Home

This is a Free Newsletter! Click Here to Become a Subscriber!

Short Profiles of Reader Requested Towns

In their search for a great retirement spot, readers ask us to profile all kinds of towns, from the places they grew up or attended college to places they have visited in their travels or just heard about from other people.  This page is where we address these profile requests.

---

---

Wilmington, North Carolina

12/4/2009

Wilmington (population 100,000) is located along the southern coast of North Carolina, a stretch known as the Cape Fear Coast, and has recently been named a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  This award is given to towns that are working to both preserve their historic character and promote heritage tourism, something Wilmington does well with a quaint downtown and through dozens of museums, festivals and tours.   This nearly 300-year-old city boasts cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages, trees draped with Spanish moss, riverboats, a WWII battleship, a farmers' market, beautiful old homes, and, of course, lots of beaches.  A fast growing metropolis, Wilmington has increased its population by 25% in the last 10 years.  Of this population, 20% is age 45 to 64, and 15% is age 65 or better.  The median home price is $200,000, and the cost of living meets the national average.

Many residents enjoy living here very much, but there are also many complaints.  Just fifteen years ago, Wilmington was a sleepy port city, peppered with local shops and laid back seafood eateries.  The beaches were easily accessible, and finding a strip of sand to call one's own was not difficult to do.  Today, though, the city is overbuilt; the beaches are crowded; prices have gone up, and chain restaurants have replaced locally-owned diners.   With rapid growth during the last ten years, traffic has become unmanageable, and Wilmington seems to be employing small town solutions to big town problems, without great success.   Newcomers complain about a good ole boy, backward feeling, few shopping venues, a lack of infrastructure and government corruption. Long-time residents grumble about the growth and bemoan the fact that Wilmington is not the peaceful beach town it was just a few years ago.  

The populace is a mix of fishermen, professionals, college kids, retirees, surfers, U.S. service personnel, tourists and old-money Southerners, creating a somewhat chaotic sense of identity.   Residents also note that the city has a crime rate nearly double the national average and that local authorities recently passed an ordinance that has raised homeowners' insurance rates.   The city is ethnically diverse, but racial tensions are present.   Jobs are tough to find.

On the plus side, the weather is quite nice, at least for ten months of the year (July and August are brutally hot and humid).

Recommended as a Retirement Spot? X No   X

Once a laid back, historic beach town, Wilmington is experiencing rapid growth and not handling it all that well.  Many residents enjoy living here, citing the city's heritage, climate and Old South ambiance, but others see its lack of infrastructure, high crime rate, rising prices, racial tensions and crowded beaches as evidence of a city that has lost its way.

---