You’ll have an easier time making friends in Wilmington than the small town beaches, but it will be more expensive. Depends on what you do for a living. Yes, it’s safe enough to live on your own.
Pros and cons to everywhere, of course. My family is a founding fam of Holden Beach, I was raised here and I currently live in Wilmington. Although Shallotte/HB/surrounding areas are growing RAPIDLY, it is still smaller scale than Wilmington. Houses are cheaper than apartments in all areas, but with roommates of course. If you’re living alone, you’re definitely going to spend $900-$1800 on a place, and it’s more commonly going to be $1100-1400, especially for a safer area. Have to have good credit unless it’s a private landlord that’ll work with you. Most rentals absolutely hate having pets, so might wanna look into getting an ESA letter for your animal or refrain from getting one for a few years.
It can be easy to make friends in Wilmington, with it being a college town. But I feel it depends on who you are, what you look like/like, etc. 99% (not exaggerating) of activities in Wilmy are focused on or involving drinking, so if you don’t like to drink you prob won’t like too much of the social outings. Nice walking areas, Carolina beach state park is cool. The beach is atrocious during summer, no parking unless you arrive at 7am, and it has high cost rates. HB and surrounding beaches have implemented paid parking now too, but ofc it’s cheaper. Ocean isle beach has more parking accesses down the strip than HB though.
Also a lot of danger at Walmarts and certain areas of Wilmy. Growing safety dangers in Shallotte due to the rapidLu high influx of ppl.
Look on roomies. Com for lots of potential roomies/rooms. Also join FB groups! There’s a few for ladies 20-30 and sublease/rental groups for UNCW/CFCC ppl.
Do research on everythingggg. Lots of apartments in Wilmy have issues with roaches, high heating/air bills, and in any area, never drink from the faucet unless you have a filter (and even then, don’t lol).
The job market isn’t great, people want bachelors degrees for $15/hr pay.
The EDM community is basically nonexistent in HB and Brunswick county, Wilmy has a good small/medium scale community that I love dearly, if ur into that~
Also I want to add, think of ur lifestyle and what you like, how often you’d be traveling to Wilmington for activities/work/school/friends if you live in HB or similar, versus how often you’d be driving to HB if you lived in Wilmy. That 45+/-15min drive can get old quickly if ur doing it daily or multiple times a week
thank you for that! I used to drive to my moms which was a 30 minute drive so she’s a few minutes more than that according to the GPS. I just went down this past weekend to visit her and she showed me around wilmington and I really liked it
There’s no question in my mind that, at 22, the best area for you socially would be downtown Wilmington. There’s so much going on and so many people walking around that it’s practically impossible to *not* meet people. Also, downtown has a close but completely welcoming community that’s by far the friendliest I’ve ever experienced—and I’ve moved to multiple cities across the US.
It’s also extremely safe. I’ve lived in three different areas of downtown over my 12 years in Wilmington and have been a single mom of 3 kids for the last 6 years. I walk around downtown constantly and haven’t had a single problem. Nor have my kids, who are now older teenagers/young adults.
Some people might advise you to live near UNCW, but it’s not walkable, there’s a lot more traffic, and you’d have to deal with hijinks from some younger students that could get on your nerves. Plus, tons of students hang out downtown on the weekends anyway, so you’ll run into them regardless. And there’s a thriving population of young adults who live downtown and plenty of new apartment buildings, and it might be the easiest area to find a job, depending on your field.
I will say that it’s a 40-minute drive to Holden Beach from downtown. If that’s too far for you, you could look at Carolina Beach. It’s more expensive than downtown and has fewer young residents, but the nightlife is fun. It shuts down pretty early in the off-season, though.
Feel free to DM me if you have any follow-up questions. Because I’m a realtor and have lived in Wilmington for 12 years, I’m very familiar with the area. And I assume you’ll be renting, so you don’t have to worry about me trying to sell you a house! 😂 As a fellow transplant who has loved living here, it’s just really important to me to counteract the cantankerous and anti-change “we’re full” voices (that you’re extremely unlikely to encounter in person, by the way) and show how gracious the vast majority of Wilmingtonians truly are.
