Orlando vs Raleigh: which should you move to?
Orlando 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 on the house they come out level. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,745 a month on Orlando's typical home and $2,808 in Raleigh, but Orlando's mortgage is priced at August's 6.67% and Raleigh's at September's 7.03%; at the same rate Orlando's would be about $2,816, $8 above Raleigh's, because Florida's property tax and insurance take back what the cheaper house saves. The labor market is Raleigh's: on the same unadjusted basis metro unemployment was 3.2% in Raleigh-Cary in July 2026 and 4.6% in greater Orlando in June, and one Orlando job in five is in leisure and hospitality at below-average pay. On crime only homicide lines up, 10 in Orlando in 2025 against 25 in Raleigh, because the FBI has no complete Orlando figures after 2022. Choose Orlando for no state income tax, a 15.9 C January and the country's seventh busiest airport. Choose Raleigh for the job market, Medicaid expansion and an insurance bill $100 a month lower.
| Measure | Orlando | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 333,888 (2025) | 506,306 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 2,957,672 (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. | 8.3% (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 | Orlando | 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. | $375,175 (June 2026) | $428,671 (August 2026) | Orlando |
| Detached house benchmark Orlando publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $375,175 | $440,555 | Orlando |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | Not published | $270,056 | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,904/mo (median, June 2026) | $1,655/mo (average, August 2026) | Raleigh |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,637/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. | 29.4% 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. | $1,931/mo at 6.67% | $2,288/mo at 7.03% | Orlando |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 4.8× | 5.0× | Orlando |
| 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. | $6,043/yr (1.611%, 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. | $2,626 (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 |
Orlando: About 1.61% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 18.0878 mills Orlando is taxed at, and the difference is the homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. Florida assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price, so there is no gap to correct for. 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 Orange County school district, which levies 6.4490 of the 18.0878. 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. So a homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is the school millage on the price less $25,000 plus everything else on the price less $50,000, about $6,043 a year on the $375,175 typical home value here. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy, and until you do the rate is the full 1.81%. 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 | Orlando | 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 | 836 (2022) | 396 (2025) | Raleigh |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 4,036 (2022) | 2,316 (2025) | Raleigh |
| 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. | 10 (2025) | 25 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
Orlando PD reports overall crime down 18% in 2024 and another 19% in 2025, violent crime down 10% in 2024 and 9% in 2025, and shootings with victims down 41% from 2023 to 2025. Homicides fell from 31 in 2023 to 10 in 2025. The FBI's public feed has no usable Orlando data after 2022, so these are the department's own figures.
What the rates cover: FBI Crime Data Explorer, Orlando Police Department (ORI FL0480400), 2022: 2,597 violent offenses, 835.8 per 100k. 2022 is the last year with twelve complete months in the FBI feed; 2023 through 2025 show zeros for this agency, so no FBI rate exists for those years. Orlando PD's own count of violent crime incidents (a broader in-house definition) was 6,754 in 2023 and 5,928 in 2025, which would be about 1,775 per 100k on the 2025 population.
Homicides: Orlando Police Department: 10 homicides in 2025, the lowest since 1971, down from 23 in 2024 and 31 in 2023 (OPD's 2023 figure was reported as 38 in a January 2025 release and 31 in the February 2026 release). About 3.0 per 100k on the 2025 city population. FBI CDE 2022: 32 homicides, 10.3 per 100k.
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 | Orlando | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 15.9 °C | 5.5 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 28.1 °C | 26.9 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 1,307 mm | 1,170 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 0 cm | 13 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | Not published | 2,606 hours | Not directly comparable |
NOAA 1991-2020 normals at Orlando International Airport (USW00012815): January mean 60.6F, July mean 82.6F, annual precipitation 51.45 in, annual snowfall 0.0 in, annual mean 73.0F. June through September each average 6.4 to 8.1 in of rain. Sunshine hours are not part of the NOAA normals product and were not verified.
Hazards: Hurricanes are the main hazard: Charley (2004), Irma (2017), Ian (2022, 14 in of rain and 74 mph gusts at MCO) and Milton (2024, over 15 in of rain in parts of Central Florida plus a record one-day tornado outbreak) all damaged the area. The city sits about 100 ft above sea level and 42 mi inland, so storm surge is not a concern but inland flooding, wind damage and long power outages are. Summer heat and daily thunderstorms with lightning are routine.
