Toronto vs Raleigh: which should you move to?
Toronto 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.
The two housing bills are in different currencies and do not net, and held against local pay they are far apart. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,635 CAD a month in Toronto, roughly 66% of the city's 2020 median household income, and about $2,808 USD in Raleigh, roughly 40% of its 2024 median, on homes about eleven and 5.0 times those incomes. Raleigh has the labor market, with metro unemployment at 3.1% in July 2026 against 6.7%. Toronto has the safety on homicide, 64 in the metro in 2025 at 0.91 per 100,000 and 45 in the city, the fewest since the 1980s, against 25 in Raleigh at about 4.9. Choose Toronto to live without a car, with 26.2% of city commuters on transit in 2021 against 1.7%, and for coverage that comes with residency. Choose Raleigh to buy a house on a salary and for the job market.
Toronto prices are in CAD and Raleigh prices are in USD. The tables leave them in their own currency and compare ratios and rates instead; a conversion would be stale by the time you read it.
| Measure | Toronto | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 2,794,356 (2021) | 506,306 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 6,202,225 (2021) | 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. | 2.3% (2016-2021) | 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 | Toronto | 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. | $928,200 (July 2026) | $428,671 (August 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Detached house benchmark | $1,455,200 | $440,555 | Not directly comparable |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | $551,900 | $270,056 | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $2,045/mo (average, October 2025) | $1,655/mo (average, August 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,761/mo | $1,409/mo | Not directly comparable |
| 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. | 29.2% of a year's income | 23.3% of a year's income | Raleigh |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 25 years in Toronto against 30 in Raleigh, each compounding the way its own country's lenders do. The rates are not a spread you can shop: they are what each market charges. | $4,044/mo at 4.34% | $2,288/mo at 7.03% | Not directly comparable |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 11.1× | 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. | $5,291/yr (0.57%, 2026) | $3,717/yr (0.867%, 2026) | Toronto |
| 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. | $30,078 (buyer 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. | 2.1% guideline (2026) | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Toronto: About 0.57% of market value. Toronto levies 0.767311%, but against a Current Value Assessment frozen at 1 January 2016 values, because Ontario has deferred every reassessment since. MPAC's average Toronto assessment is $692,140 and the City's own worked example puts the bill on it at $5,311 for 2026, which on the $928,200 composite benchmark is 0.57%. That is the fourth-lowest rate on market value of the cities on this site, behind Vancouver, Kelowna and Victoria, and it produces almost exactly the same bill as Ottawa's 0.83%, because the home it is charged against costs 46% more. 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 | Toronto | 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. | 55.0 (2025) | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 Canada counts every violent Criminal Code incident; the FBI counts four offences. The Canadian figure is always the larger one for that reason alone. | 987 (2025) | 396 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 2,566 (2025) | 2,316 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| 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. | 45 (2025) | 25 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
The Toronto CMA Crime Severity Index climbed from 45.91 in 2021 to 59.43 in 2024, driven largely by auto theft, then fell 7.5% to 54.99 in 2025 with violent CSI down 13.7%. Toronto Police recorded 12,610 auto thefts in 2023, 9,676 in 2024 and 7,402 in 2025, and 2025 homicides (45) were the fewest since the 1980s.
What the rates cover: Police-reported violent Criminal Code violations, Toronto CMA, 69,297 actual incidents, table 35-10-0177-01
Homicides: Toronto Police Service public safety data portal count for the city (85 in 2024, 73 in 2023). Statistics Canada counts 64 homicides for the wider Toronto CMA in 2025, a rate of 0.91 per 100,000, down from 133 (1.90) in 2024
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 | Toronto | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | -5.0 °C | 5.5 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 22.1 °C | 26.9 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 807 mm | 1,170 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 115 cm | 13 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 2,066 hours | 2,606 hours | Raleigh |
Environment and Climate Change Canada 1991-2020 normals at Toronto Pearson International Airport (climate ID 6158731): annual mean 8.6 C. The 1991-2020 normals do not publish sunshine; 2,066.3 hours is the 1981-2010 normal at the Toronto (City) station, climate ID 6158350.