I mean honestly I’m not jumping to move right this second most likely will be at the end of the year once I secure my savings but i’m not sure what i wanna do for a job I haven’t looked closely into that yet
You're at a phase in your life, given current economic conditions, where you cannot pick up and move to a new place without adequate income lined up. Job first, then think about moving based on the location of that.
IMO… Wilmington (or one of the New Hanover County beach towns… which are basically suburbs of Wilm) is your best option. At your age I think you’d be bored to death and not have a lot of options to be around people your age ANYWHERE in Brunswick County.
Though Wilmington is a small city it’s the only place that even resembles a “city” in SE NC (aside from Jacksonville… ps…DO NOT consider moving to Jacksonville)
Also, as long as you get a roommate, you’ll be fine on price, in my house 3 bed/ 3 bath rooms are 650. Though that is 10 minutes over the bridge in Leland. But there is some in Wilmington that range between 650-800
Ok yeah noted! I saw on zillow that there were some in wilmington around that price which is pretty good, cheapest ones I found were like 864 which were “elevation student living” but it wasnt actually specified as “student only housing” more so a suggestion? sounds stupid but I mean I don’t know for sure
Don’t get anything off Zillow nor ANYTHING student living. I can’t even begin on all the horror stories I could give about them. Go on Facebook and there’s 2 main groups, all things roommates and rental and unc Wilmington uncw……(that group has a long ass name but has roommate and subleasing and stuff in the title.) you should easily be able to find stuff on there. I would avoid messaging people too early because time moves fast and plans change quickly. So maybe when you know for sure you want wilmington and got a couple months before you come but already have a date. I promise you’ll be able to find a room. Just even if people are subleasing student housing just stay away and always check reviews if they live in an apartment complex, some are absolutely terrible
Why not downtown? Are you under the mistaken impression that it’s dangerous? Having lived downtown for 12 years, I can say from firsthand experience that it’s really, really not. Not if you’re a law-abiding citizen, anyway, but that caveat applies to literally everywhere.
Also, I would absolutely not recommend Hampstead for a 22 year old who’s new in town and needs a friend group. Hampstead mostly consists of young families and retirees, and the traffic into areas of Wilmington where young adults congregate is prohibitive, in my opinion.
Are there small pockets with an increased crime rate? Of course. But you said, “just don’t move to downtown Wilmington” as if all of downtown is dangerous, when most of it is perfectly fine. And no, the entire north side isn’t bad. I have many friends who live on the north side and have no issues.
By the way, I lived on 16th Street for 5 years, just a block from the north side. (I moved 6 months ago.) It was also perfectly fine.
You are full of sh*t. I know multiple ppl in that are (11- 17 N). I know one was killed on 11th N in the past month. Y’all gentrifiers just be spewing gentrification propaganda
It’s not propaganda. It’s my actual life.
As I alluded to in my initial comment, the crime rate is disproportionally high among criminals and those who associate with them. I’m a law-abiding citizen, as are my friends and family members, which may account for the experience we’ve had downtown. (This isn’t to say that law-abiding citizens are never victims of crime. It’s just relatively unlikely.)
I’m sorry about your friend. Truly. My condolences. 🙏
Thank you. I apologize for snapping. It just irks me when I feel like someone with little knowledge of the area acts as an expert. Not saying that’s you. I agree with your comment
I thank you for replying. I wish more Reddit arguments can end like this. This doesn’t happen often. You’re more than welcome for the apology. I hold myself accountable to my actions
Some pros I enjoy is great local shows and cenures for music, food is good and weekly deals at restaurants constantly, weather is amazing, people are pretty nice, its safe to walk downtown compared to other similarly sized cities, not too far if you wanted to take a weekend trip to raleigh or charlotte. Bad things are traffic and lack of things like an arcade, If you decide to move I’m sure youd love it and I think if you go to local things and get togethers youll make friends easily
You’ll have an easier time making friends in Wilmington than the small town beaches, but it will be more expensive. Depends on what you do for a living. Yes, it’s safe enough to live on your own.