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 | Orlando | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $77,597 USD (2024) | $85,060 USD (2024) | Raleigh |
| Unemployment rate | 4.6% (June 2026) | 3.1% (July 2026) | Raleigh |
| Sales tax | 6.5% | 7.25% | Orlando |
| 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% | Orlando |
| 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 | Orlando |
Leisure and hospitality employed 305,500 of 1,506,600 nonfarm jobs in the MSA in June 2026 (BLS CES, not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), about 20%, roughly double the national share, and those jobs pay below the private-sector average, which is why household income trails the US median despite fast job growth. Disney is the largest employer at about 77,000 in the region; AdventHealth employs about 37,700 and Lockheed Martin more than 14,000.
Main sectors: Tourism and hospitality (Disney, Universal, convention centre), Health care (AdventHealth, Orlando Health), Aerospace, defence and simulation (Lockheed Martin, Central Florida Research Park), Construction and real estate, Professional and business services.
No state or city income tax. Property tax runs around 1% of assessed value with a homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes 3% cap for owner-occupiers; not verified here.
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 | Orlando | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | LYNX (bus, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties), SunRail (commuter rail, 16 stations DeLand to Poinciana), Brightline (intercity rail from MCO to South Florida) | 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 | 1.5% (2024) | 1.7% (2024) | Raleigh |
| Walk or cycle to work | 1.7% (2024) | 1.5% (2024) | Orlando |
| Airport | Orlando International Airport (MCO), 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, up 0.8% on 2024, seventh busiest in the US (GOAA press release, July 28, 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 |
LYNX carried 21,476,203 passenger trips in FY2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), more than 67,000 per weekday, on 62 routes (LYNX Facts at a Glance). SunRail passed 1.2 million riders in calendar 2024, up 12% on 2023 (SunRail press release, January 2025); APTA puts 2025 at about 1.32 million. SunRail runs weekdays only.
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 and Medicaid; Florida did not expand Medicaid under the ACA, so a larger share of working adults is uninsured than in most states, and hospitality jobs often come with thin coverage. Two large non-profit systems dominate: AdventHealth Orlando (one of the biggest hospitals in the country) and Orlando Health with Orlando Regional Medical Center, the region's Level I trauma centre, plus Nemours Children's Hospital at Lake Nona and the UCF Lake Nona Hospital.
Education
The University of Central Florida enrols about 70,000 students, among the largest campuses in the US, and anchors the Central Florida Research Park; Rollins College in Winter Park and Valencia College (a two-year college with a national Aspen Prize) are the other main institutions. Orange County Public Schools is the eighth largest district in the US with roughly 200,000 students, and Florida's universal school-choice vouchers, charter schools and magnet programmes mean many families do not attend their zoned school.
Living there
Orlando is a sprawling, car-first region of master-planned subdivisions, toll roads and strip centres, with a small walkable core around Lake Eola, Thornton Park, Mills 50 and College Park, and the theme parks 15 miles southwest in a separate world of their own. Summers are long, humid and stormy, winters mild, and the population skews young and Latino, with the largest Puerto Rican community in Florida. Housing and insurance costs have risen faster than the tourism-weighted wages, and hurricane season shapes the calendar every year.
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. Orlando's typical home value was $375,175 in June 2026 and Raleigh's $428,671 in August, both on Zillow's index of all homes and down 2.4% and 1.7% on the year. That is 4.8 times the City of Orlando's 2024 median household income of $77,597 and 5.0 times Raleigh's $85,060. At 20% down, Orlando's $300,140 loan at 6.67%, Freddie Mac's August 2026 rate, costs $1,931 a month, and Raleigh's $342,937 loan at 7.03%, the rate for 24 September, about $2,288. Florida then takes the saving back. A homesteaded Orlando buyer's first-year property tax is about $6,043 at the city's 18.0878 mills, 1.61% of the price, against about $3,717 in Raleigh, 0.867%, and insurance is budgeted at $310 a month against $210, neither including flood. The three lines come to about $2,745 in Orlando and $2,808 in Raleigh; at Raleigh's 7.03%, Orlando's would be about $2,816. Renting favors Raleigh, on two different series: a median two-bedroom was $1,904 in Orlando in June 2026 against an average $1,655 in Raleigh in August, and condominium fees are estimated at $450 against $350. Neither state permits rent control.
