Triathlete’s 20 Best Places To Live

No. 14: Wilmington, N.C.

Population: 101,000
Median Home Price: $272,784

Why it’s on our list: Believe it or not, North Carolina rivals Texas and California when it comes to the number of triathlons held each year. SetUp Events, the country’s largest race-production company, calls North Carolina home, and that’s a big benefit to triathletes from Tobacco Road. If you’re looking to call the Tar Heel State home, coastal Wilmington is hard to beat. Like the rest of the state, the air is humid throughout summer, but the winds coming off the Atlantic help keep Wilmington a bit drier when the temperatures really heat up to an average high in July of 90 degrees F. Wilmington’s roads are relatively quiet and well-maintained, and local drivers score above average when it comes to being kind to cyclists. An added bonus is the new Beach 2 Battleship iron-distance triathlon, which takes place in Wilmington each November.

Live here if: You dream of an oceanfront home but the West Coast just isn’t right for you.

Don’t live here if: You don’t like the idea of boarding up your house from time to time. While North Carolina doesn’t get hit with quite as many hurricanes as the Gulf Coast States, it does get hit with a major storm about once every three years.

Click the numbers below to see the rest of the top 20.

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