paying such a fee, from table B25142
- Homebuyer assistance · City of Raleigh Housing and Neighborhoods · retrieved Supports: 0% deferred loans for first-time buyers at or below 80% of area median income, Up to $45,000 citywide on a home priced up to $389,500, and up to $60,000 in designated areas on a home up to $450,000
- Conforming loan limit values for 2026 · Federal Housing Finance Agency · retrieved Supports: A baseline one-unit conforming loan limit of $832,750 for 2026, which is the limit in Wake County
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: A population of 506,306 for Raleigh on 1 July 2025, against 467,665 at the 2020 census
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, North Carolina · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 152.263 square miles for Raleigh city, against 147.116 in the 2020 file