WSTB

I've heard the reason Winston-Salem has a larger under-18 population and why poverty is so high is due to the city's large Latinx population. You'll notice the percentage of Latinx residents is higher in Winston-Salem than the state's other large cities. Family is a big deal to them and they will move to where their family is, even if they don't have many employment opportunities in that city. It's good to see Winston-Salem working to help them with upward mobility and starting their own businesses. I think the Latinx community is also a big part of Winston-Salem's growth rate. Winston-Salem seems to be growing enough to "run-in-place." It's not growing enough to move-up, but it's growing just enough to avoid dropping-down / falling. Winston-Salem would benefit from being in a metro of 1 million+. I do think the small metro size (nearly 680,000) keeps some retail, jobs, and investments away. If we can add Surry County, Winston-Salem will move-up to a metro of 750,000 and that will be a positive. If Surry County is added to the metro, I think you'll see an instant difference in attracting jobs, retail, and investments.

Thanks for the context. The poverty figures don’t seem accurate if they don’t adjust for COL. If the cutoff is $30k for example a family making $29k would be considered in poverty but one making $31k wouldn’t even though if the $29k family was in Winston and the $31k family was in Charlotte the Winston family would be better off.

The economic mobility numbers are not great though and Winston seems to pop up on these lists regularly. Hopefully some of the recent job growth will help.

TBJ headline “Greensboro ranks as 21st hottest housing market in US since start of pandemic”

Opening the article, I see:

GSO - #21
W-S - #16

Things that make you go hmmm.

Charlotte is the only other NC city listed (#6). Interestingly enough, the Triad cities are the only two of the 25 listed with the median home value < $200K. Even Buffalo is > $200k. Charlotte is > $300k (and higher than Atlanta). Austin is pushing $500K.

Yes....HHMMMM. Who goes to that rag for news?

I find it disgustingly interesting that they employ the “Triad” moniker when reporting stories from Winston specific companies and/or entities way more often than when applying it to East of Colfax concerns.

Just thinking if Mount Airy and Surry County are added to the W-S MSA as it should be and as F&M mentions it might be as I recall, then I think North Wilkesboro micopolitan area should be added to WS MSA as well, which by the way would elevate the WS MSA to around rank 70.

They also ask developers working on projects in Winston-Salem about their city and when a restaurant opens in Winston-Salem, they will ask when will they open in their city. However, if something opens in their city or a developer is working on something in their city, they never ask if they have plans in Winston-Salem or High Point. It's like they use those reporters to promote their city to those working on cool stuff in other parts of the Triad. They really should've located the newspaper's office in Kernersville, to be centered in the Triad and not more supportive of one city over the others. However, work-from-home may fix that problem? I also think if Alamance County is added to the Durham-Chapel Hill MSA, that would help by making Forsyth County the middle of the Triad (the only Triad county fully surrounded by other Triad counties and the only one bordering all of the Triad's counties) and the county they are in will be the far eastern end and not centered.

I would say adding Wilkes County is a big stretch, but I've discovered there is an unusually large amount of commuting between Wilkes and Forsyth. Remember the stories with Wilkes County residents protesting vaccine requirements at Winston-Salem hospitals they work at or how a meat processing facility in Wilkes County led to a big rise in COVID-19 cases in Forsyth County last year. There is a lot more commuting between Wilkes and Forsyth than I thought. I think you only need 15% commuting, if I remember correctly? It can also be 15% commuting between Wilkes and Yadkin counties. Between Wilkes and Surry, if Surry County is added! That is how super-sized consolidated areas are created.

Believe me, living in Winston-Salem twice, and growing up in western Yadkin, plus knowing loads of people in eastern Wilkes and the Wilkesboros, I know that the Wilkes demographic is drawn more toward Winston-Salem for shopping, employment, healthcare, etc.....way more than to the Uni-Four, or Charlotte. So are residents in Grayson and Patrick Counties, VA.

What's that, wsnc62?

Hickory/Lenoir/Morgantown/Marion

This is an interesting article in the WSJ talking about population growth and diversity trends in the area: https://journalnow.com/news/local/winst ... op-story-1

High end residential real estate continues to do better than ever in Winston. I don't know if this is because people from outside the area are moving in, or because people from in the city are "moving up." Regardless, it bodes well that the wealthy are choosing to buy homes here.

For comparison, here is a TBJ article from 2019 that details $1M+ homes sold in the Triad in Q3 of that year. Five were in Winston.

https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/ ... or-1m.html

Compare that to Q3 2021 which saw 11 $1MM+ houses sold in Winston. The pace appears to be increasing as we head into Q4 - Four houses at $1MM+ have been sold in Winston in the past two weeks, including 2 already in Q4 (eight days in). Two in Bent Tree (one was on the market since 2019), one in Audubon Village (a new construction) and one in Buena Vista. Granted, real estate prices have greatly increased since the start of the pandemic, but I don't think that trend has been as apparent in high end homes.

It is nice to see luxury homes infilling areas like Chatham Farm and Reynolda closer to the center city. The trend has been for construction further out in the county such as River Run on the Yadkin, Brookberry Farm, Camerille Farm, or even King and Clemons. I am anxious to see what the homes will look like on the remaining Hanes acreage that has been cleared behind SECCA.

One wonders if the Mount Airy Micropolitan Area (Surry County) and the North Wilkesboro Micropolitan Area (Wilkes County) (neither are now in any MSA) are added to the W-S MSA will Surry County and Wilkes County then automatically be added to the so-called Triad's footprint? Surry is a likely candidate it seems (as F&M periodically mentions) and while Wilkes is a long shot it seems (to me) an appropriate addition.

Another $3MM+ home in Winston-Salem has sold in 2021. This one sold for $3.15MM, which was the listing price.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandho ... 8355-37244