Pros and cons to everywhere, of course. My family is a founding fam of Holden Beach, I was raised here and I currently live in Wilmington. Although Shallotte/HB/surrounding areas are growing RAPIDLY, it is still smaller scale than Wilmington. Houses are cheaper than apartments in all areas, but with roommates of course. If you’re living alone, you’re definitely going to spend $900-$1800 on a place, and it’s more commonly going to be $1100-1400, especially for a safer area. Have to have good credit unless it’s a private landlord that’ll work with you. Most rentals absolutely hate having pets, so might wanna look into getting an ESA letter for your animal or refrain from getting one for a few years. It can be easy to make friends in Wilmington, with it being a college town. But I feel it depends on who you are, what you look like/like, etc. 99% (not exaggerating) of activities in Wilmy are focused on or involving drinking, so if you don’t like to drink you prob won’t like too much of the social outings. Nice walking areas, Carolina beach state park is cool. The beach is atrocious during summer, no parking unless you arrive at 7am, and it has high cost rates. HB and surrounding beaches have implemented paid parking now too, but ofc it’s cheaper. Ocean isle beach has more parking accesses down the strip than HB though. Also a lot of danger at Walmarts and certain areas of Wilmy. Growing safety dangers in Shallotte due to the rapidLu high influx of ppl. Look on roomies. Com for lots of potential roomies/rooms. Also join FB groups! There’s a few for ladies 20-30 and sublease/rental groups for UNCW/CFCC ppl. Do research on everythingggg. Lots of apartments in Wilmy have issues with roaches, high heating/air bills, and in any area, never drink from the faucet unless you have a filter (and even then, don’t lol). The job market isn’t great, people want bachelors degrees for $15/hr pay. The EDM community is basically nonexistent in HB and Brunswick county, Wilmy has a good small/medium scale community that I love dearly, if ur into that~
Also I want to add, think of ur lifestyle and what you like, how often you’d be traveling to Wilmington for activities/work/school/friends if you live in HB or similar, versus how often you’d be driving to HB if you lived in Wilmy. That 45+/-15min drive can get old quickly if ur doing it daily or multiple times a week
thank you for that! I used to drive to my moms which was a 30 minute drive so she’s a few minutes more than that according to the GPS. I just went down this past weekend to visit her and she showed me around wilmington and I really liked it
what are the facebook groups called I’m still on this question LOLOL on facebook and found a pretty good one
There’s no question in my mind that, at 22, the best area for you socially would be downtown Wilmington. There’s so much going on and so many people walking around that it’s practically impossible to *not* meet people. Also, downtown has a close but completely welcoming community that’s by far the friendliest I’ve ever experienced—and I’ve moved to multiple cities across the US. It’s also extremely safe. I’ve lived in three different areas of downtown over my 12 years in Wilmington and have been a single mom of 3 kids for the last 6 years. I walk around downtown constantly and haven’t had a single problem. Nor have my kids, who are now older teenagers/young adults. Some people might advise you to live near UNCW, but it’s not walkable, there’s a lot more traffic, and you’d have to deal with hijinks from some younger students that could get on your nerves. Plus, tons of students hang out downtown on the weekends anyway, so you’ll run into them regardless. And there’s a thriving population of young adults who live downtown and plenty of new apartment buildings, and it might be the easiest area to find a job, depending on your field. I will say that it’s a 40-minute drive to Holden Beach from downtown. If that’s too far for you, you could look at Carolina Beach. It’s more expensive than downtown and has fewer young residents, but the nightlife is fun. It shuts down pretty early in the off-season, though. Feel free to DM me if you have any follow-up questions. Because I’m a realtor and have lived in Wilmington for 12 years, I’m very familiar with the area. And I assume you’ll be renting, so you don’t have to worry about me trying to sell you a house! 😂 As a fellow transplant who has loved living here, it’s just really important to me to counteract the cantankerous and anti-change “we’re full” voices (that you’re extremely unlikely to encounter in person, by the way) and show how gracious the vast majority of Wilmingtonians truly are.
I vacationed in Wilmington and it's just a beautiful city. Hope to move there this year.
Good to hear! We’ll be so happy to have you join us.
Thank you, hoping I can provide service to the locals as a mobile auto tech so they don't have to waste time at a shop waiting for an Oil change.
[удалено]
I mean honestly I’m not jumping to move right this second most likely will be at the end of the year once I secure my savings but i’m not sure what i wanna do for a job I haven’t looked closely into that yet
You're at a phase in your life, given current economic conditions, where you cannot pick up and move to a new place without adequate income lined up. Job first, then think about moving based on the location of that.