Only Raleigh has current federal crime figures, so most of this comparison cannot be made like for like. The FBI's feed carries no complete Orlando Police data after 2022, when it published 835.8 violent and 4,035.6 property offenses per 100,000, and shows zeros for 2023 through 2025. Raleigh's 2025 rates, from the FBI's summarized counts, are 396 violent and 2,316 property offenses per 100,000. Orlando Police's own 2025 tally of violent incidents, 5,928 on a broader definition, works out near 1,775 per 100,000, and a definition can move a figure that far: Raleigh Police's own violent total, which counts every simple assault, was 8,541, more than four times the FBI's. Homicide is the one count kept the same way. Orlando recorded 10 in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and its fewest since 1971, down from 31 in 2023; Raleigh recorded 25, about 4.9, after 24 in 2024. Both report crime falling. Orlando's department puts overall crime down 19% in 2025 after 18% in 2024, and Raleigh's FBI violent count fell 16% in 2025. Every rate here is a count divided by a Census estimate, and the Raleigh counts, read on 26 September 2026, can still be revised.
Orlando has no winter in the sense Raleigh does. January averages 15.9 C at Orlando International against 5.5 C at Raleigh-Durham International, and July 28.1 C against 26.9 C, humid in both. Orlando gets 1,307 mm of rain a year to Raleigh's 1,170, most of it as a season, 6.4 to 8.1 inches a month from June through September. Orlando's snow normal is zero and Raleigh's 13.2 cm, and sunshine will not compare because Orlando's is not in the current normals. The hurricane is what separates them. Charley in 2004, Irma in 2017, Ian in 2022, with 14 inches of rain and 74 mph gusts at the airport, and Milton in 2024, with a record one-day tornado outbreak, all damaged the Orlando area. The city sits 42 miles inland at about 100 feet, so surge is not the risk; wind, standing water and long power cuts are. Hurricanes reach Raleigh weakened, though Fran in September 1996 did about $900 million of damage in Raleigh and Wake County, and its record storm is snow, 20.3 inches at the airport in January 2000. Insurance prices the gap at $310 a month against $210, and an owner's utility premium over a renter at $150 against $130.
Raleigh has the stronger labor market, built on different work. On the same unadjusted basis, unemployment was 3.2% in Raleigh-Cary in July 2026 and 4.6% in greater Orlando in June; Raleigh's seasonally adjusted rate was 3.1%. Raleigh-Cary's 784,100 nonfarm jobs grew 2.1% in the year to July 2026, led by professional and business services at 156,200 and government at 107,400. Greater Orlando's 1,506,600 include 305,500 in leisure and hospitality, about one in five and roughly double the national share, at pay below the private-sector average; Disney employs about 77,000 in the region, AdventHealth about 37,700 and Lockheed Martin more than 14,000. City median household incomes in 2024 were $77,597 and $85,060, with margins of error of about $6,000 and $7,100 that overlap, but the metros part, $81,044 against $102,144. Tax is Orlando's. 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 as North Carolina's rate falls to 3.99%. The top combined marginal rate is 37% against 41.25%, and sales tax is 6.5% in Orange County against 7.25% in Wake.
A car is assumed in both, and neither city's transit carries many commuters. In 2024, 1.5% of City of Orlando workers took transit and 1.7% walked or cycled; in Raleigh the shares were 1.7% and 1.5%, with 66.3% driving alone, and 21.8% of Raleigh workers worked from home against 13.2% in Orlando. Orlando has more running today. LYNX carried 21,476,203 trips in fiscal 2025 on 62 routes across three counties, SunRail runs commuter trains through 16 stations from DeLand to Poinciana on weekdays only, at about 1.2 million riders in 2024, and Brightline runs from the airport to South Florida. GoRaleigh carried 7,991,200 trips in 2025, all by bus, and there is no rail transit in the city. Raleigh's case is what Wake County's half-cent transit tax, collected since 2017, is building: a first bus rapid transit line on New Bern Avenue due by the end of 2028, with lines to Garner, Cary and North Hills after it, while the commuter rail in the same plan is back at the study stage. The airports are far apart. MCO handled 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, seventh busiest in the country, against a record 15.6 million at RDU, which Raleigh shares with Durham and Chapel Hill.