Hazards: Humid summer heat warnings and winter cold snaps with lake-effect snow squalls; flash flooding from intense summer storms (July 2013 and July 2024 downpours flooded roads and the Don Valley); wildfire smoke advisories in some summers since 2023; occasional severe thunderstorms and hail, rare tornadoes.
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 | Toronto | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $84,000 CAD (2020) | $85,060 USD (2024) | Not directly comparable |
| Unemployment rate Statistics Canada and the Bureau of Labor Statistics define unemployment slightly differently; the Canadian measure runs about a point higher on the same labour market. | 6.7% (July 2026) | 3.1% (July 2026) | Not directly comparable |
| Sales tax | 13% | 7.25% | Raleigh |
| 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. | 53.53% | 41.25% | Raleigh |
| 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. | $21,200 CAD | $17,157 USD | Not directly comparable |
Toronto's unemployment rate ran above the national rate through 2025 as population growth outpaced hiring, and TD Economics (October 2025) found trade-war exposed sectors such as transportation and warehousing and manufacturing shedding jobs and youth unemployment near one in five. The rate eased to 6.7% by July 2026.
Main sectors: Financial services and banking, Technology and software, Health care and life sciences, Professional services and education, Film, media and the arts.
No municipal income tax. Toronto levies a Municipal Land Transfer Tax on top of the provincial land transfer tax, and a Vacant Home Tax.
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 | Toronto | Raleigh | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | Toronto Transit Commission (subway, streetcar, bus, Wheel-Trans); GO Transit and UP Express (Metrolinx) for regional rail and bus | 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 | 26.2% (2021) | 1.7% (2024) | Toronto |
| Walk or cycle to work | 9.6% (2021) | 1.5% (2024) | Toronto |
| Airport | Toronto Pearson International Airport, YYZ, 47.3 million passengers in 2025 (up 1.1% from 46.8 million in 2024), per GTAA 2025 annual results. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) serves short-haul flights from the waterfront. | 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 |
TTC carried 420 million trips in 2024 (204 million bus, 181 million subway, 35 million streetcar). The TTC's year-end projection for 2025 was 414 million rides, about 78% of 2019 levels, with 426.4 million forecast for 2026; a final audited 2025 total was not found.
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 publicly funded through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP), which covers physician and hospital services for residents with no premiums beyond the income-tested Ontario Health Premium collected through income tax; new residents wait up to three months for coverage, and prescription drugs, dental and vision are mostly private or employer insured. Toronto is home to the University Health Network (Toronto General, Toronto Western, Princess Margaret), Sunnybrook, St. Michael's, Mount Sinai and SickKids, but family-doctor shortages and long emergency-department and specialist waits are common.
Education
The University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University and York University are in the city, with U of T consistently ranked in the global top 25. Publicly funded schools are run by four boards, the Toronto District School Board (the largest in Canada), the Toronto Catholic District School Board and two French-language boards, with specialized and alternative programs rather than US-style charters.
Living there
Toronto is a dense, fast-growing city of high-rise condos along the subway lines and low-rise neighbourhoods of brick semis in between, with more than half of residents born outside Canada. Housing costs are the central fact of life, and commutes by TTC, GO train or the 401 are long. Winters are grey and cold rather than extreme, summers humid, and the lakefront, ravines and Toronto Islands are where the city goes outside.
