Lately Durham has been growing fast, up almost 8 percent since 2020, and life centers on Duke University, medicine and a lively food scene, in a city that grew from tobacco and railroads. About 305,000 people live here. Raleigh is about 25 miles away and Chapel Hill about 12, so it works as one corner of the Research Triangle. The Durham Bulls play at a ballpark beside the American Tobacco Campus, a reworked factory complex full of restaurants and offices.
Visitors walk Duke Gardens, see Duke Chapel, visit the Nasher Museum and take kids to the Museum of Life and Science. Downtown, Ninth Street and leafy Trinity Park are pleasant places to spend time. Housing has climbed sharply and costs run a bit above the national average, though the market is now leveling. Violent crime is above average, though it fell over the past year, and car break-ins are the usual complaint. Summers are hot and humid.