Medicaid is the state line that matters. North Carolina expanded it on 1 December 2023 and about 740,000 people are covered through the expansion, though from 1 January 2027 most expansion adults face a work requirement of 80 hours a month. Florida has not, so a larger share of working adults in Orlando is uninsured, and hospitality jobs often carry thin coverage. Orlando's hospitals are two large non-profits, AdventHealth Orlando and Orlando Health, whose Orlando Regional Medical Center is the region's Level I trauma center, with Nemours Children's at Lake Nona. 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 for care. Orange County Public Schools is the eighth largest district in the country at roughly 200,000 students, and Florida's universal vouchers, charters and magnets mean many families never use their zoned school. The Wake County Public School System enrolled 160,413 in 2025-26 and every address has a base school, though more than a quarter of Wake's students are in charter or private schools or taught at home. UCF enrolls about 70,000 students and NC State 40,503.
What people underestimate is the tax bill after the closing, because the carrying costs otherwise nearly net out. At the same 7.03% rate Orlando's three lines run about $8 a month above Raleigh's, while a single filer on $100,000 keeps about $3,708 more in Orlando for 2025, so Orlando comes out about $3,600 a year ahead. Two Florida items can take that back, and neither is on a listing. Much of the metro's newer housing, Lake Nona inside the city among it, carries a community development district assessment of roughly $1,200 to $3,000 a year that is in no millage. And Save Our Homes resets a homesteaded assessment to market value the January after a sale, so a seller's bill says nothing about yours, and until the buyer files for the exemption by 1 March the rate is the full 1.81%. Raleigh's bill moves on a schedule. Wake revalues every home on 1 January 2027 and every two years after, and its assessments were 95.39% of sale prices in January 2025, so the $3,717 is close to what a buyer will pay, though the rates set after revaluation are unknown. At closing Florida also charges the buyer 0.55% of the loan, about $1,651 on Orlando's, where a North Carolina buyer pays no transfer tax.
Better here
- The typical home was $375,175 in June 2026, 4.8 times the city's 2024 median household income against 5.0 in Raleigh, and the mortgage at 20% down is $1,931 a month against about $2,288.
- 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%.
- Orlando Police recorded 10 homicides in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and the fewest since 1971, against 25 and about 4.9 in Raleigh.
- January averages 15.9 C with no snow on the 1991-2020 normals, against 5.5 C and 13.2 cm in Raleigh.
- Orlando International handled 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, seventh busiest in the country, against 15.6 million at RDU.
- LYNX carried 21,476,203 trips in fiscal 2025 and SunRail and Brightline add rail, against GoRaleigh's 7,991,200 bus trips in 2025 and no rail transit.
Worse here
- A homesteaded buyer's first-year property tax is about $6,043 on the 2025 millage, 1.61% of the price, against $3,717 and 0.867% in Raleigh, before any community development district assessment.
- Insurance is budgeted at $310 a month against $210 and excludes flood; Charley, Irma, Ian and Milton all damaged the area between 2004 and 2024.
- Metro unemployment was 4.6% in June 2026 against 3.2% in Raleigh-Cary in July on the same unadjusted basis, and 305,500 of 1,506,600 jobs are in leisure and hospitality.
- Florida has not expanded Medicaid, where North Carolina did on 1 December 2023.
- The FBI's feed has no complete Orlando Police data after 2022, when violent crime ran 835.8 per 100,000, so no current federal rate stands against Raleigh's 396 for 2025.
- A median two-bedroom rented for $1,904 in June 2026 against a $1,655 average in Raleigh in August, and condominium fees are estimated at $450 a month against $350.
Choose Orlando if
- you earn enough that no state income tax outweighs the higher property tax and insurance, and will check a new-build address for a district assessment first
- you want a January at 15.9 C and will plan around a hurricane season instead of a winter
- you work in tourism, health care, aerospace or simulation, or remotely
- you fly often enough that MCO's 57,675,573 passengers and a rail link to South Florida matter
The Orlando guide · Neighborhoods · Orlando rent vs buy · Orlando mortgage calculator
Better here
- Metro unemployment was 3.1% in July 2026, seasonally adjusted, and nonfarm jobs grew 2.1% on the year to 784,100, against 4.6% unadjusted in greater Orlando in June.
- Property tax is about $3,717 a year on the typical home for fiscal 2027 and insurance $210 a month, against $6,043 and $310 in Orlando.
- Metro median household income was $102,144 in 2024 against $81,044 across greater Orlando.