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
Toronto's figures are in Canadian dollars and Raleigh's in US dollars. Toronto's composite benchmark for the City was $928,200 CAD in July 2026, down 3.83%; Raleigh's typical home value was $428,671 USD in August 2026 on Zillow's index of all homes, down 1.7%. That is about eleven times the City of Toronto's 2020 median household income of $84,000 CAD and 5.0 times Raleigh's 2024 median of $85,060 USD. At 20% down, Toronto's mortgage at 4.34% is $4,044 CAD a month over 25 years, and Raleigh's $342,937 loan at 7.03%, Freddie Mac's rate for 24 September 2026, is about $2,288 USD over 30. Property tax runs the other way: $5,291 CAD a year in Toronto, 0.57% of the benchmark, because the 0.767311% rate is charged on assessments frozen at 2016 values, against about $3,717 USD in Raleigh, 0.867%. With insurance at $150 CAD and $210 USD a month, the Toronto owner carries about $4,635 CAD and the Raleigh owner about $2,808 USD, roughly 66% and 40% of local median income. A two-bedroom averaged $2,045 CAD in October 2025 against $1,655 USD in August 2026. Ontario caps increases at 2.1% for 2026 in units first occupied before 15 November 2018; North Carolina forbids rent control.
Homicide is the one count that crosses the border intact, and Toronto wins it clearly, though its rate is for the metro and Raleigh's for the city. Statistics Canada counted 64 homicides in the Toronto metro in 2025, 0.91 per 100,000, down from 133 the year before, and the City's own count of 45 was the fewest since the 1980s. Raleigh recorded 25, about 4.9 per 100,000, after 24 in 2024 and 45 in 2022. The other rates are different instruments. The Toronto metro's Crime Severity Index was 54.99 in 2025, down 7.5% and below the national 75.0, and American cities have no equivalent. Toronto's violent rate of 986.71 per 100,000 counts every violent Criminal Code violation, common assault and uttering threats included; Raleigh's 396 is 2,007 FBI-definition offenses of murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, divided by the Census estimate. Property crime, 2,565.62 per 100,000 against 2,316, is defined differently too. Both fell in 2025: Toronto's violent severity index by 13.7% and its auto thefts to 7,402 from 12,610 in 2023, Raleigh's violent offenses by 16% and its motor vehicle thefts by 32%. The Raleigh rates are federal counts read on 26 September 2026 and can still be revised.
Raleigh has the mild winter and Toronto the cooler summer. January averages 5.5 C at Raleigh-Durham International and -5.0 C at Pearson; July averages 26.9 C and humid against 22.1 C. Snow is 13.2 cm a year against 114.5 cm, and rain runs the other way, 1,170 mm against 806.8. Sunshine is on different series, 2,606 hours for Raleigh on 1961-1990 and 2,066.3 for Toronto on the 1981-2010 normals at a downtown station. Toronto's costly water comes from summer downpours: the July 2013 and July 2024 storms flooded roads and the Don Valley, and sewer backup and overland water cover is priced accordingly in the ravine and lakeshore neighborhoods. Lake-effect snow squalls, humid heat warnings and wildfire smoke advisories in some summers since 2023 are the others. Raleigh's hurricanes arrive weakened but still do damage: 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 long summer heat are its routine risks. An owner's utility premium over a renter is $130 a month on each side, in each side's currency, mostly heat in Toronto and cooling in Raleigh.
Raleigh has the labor market. Raleigh-Cary's unemployment rate was 3.1% in July 2026, seasonally adjusted, on 784,100 nonfarm jobs, up 2.1% on the year, with professional and business services the largest sector and the drug plants in Holly Springs, where Fujifilm plans 1,400 jobs by 2031, the newest large employers. The Toronto metro's rate was 6.7% the same month, down from 9.0% a year earlier but above Canada's 6.4%, and TD Economics found in October 2025 that trade-exposed sectors were shedding jobs, with youth unemployment near one in five. Toronto runs on financial services, technology, health care and life sciences, professional services and media, in a metro more than four times the size of Raleigh-Cary. Median household income was $84,000 CAD in the City of Toronto in 2020, $97,000 across its metro, and $85,060 USD in Raleigh in 2024, give or take $7,119. Income tax on $100,000 is about $21,200 CAD in Toronto, before the Ontario Health Premium, CPP and EI, against $17,157 USD in Raleigh for 2025, before 7.65% payroll tax, and North Carolina's 3.99% rate takes that to $16,651 for 2026. Sales tax is 13% HST against 7.25%, and the top combined marginal rate 53.53% against 41.25%.
