Well, UNC is one of the top universities in the country, with an 85% 4 year grad rate and is mostly filled with NC public school grads, so apparently the schoool systems there are doing something very right.
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Couldnāt say about SC, but NC turned out high caliber graduates for a long long time and it doesnāt have anything to do with people moving here from other parts of the country. We do just fine, thanks, without all the massive growth. I donāt count myself among the high caliber grads, but I do know some of them (life long NCers) who are my age (mid 50s) as well as younger. These are folks who in the top of their fields like Kizzmekia Corbett (one of the developers of the COVID vaccine) and Holden Thorp (current editor of Science, past chancellor and president of UNC and WUSTL). We have lots of high achieving born-n-raised NC high school grads.
Exactly. Itās 82% North Carolina students.
But it wonāt hurt my feelings if you donāt move here. We have way too many new stupid apartments being built in my town all the time. They are always building something. Have to build new schools every few years to keep up with all the people moving to the state. Itās kinda crazy.
Wherever you move, please donāt start talking about āhow they did it back homeā and how thereās āno good pizza/bagels/insertyourfoodofchoiceā. That just falls flat fast.
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I got a good laugh out of the pizza/bagel thing. My husband is from NJ and his relatives go on about how bagels are just better there!
I grew up in NC- but I was not born in NC and neither were many of my friends. We did stay though and raise our kids there. In my neighborhood I am one of the few people who actually grew up in NC. RTP brought in many people in the 70s and 80s that loved NC and stayed. It still does. So I think itās a bit of both.
I did for many years have to explain why I sent my kids to public school over private because āNC schools arenāt really goodā to the relatives that didnāt get it. I do shake my head at every family that moves into the neighborhood and runs to the private school because they feel the public schools arenāt good. Go ahead and spend more for tuition a year than you will for college. Those of us who have been around for years know that our public schools are very good.
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The bread/bagels/pizza issue is real. My husband just drove to his sisterās house in NoVa yesterday and tear getting some Italian bread and taralles at a bakery. We flew with the same bread to Hawaii when she lived there. When she and her sister (who lives in the Midwest) visit, we get pizza, bagels, and Italian food (always scungilli salad). This food is really missed, even if there are other delicious options in the new location. ETA there are other foods we stink at, if someone moved here from San Diego and asked where to get good Mexican, I wouldnāt be able to help. The closest bbq to me (and there are tons of restaurants) is a chain, and the best bbq around here.
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Thatās an indisputable fact 
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Iāve tried to like bagels, but they are just disappointing donuts.
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I am happy to report that DH has been able to find one pizza place he finds acceptable and his relatives didnāt hate the bagels we gave them last time. They think itās the water that makes the difference??? I will say, because we are such a transplant area, our food choices have gotten much better since I was a kid. We even have TastyKakes and pork roll! I was born in PA- itās not Taylor ham. 
@ChoatieMom Agree with you! I donāt really like bagels, give me donut!
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Like bagels, dislike donuts, my daughter found Taylor ham (northeast NJ) in Clemson, made it for her friends.
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Itās just really really annoying to hear people complain. And people seem to like to complain about food a lot. If you want to fit in with the locals wherever you move donāt do that. If you want to commiserate with the other transplants go for it, but speaking as a born n raised NCer transplants moving here and then complaining about everything (food, schools, weather, etc etc etc) is definitely not a thing I appreciate. If you want to move, be prepared to embrace what you find in your new location wherever it may be.
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As @jeneric said, they can move wherever they want but if enrollment is capped, theyāll be bussed to schools with room.
Iām actually happy that bread & bagels arenāt the greatest here - it makes giving them up that much easier! Unfortunately (for my figure) we have found good pizza and donuts (I think they import the pizza dough though).
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I grew up in Orlando and while I donāt know what you consider ābrutally hotā but I certainly consider their summers (which can run from April through October-November nowadays) brutal. Most people just dash from one air conditioned building to another all summer, with spending time outdoors unless in the early morning.
Itās not uncommon to go to a football game in early November and be very uncomfortable from the heat.
Way too hot for me.
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I lived in Miami for a long time ā¦ I consider greater than 100 degrees F to be brutally hot. I agree Orlando is very hot for the part of the year, but it is seasonal and there are long stretches of fantastic weather, whereas Miami is extremely humid and hot the vast majority of the year.
Iāll put in input that Texas fits the bill in a lot of ways, but absolutely disagree with comment that the RE is inexpensive in Austin. Absolutely not. I live in as middle class a neighborhood as you could get, and we just had our first house sell for $1M.
If OP wants to talk about Texas in depth, Iād be happy to msg with pros and cons. No state income tax but heavy reliance on property taxes. Lots of great colleges, including UT-Dallas, which is relatively inexpensive and offers lots of scholarships. Itās quite STEM-focused. UTSA has a great cybersecurity program. And, of course, thereās UT and A&M, which are pretty competitive admissions-wise. People think Texas is all flat and ugly. Itās not. The Central Texas Hill Country is beautiful and offers tons of options for hiking. And go way out west to Big Bend. Just gorgeous.
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I know. Frozen bagels from NJ take up half our fridge after every visit. Honestly, I really donāt think thereās that much of a difference. But being married a long time means learning what to challenge.
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You see this smooth textured bagel icon?
It was designed by Apple and Google engineers in California who have no idea what a real bagel looks like 
So, yes - there is a difference 
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Did anyone suggest MN or WI yet? Once you establish residency, your kids could get instate tuition in schools in either state due to state-wide reciprocity.
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To those considering NC, take a look at Cary near Raleigh. It has multiple purveyors of NY bagels and pizza. No surprise itās known as the Containment Area for Relocated Yankees. 
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NYT says the best bagels are from Berkeley, CA. Boichik Bagels.
My friend/neighbor moved to Cary 20 years ago, her kids were the same age as mine, we all went to high school together, her attorney husband decided to buy a few dunkin franchises.
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Fake news 
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