- North Carolina expanded Medicaid on 1 December 2023, which Florida has not done.
- Violent crime was 396 per 100,000 in 2025 on the FBI's own counts, a current federal rate Orlando has not had since 2022.
- A two-bedroom averaged $1,655 in August 2026 against a $1,904 median in Orlando in June, and a one-bedroom $1,409 against $1,637.
Worse here
- The 7.03% rate of 24 September 2026 puts the mortgage at about $2,288 a month against Orlando's $1,931, on a typical home $53,496 dearer.
- North Carolina's income tax took about $3,708 from a single filer on $100,000 in 2025, which Florida does not charge.
- There were 25 homicides in 2025, about 4.9 per 100,000, against 10 and about 3.0 in Orlando.
- January averages 5.5 C with 13.2 cm of snow a year, against 15.9 C and none in Orlando.
- GoRaleigh carried 7,991,200 trips in 2025, all by bus, and the first bus rapid transit line is due by the end of 2028.
- Sales tax is 7.25% in Wake County on the July 2026 rate table, against 6.5% in Orange County.
Choose Raleigh if
- you want a labor market at 3.1% unemployment in state government, universities, life sciences or professional services
- you may need Medicaid, or work in a job with thin health coverage
- you would take a 5.5 C January and 13.2 cm of snow over a hurricane season and a $310 insurance bill
- you want a property tax bill that follows the market every two years rather than one that resets when you buy
The Raleigh guide · Neighborhoods · Raleigh rent vs buy · Raleigh mortgage calculator
Orlando or Raleigh, in short
Is Orlando or Raleigh cheaper to live in?
Orlando, by the income tax, and only until a district assessment or a flood policy is priced. Both cities price in US dollars, so the figures net directly. Orlando's typical home was $375,175 in June 2026 against Raleigh's $428,671 in August, and the mortgage at 20% down is $1,931 against about $2,288, though Orlando's uses August's 6.67% rate and Raleigh's September's 7.03%. Property tax is about $6,043 a year against $3,717 and insurance $310 a month against $210, so the three lines come to about $2,745 in Orlando and $2,808 in Raleigh, and about $2,816 in Orlando at the same 7.03%. A single filer on $100,000 saves about $3,708 a year in state income tax in Orlando. Renting favors Raleigh: a two-bedroom averaged $1,655 there in August 2026 against a $1,904 median in Orlando in June.
Is Orlando or Raleigh safer?
Only homicide can be compared cleanly, and on it Orlando is lower. Orlando Police recorded 10 homicides in 2025, about 3.0 per 100,000 and the fewest since 1971; Raleigh recorded 25, about 4.9. Raleigh's violent rate was 396 per 100,000 and its property rate 2,316 in 2025 on the FBI's counts, read on 26 September 2026 and still open to revision. Orlando has no FBI rate after 2022, when it was 835.8 violent and 4,035.6 property offenses per 100,000, and its department's own 2025 tally uses a broader definition that lands near 1,775 per 100,000, which cannot sit beside Raleigh's 396. Both cities report crime falling.
Which has the better job market, Orlando or Raleigh?
Raleigh's is tighter and pays better across the metro. On the same unadjusted basis unemployment was 3.2% in Raleigh-Cary in July 2026 and 4.6% in greater Orlando in June, and Raleigh-Cary's 784,100 nonfarm jobs grew 2.1% on the year, led by professional and business services and by government, with the state capital and NC State inside it. Greater Orlando is the bigger market at 1,506,600 jobs, but 305,500 of them are in leisure and hospitality at below the private-sector average, and metro median household income was $81,044 in 2024 against $102,144 around Raleigh. Orlando's other employers are AdventHealth, Orlando Health, Lockheed Martin and the simulation cluster at Central Florida Research Park.
What does an Orlando listing leave out that a Raleigh one does not?
Two tax items. Much of the Orlando metro's newer housing, Lake Nona inside the city among it, carries a community development district assessment of roughly $1,200 to $3,000 a year that appears in no millage and in none of the figures here. And Florida's Save Our Homes cap resets the assessment to market value the January after a sale, so the seller's bill does not predict yours, and the homestead exemption has to be filed by 1 March of the year after purchase or the full 1.81% applies. In Raleigh the seller's bill is a closer guide, because Wake's assessments were 95.39% of sale prices in January 2025, though every home is revalued on 1 January 2027 and the rates set after that are not yet known.