Transit is the widest gap in this pair. In the 2021 census, 26.2% of City of Toronto commuters took transit and 9.6% walked or cycled, counted while offices were largely empty and down from about 37% in 2016. In Raleigh in 2024, 1.7% took the bus, 1.5% walked or cycled, 66.3% drove alone and 21.8% worked from home. The TTC carried 420 million trips in 2024, 204 million by bus, 181 million by subway and 35 million by streetcar, with GO Transit and UP Express covering the region, and projected 414 million for 2025, about 78% of 2019. GoRaleigh carried 7,991,200 trips in 2025, all by bus, and there is no rail transit in the city. Wake County's half-cent transit sales tax is paying for a first bus rapid transit line on New Bern Avenue, due by the end of 2028, while the commuter rail in the same plan is back at the study stage. Flying favors Toronto: Pearson handled 47.3 million passengers in 2025, with Billy Bishop adding short-haul flights from the waterfront, against a record 15.6 million at Raleigh-Durham International, an airport the city shares with Durham and Chapel Hill.
Health care is where the border shows most. In Toronto, OHIP pays for physician and hospital care with no premium beyond the income-tested Ontario Health Premium, new residents wait up to three months for coverage, and drugs, dental and vision are mostly private or employer insured. The hospitals include the University Health Network, Sunnybrook, St. Michael's, Mount Sinai and SickKids; family-doctor shortages and long emergency and specialist waits are the standing complaints. In Raleigh care is bought through an employer or individual plan, Medicare or Medicaid. North Carolina expanded Medicaid on 1 December 2023, but from 1 January 2027 most expansion adults face a work requirement of 80 hours a month. WakeMed's Raleigh campus is a Level I trauma center, and Duke's and UNC's academic medical centers are in the same region. This site verified no wait time figure for either city. Toronto's schools run through four publicly funded boards, including the largest in Canada, with specialized programs rather than charters. The Wake County Public School System is one county-wide district where every address has a base school and families can apply to magnet schools. NC State enrolled 40,503 students in fall 2025; Toronto has the University of Toronto, York and Toronto Metropolitan.
What people underestimate is that in both cities the cheapest way in is the part of the market falling fastest. Toronto's apartment benchmark was $551,900 CAD in July 2026, down 7.09% on the year, against a detached house at $1,455,200, down 4.4%, and the condominium completions that reached the rental market pushed vacancy to 3.0% in October 2025, the loosest since 2021. Raleigh's condominium value was $270,056 USD in August 2026, down 8.0%, against a detached $440,555, down 1.5%. Against local pay the Toronto apartment is about 6.6 times the city median and the Raleigh condominium about 3.2 times Raleigh's, and the fees differ as much: about $680 CAD a month in Toronto, where amenity towers cost more to run, and a $350 USD estimate in Raleigh, where the census median association fee is $114. Both fees are estimates. The rest is fine print. A Toronto buyer owes $30,078 CAD in provincial and municipal land transfer tax on the benchmark, where a Raleigh buyer pays none, and Toronto's 4.34% renews after a five-year term, while Raleigh's 7.03%, about a third of a point above the August rate this site's other American cities were written at, holds for thirty years.
Better here
- The metro homicide rate was 0.91 per 100,000 in 2025 against about 4.9 in Raleigh, and the City's own count of 45 was the fewest since the 1980s.
- 26.2% of city commuters took transit in the 2021 census and the TTC carried 420 million trips in 2024, against 1.7% in 2024 and 7,991,200 bus trips in 2025 in Raleigh.
- OHIP covers physician and hospital care whoever employs you, where North Carolina's Medicaid expansion adults face an 80-hour monthly work requirement from 1 January 2027.
- July averages 22.1 C against 26.9 C and humid in Raleigh.
- Rent increases are capped at 2.1% for 2026 in units first occupied before 15 November 2018, and vacancy reached 3.0% in October 2025, where North Carolina forbids rent control.
