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Quality of Life

• Elizabeth City is featured in the book The 100 Best Small Towns in America by Norman Crampton.
• Elizabeth City is ranked by Money Magazine as one of the "Best Places to Live on the Coast."
• Elizabeth City has been cited as one of the top three best retirement towns by Retirement Lifestyles in the Carolinas magazine.
• Elizabeth City has a performing arts theater, a state museum of history, a children's science museum and 12 acres of waterfront parks.
• Elizabeth City is known as the "Harbor of Hospitality®" for the tradition of handing roses out to visiting boaters.
• Elizabeth City is the home of Albemarle Hospital, a regional community hospital with exceptional resources that employs over 1,000.
• The area is just a few hours' drive from some of the best medical universities in the country: Duke University, East Carolina University Medical School, and the Medical College of Virginia.
• Elizabeth City's climate is mild and comfortable with an average temperature of 42° F in January and 79° F in July. An average of only 4.6 inches of snow fall per year.
• The population includes more Coast Guard retirees per capita than anywhere in the country.

Location

• Elizabeth City is centrally located in northeastern North Carolina, midway between New York and Florida and between Hampton Roads to the north and the Outer Banks to the east.
• The City is on the Pasquotank River and is an attractive stop for boaters on the Albemarle Sound and the Intracoastal Waterway.
• The Research Triangle area of North Carolina is 167 miles to the west and has been a technology business magnet for 30 years.
• It's just a 45-minute drive to Hampton Roads, with a population of 1.6 million, or to the Outer Banks. During the summer, the average daily population of the Outer Banks is between 200,000 and 225,000, accounting for $14.4 million daily in visitor expenditures.
• There is plenty of available land with 6,891 acres zoned industrial.
• The region has a strong agricultural heritage with related sales approaching $50 million annually. 112,367 acres are zoned agricultural.
• The cost of living is relatively low, making housing and amenities more affordable.

Transportation

• Eleven regional and three international airports are nearby. In fact, the Elizabeth City Regional Airport, with a 7,219-foot runway, can accommodate helicopters, Lear Jets, and 747s.
• Elizabeth City has deepwater barge sites with direct access to the Intracoastal Waterway, the Atlantic Ocean, and major highways.
• The second busiest cargo port on the East Coast, the Port of Virginia, is just 50 miles away.
• I-95, a major north/south artery, is just 110 miles away.
• Half the U.S. population and over half of its manufacturers are within 750 miles.
• Nearby major roadways allow same-day trucking service to over half the nation’s consumer and industrial markets.
• Several sites are ready for industrial rail service development.

Education

• Elizabeth City has three higher education institutions, Elizabeth City State University, College of The Albemarle, and Mid-Atlantic Christian University, graduating approximately 1,000 students annually.
• Elizabeth City State University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill recently launched the UNC-Chapel Hill/ECSU Pharmacy Partnership Program on the ECSU campus.
• The region is among the top five in North Carolina in educational spending per child.
• There are 12 public schools with 6,011 students Pre-K through Grade 12.
• Five public schools have been named Schools of Distinction and one an Honor School of Excellence in the state’s ABCs accountability program.
• In recent years, there has been a 10-point increase in average SAT scores.

Workforce

• The region boasts a loyal, trained, and ready workforce of 16,439.
• It also enjoys reasonable wages, with the average annual wage amounting to $28,132.
• North Carolina is a right-to-work state.
• Employers report low turnover and absenteeism.
• The largest U.S. Coast Guard base in the country is in Elizabeth City, providing the opportunity for exiting or retiring military to join the workforce.
• Federal/Military retirement pay is not taxed in NC.

Demographics

• Elizabeth City's growth rate was almost twice that of North Carolina's from 1990 to 2000.
• The estimated population in 2006 was 39,968 in Pasquotank County, 19,056 in Elizabeth City and 9,928 in Camdem County.
• The median age is 35.9.
• In 2006, travel and tourism spending totaled $44 million.

Northeastern North Carolina Region

• The Northeastern North Carolina region consists of 16 counties.
• In the 2000 Census, the regional population was 342,428.
• The region's cost of living index is 94.7, compared to 140 in Boston, Massachusetts, and 151.5 in Newark, New Jersey.