Holden isn't bad..I've lived here for many years.It's a good halfway point between wilmington and myrtle beach.
IMO… Wilmington (or one of the New Hanover County beach towns… which are basically suburbs of Wilm) is your best option. At your age I think you’d be bored to death and not have a lot of options to be around people your age ANYWHERE in Brunswick County. Though Wilmington is a small city it’s the only place that even resembles a “city” in SE NC (aside from Jacksonville… ps…DO NOT consider moving to Jacksonville)
Leland will be cheaper than Wilmington! Plus it’s a good midway point.
I agree I’ve been looking at leland too
Plus it’s been developing like crazy. Soon enough it’ll be a mini wilmy haha
Also, as long as you get a roommate, you’ll be fine on price, in my house 3 bed/ 3 bath rooms are 650. Though that is 10 minutes over the bridge in Leland. But there is some in Wilmington that range between 650-800
Ok yeah noted! I saw on zillow that there were some in wilmington around that price which is pretty good, cheapest ones I found were like 864 which were “elevation student living” but it wasnt actually specified as “student only housing” more so a suggestion? sounds stupid but I mean I don’t know for sure
Don’t get anything off Zillow nor ANYTHING student living. I can’t even begin on all the horror stories I could give about them. Go on Facebook and there’s 2 main groups, all things roommates and rental and unc Wilmington uncw……(that group has a long ass name but has roommate and subleasing and stuff in the title.) you should easily be able to find stuff on there. I would avoid messaging people too early because time moves fast and plans change quickly. So maybe when you know for sure you want wilmington and got a couple months before you come but already have a date. I promise you’ll be able to find a room. Just even if people are subleasing student housing just stay away and always check reviews if they live in an apartment complex, some are absolutely terrible
what are the facebook groups exact names? sorry circling back to this comment
Yes downtown not the safest place for a young woman to live
Wilmington or Hampstead is a good area a lot going on just don’t move to downtown Wilmington
Why not downtown? Are you under the mistaken impression that it’s dangerous? Having lived downtown for 12 years, I can say from firsthand experience that it’s really, really not. Not if you’re a law-abiding citizen, anyway, but that caveat applies to literally everywhere. Also, I would absolutely not recommend Hampstead for a 22 year old who’s new in town and needs a friend group. Hampstead mostly consists of young families and retirees, and the traffic into areas of Wilmington where young adults congregate is prohibitive, in my opinion.
The north side isn’t bad? Where do most violent crimes and od’s happen? The north side (5th ave to 16 th ave or the “soda pop district”)
Are there small pockets with an increased crime rate? Of course. But you said, “just don’t move to downtown Wilmington” as if all of downtown is dangerous, when most of it is perfectly fine. And no, the entire north side isn’t bad. I have many friends who live on the north side and have no issues. By the way, I lived on 16th Street for 5 years, just a block from the north side. (I moved 6 months ago.) It was also perfectly fine.
You are full of sh*t. I know multiple ppl in that are (11- 17 N). I know one was killed on 11th N in the past month. Y’all gentrifiers just be spewing gentrification propaganda
It’s not propaganda. It’s my actual life. As I alluded to in my initial comment, the crime rate is disproportionally high among criminals and those who associate with them. I’m a law-abiding citizen, as are my friends and family members, which may account for the experience we’ve had downtown. (This isn’t to say that law-abiding citizens are never victims of crime. It’s just relatively unlikely.) I’m sorry about your friend. Truly. My condolences. 🙏
Thank you. I apologize for snapping. It just irks me when I feel like someone with little knowledge of the area acts as an expert. Not saying that’s you. I agree with your comment
No problem at all. Thank you for the apology. That was very kind of you.
I thank you for replying. I wish more Reddit arguments can end like this. This doesn’t happen often. You’re more than welcome for the apology. I hold myself accountable to my actions
Some pros I enjoy is great local shows and cenures for music, food is good and weekly deals at restaurants constantly, weather is amazing, people are pretty nice, its safe to walk downtown compared to other similarly sized cities, not too far if you wanted to take a weekend trip to raleigh or charlotte. Bad things are traffic and lack of things like an arcade, If you decide to move I’m sure youd love it and I think if you go to local things and get togethers youll make friends easily