- Pearson handled 47.3 million passengers in 2025 against RDU's 15.6 million, in a metro of 7,108,874 in July 2025 against Raleigh-Cary's 1,595,720.
Worse here
- The composite benchmark of $928,200 CAD in July 2026 is about eleven times the city's 2020 median household income, against 5.0 times in Raleigh.
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $4,635 CAD a month, roughly 66% of the city's 2020 median, against about 40% in Raleigh.
- A buyer owes $30,078 in provincial and municipal land transfer tax on the July 2026 benchmark, where a Raleigh buyer pays no transfer tax.
- Metro unemployment was 6.7% in July 2026, above the national 6.4%, against 3.1% in Raleigh-Cary.
- Income tax on $100,000 is about $21,200 CAD before the Ontario Health Premium, against $17,157 USD in Raleigh for 2025, and HST is 13% against 7.25%.
- January averages -5.0 C on a 114.5 cm snow normal, and the July 2013 and July 2024 downpours flooded roads and the Don Valley.
Choose Toronto if
- you want to live without a car and will pay for a subway city to do it
- you want health coverage attached to residency rather than to an employer
- you want the hospitals, universities and flights of a metro of 7.1 million
- you are renting, or buying an apartment at $551,900 CAD rather than a detached house at $1,455,200
The Toronto guide · Neighbourhoods · Toronto rent vs buy · Toronto mortgage calculator
Better here
- Metro unemployment was 3.1% in July 2026 against 6.7% in the Toronto metro, on 784,100 nonfarm jobs growing 2.1% on the year.
- The typical home value of $428,671 USD in August 2026 is 5.0 times the city's 2024 median household income, against about eleven times in Toronto.
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,808 USD a month, roughly 40% of the local median against about 66% in Toronto, and the buyer pays no transfer tax.
- Income tax on $100,000 was $17,157 USD for 2025 and falls to $16,651 for 2026, against about $21,200 CAD in Toronto, and sales tax is 7.25% against 13%.
- January averages 5.5 C with 13.2 cm of snow a year, against -5.0 C and 114.5 cm in Toronto.
- The 7.03% rate of 24 September 2026 is fixed for thirty years, where Toronto's 4.34% renews after a five-year term.
Worse here
- There were 25 homicides in 2025, about 4.9 per 100,000, against a Toronto metro rate of 0.91.
- Only 1.7% of workers commuted by transit in 2024 and 66.3% drove alone, there is no rail, and the first bus rapid transit line is due by the end of 2028.
- July averages 26.9 C and humid, and Fran did about $900 million of damage in Raleigh and Wake County in September 1996.
- Care runs on employer, individual or public insurance, and from 1 January 2027 most Medicaid expansion adults must show 80 hours of work a month.
- North Carolina forbids rent control, where Ontario caps increases at 2.1% for 2026 in units first occupied before 15 November 2018.
- Condominium values fell 8.0% in the year to August 2026, and Wake County revalues homes on 1 January 2027, so the $3,717 tax bill carries a date.
Choose Raleigh if
- you want a labor market at 3.1% unemployment in state government, universities, life sciences or professional services
- you want a detached house at about five times what households around you earn and will drive to most things
- you have employer health insurance you trust and would rather lock a rate for thirty years than renew it every five
- you would take a humid 26.9 C July for a 5.5 C January and 13.2 cm of snow
The Raleigh guide · Neighborhoods · Raleigh rent vs buy · Raleigh mortgage calculator
Toronto or Raleigh, in short
Is Toronto or Raleigh cheaper to live in?
Raleigh, by a wide margin once each bill is held against its own city's pay, because the currencies do not convert here. A Toronto owner pays about $4,635 CAD a month on mortgage, property tax and insurance, roughly 66% of the city's 2020 median household income of $84,000 CAD, on a benchmark about eleven times that income. A Raleigh owner pays about $2,808 USD, roughly 40% of the city's 2024 median of $85,060 USD, on a home 5.0 times income, despite a 7.03% mortgage rate against 4.34%. Renting is closer: a two-bedroom averaged $2,045 CAD in October 2025 against $1,655 USD in August 2026. Toronto's taxes are heavier too, about $21,200 CAD on $100,000 against $17,157 USD and 13% HST against 7.25% sales tax, and its buyer funds $30,078 in land transfer tax at closing.