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.
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Florida: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, crime.homicides rate
- Annual Resident Population Estimates for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Crime Data Explorer, Orlando Police Department summarized offenses (violent crime, property crime, homicide), 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, crime.homicides 2022
- Proactive policing in Orlando yields significant crime reductions · WFTV · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend, crime notes
- Police say crimes, including homicides, declining in Orlando · Spectrum News 13 · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Orlando Police: 2025 violent crime down 9 percent in the City Beautiful · Headline Surfer · retrieved Supports: Crime trend, crime.homicides 2024
- Orlando Police Department releases 2024 crime statistics · WFTV via Yahoo News · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012815 (Orlando International Airport), monthly and annual · NOAA NCEI · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Orlando, Florida (climate and hurricane history) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, character
- Hurricane Milton · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year, tables B19013 and B08301, Orlando city and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA · US Census Bureau via Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, series LAUMT123674000000003 (Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford MSA unemployment rate) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, series SMU12367400000000001 and SMU12367407000000001 (Orlando MSA total nonfarm and leisure and hospitality) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Top employers and talent report search results (Disney, AdventHealth, Lockheed Martin employment) · Orlando Economic Partnership · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Orange County, Florida sales tax rate 2026 · Avalara · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 2025 Tax Brackets · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Facts at a Glance · LYNX (Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority) · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- SunRail Ridership Grows to 1.2 Million Riders in 2024 · SunRail · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Orlando International Moves Up In 2025 National Rankings for Busiest Airport · Greater Orlando Aviation Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- 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 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
- 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, Year-over-year change to June 2026, which is negative in twenty-two of the twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte metro pages use, so the two American metros can be read against each other
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Orange County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Orange County general at 4.4347 mills, the library district at 0.3748 and the St Johns River Water Management District at 0.1793, School state and local levies totalling 6.449 mills, Municipal rates from Windermere's 3.7425 to Eatonville's 7.2938, A published total against every mill code, including Winter Park's 15.3615 on codes 2, 4 and 6, Maitland's 16.3055 on code 6, and Windermere's 15.2311 on code 35 and 15.4839 on code 75, A blank library column on every Winter Park and Maitland code, which is what puts both municipalities outside the district
- Special taxing district information: the Orange County Library District's boundary · Orange County Library System · retrieved Supports: The district's boundary is Orange County exclusive of Winter Park and Maitland, each of which operates its own library, Laws of Florida chapter 99-486 as the enabling act behind it
- Final 2025 Millage Rates, fiscal year 2025-26 · Seminole County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage by taxing authority for every Seminole municipality, from Lake Mary's 14.3929 to Casselberry's 18.1808, School required local and discretionary levies totalling 5.2490 mills, The county fire and road MSTUs, which apply in the unincorporated area and in some cities but not others
- 2025 Final Millage Rates · Osceola County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Kissimmee at 17.4114 mills and Saint Cloud at 17.8989, School levies totalling 5.3060 mills across required local, discretionary and capital, Dozens of separate municipal service taxing units in the unincorporated county, from 0.13 to 12.42 mills, which is why an unincorporated Osceola address cannot be given one rate
- 2025 Final Millage Rates by district, and the 2025 Final Millage Rates and Values Comparison Sheet · Lake County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Total millage for every Lake municipality, from Leesburg's 15.9477 to Eustis's 19.8623, Leesburg's own adopted rate of 3.4752 mills, on the district sheet and again as the 2025 adopted rate on the comparison sheet, School board state and local levies totalling 6.0850 mills, The county fire, ambulance and stormwater MSTUs and which municipalities are subject to them, including that an incorporated city pays neither the fire nor the stormwater MSTU
- 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 population estimates for each municipality, Leesburg's growth from 27,011 to 37,815, the fastest in the metro in percentage terms, Orlando at 334,854, which is twelve percent of its own metropolitan area
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Average cost of homeowners insurance in Florida, 2026 · MoneyGeek · retrieved Supports: A Florida average of about $3,815 a year against a national average of about $2,543, Orange County premiums in the $3,200 to $4,500 range, at the cheaper end of the state because the metro is inland
- 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 applies in every county in this metro
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents per $100 on a deed, in every county except Miami-Dade, which charges 60 cents plus a 45-cent surtax, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note or other written obligation to pay money
- 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
- 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