Is Toronto or Raleigh safer?
Toronto, on homicide, the one count that crosses the border. Statistics Canada counted 64 homicides in the Toronto metro in 2025, 0.91 per 100,000, down from 133 in 2024, and the City's own count of 45 was the fewest since the 1980s; Raleigh recorded 25, about 4.9 per 100,000, after 24 in 2024. The other rates are different instruments. Toronto's violent rate of 986.71 per 100,000 counts every violent Criminal Code violation, including common assault, while Raleigh's 396 is murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault from the FBI's counts, divided by the Census estimate and still open to revision. Property crime, 2,565.62 per 100,000 against 2,316, is defined differently as well. The Toronto metro's Crime Severity Index was 54.99 in 2025 against a national 75.0; American cities have no equivalent.
Which has the better climate, Toronto or Raleigh?
Raleigh has the easier winter and Toronto the easier summer. January averages 5.5 C in Raleigh with 13.2 cm of snow a year, against -5.0 C and 114.5 cm in Toronto. July reverses it, 26.9 C and humid in Raleigh against 22.1 C. Raleigh is wetter, 1,170 mm a year against 806.8 mm, and sunnier on the records each publishes, 2,606 hours on the 1961-1990 series against 2,066.3 on Toronto's 1981-2010 normals, which are different vintages at different kinds of station. Toronto's hazards are summer downpours that flooded the Don Valley in 2013 and 2024, lake-effect snow squalls and wildfire smoke in some summers since 2023; Raleigh's are weakened hurricanes, of which Fran did about $900 million of damage in Raleigh and Wake County in 1996, plus creek flooding and summer heat.
What does it cost to close on a house in each city?
Far more in Toronto, and it lands as one payment. A Toronto buyer owes $30,078 CAD in land transfer tax on the $928,200 benchmark, half to Ontario and half to the city, which levies its own tax on top of the province's; a first-time buyer can claim up to $4,000 back from the province and up to $4,475 from the city. A buyer with less than 20% down also pays Ontario's 8% tax on the mortgage insurance premium, in cash at closing. A Raleigh buyer pays no transfer tax: North Carolina's 0.2% excise falls on the seller, an attorney conducts the closing as state law requires, and private mortgage insurance, if any, is billed monthly and can be cancelled at 80% loan to value. The recurring bill is where Raleigh's date matters: Wake County revalues on 1 January 2027.
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.
- Population and dwelling counts: Census metropolitan areas, census agglomerations and census subdivisions (table 98-10-0003-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population, Toronto, City (CSD), Ontario (98-401-X2021005 CSV) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Household income statistics by dwelling and household characteristics, census metropolitan areas (table 98-10-0061-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Median household income
- Population estimates, July 1, by census metropolitan area and census agglomeration, 2021 boundaries (table 17-10-0148-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Crime severity index and weighted clearance rates, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas (table 35-10-0026-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Crime Severity Index, Crime trend
- Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, police services in Ontario (table 35-10-0177-01) · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides
- The Daily: Police-reported crime statistics in Canada, 2025 · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Crime Severity Index, Crime trend
- Homicides Open Data (ArcGIS feature service, Public Safety Data Portal) · Toronto Police Service · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Auto Theft Open Data (ArcGIS feature service, Public Safety Data Portal) · Toronto Police Service · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Murders dropped sharply in several major Canadian cities last year, data show · The Globe and Mail · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020, Toronto Pearson (Airport) · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010, Toronto (City) · Environment and Climate Change Canada · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours
- The Daily: Labour Force Survey, July 2026 · Statistics Canada · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Hogtown Blues: Toronto's Lagging Jobs Market · TD Economics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- 2025 and 2026 Combined Federal and Ontario Tax Rates Including Surtaxes · TaxTips.ca · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Ontario sales tax: 13% HST rates, registration, and compliance guide · Xero · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 34 billion rides and counting: the TTC reaches new service milestone · Toronto Transit Commission · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TTC ridership declined this past fall, despite stricter return-to-office policies for workers · CP24 · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- GTAA Reports 2025 Annual Results · Greater Toronto Airports Authority (via Newswire) · 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 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
- Market Watch, July 2026 · Toronto Regional Real Estate Board · retrieved Supports: A City of Toronto MLS® HPI composite benchmark of $928,200 in July 2026, down 3.83% year over year, City of Toronto benchmarks of $1,455,200 single-family detached (down 4.40%), $1,146,300 single-family attached (down 4.00%), $725,300 townhouse (down 5.75%) and $551,900 apartment (down 7.09%), An All TRREB Areas composite benchmark of $934,600, down 4.63%, covering the region rather than the City, A GTA average selling price of $1,003,956 in July 2026, down 4.5% year over year, 5,995 sales, 14,484 new listings (down 17.8%) and 26,098 active listings (down 12.1%) in July 2026, District benchmarks for Toronto C02 ($1,302,900 composite, detached down 2.15%, apartment down 14.65%), C14 ($888,100), E07 ($735,600) and W06 ($814,300)
- Rental Market Survey: Toronto, average rent by bedroom type, October 2025 · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: Toronto CMA average purpose-built rents of $1,491 bachelor, $1,761 one-bedroom, $2,045 two-bedroom and $2,294 three-bedroom-plus, An overall purpose-built average of $1,917, A Toronto CMA purpose-built vacancy rate of 3.0%, the highest since 2021
- Property tax rates and fees, 2026 · City of Toronto · retrieved Supports: A 2026 total residential rate of 0.767311%: 0.605295% city, 0.153% education and 0.009016% City Building Fund, The City's own worked example of $692,140 of assessment at 0.767311%, which is $5,311, Education rates set by the province and city rates set by council
- City of Toronto's 2026 Budget now final · City of Toronto · retrieved Supports: A combined 2026 residential property tax and City Building Fund increase of 2.2%, MPAC's average Toronto current value assessment of $692,140, An increase of $91.53 a year, or $7.63 a month, on that average assessment
- Municipal Land Transfer Tax rates and fees · City of Toronto · retrieved Supports: A municipal land transfer tax charged on top of the provincial one, on Toronto purchases only, Brackets of 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% and 4.4%, with further bands above $3,000,000, A first-time buyer rebate of up to $4,475 of the municipal tax
- Premium information for homeowner and small rental loans · Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation · retrieved Supports: Mortgage default insurance premium rates by loan-to-value
- Regulations amending the Insurable Housing Loan Regulations and the Eligible Mortgage Loan Regulations (SOR/2025-55) · Canada Gazette, Part II · retrieved Supports: The $1.5 million insured price cap, 30-year amortization for first-time buyers and new builds
- Minimum qualifying rate for uninsured mortgages · Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions · retrieved Supports: The qualifying rate of the contract rate plus two points, or 5.25%
- Interest rates charged for new and existing lending by chartered banks · Bank of Canada · retrieved Supports: The default mortgage rate of 4.34%, uninsured five-year-plus fixed, funds advanced May 2026
- Calculating Land Transfer Tax · Ontario Ministry of Finance · retrieved Supports: Provincial transfer tax brackets, The conditional 2.5% band
- Residential rent increases · Government of Ontario · retrieved Supports: 2026 rent increase guideline of 2.1%, The 2018 occupancy exemption
- Retail Sales Tax · Government of Ontario · retrieved Supports: 8% retail sales tax on insurance premiums
- 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
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier, Rates for first-lien prime conventional conforming home purchase mortgages with a loan-to-value of 80%, which is the 20% down payment the hub's payment figure assumes
- 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