Durham is one of the country’s best places to live, eat, work and play. A strong housing market and steady job growth, along with a flourishing arts scene, great shopping and restaurants, lively sports and a well-educated community, make it an ideal location for both individuals and families.
A number of recent polls, some of which are categorized below, highlight the great things happening at Duke and in Durham.
Business
- 2010 #23 Best Place for Business and Careers by Forbes
- 2010 Ryan Allis and Aaron Houghton, co-founders of iContact, were named two of the top 30 under 3-America's coolest young entrepreneurs by Inc. Magazine
- 2010 iContact the #1 Email Marketing Service Provider and Resource for Web professionals by Website Magazine
- 2010 Burt's Bees ranked #1 in a Green Brands Survey of U.S. Consumers
- 2009 #4 for Best Mid-Sized Areas for Jobs by Forbes
- 2009 #19 for job-growth potential nationwide by NewGeography.com
- 2009 #3 Best Place for Business and Careers by Forbes
- 2009 #11 in the nation for keeping jobs by American City Business Journal
- 2009 #15 best mid-sized metro in which to launch a small business by CNN Money
- 2009 The Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau received nine Destination Marketing Achievement Awards from the Destination Marketing Association of North Carolina
- 2008 Downtown Durham named one of Businessweek's 15 Up-and-Coming Neighborhoods
- 2008 ranked by CEO Update in Top Places To Work in nonprofits
- 2008 #12 Top 100 places to live and launch your own business by Fortune Small Business/CNNMoney.com
- 2008 Destination Marketing Best Practice Innovation Award for Consumer Credit Counseling by DMANC
- 2008 Destination Marketing Best Practice Innovation Award for Minor League Baseball Partnership by DMANC
- 2008 Destination Marketing Platinum Achievement Award for the 2006-07 Annual Report
- 2007 North Carolina ranked the state with the top business climate by Site Selection Magazine
- 2007 The City of Durham's Department of Equal Opportunity/Equity Assurance named Minority Business Advocate of the Year by N.C. Statewide Minority Business Enterprise Center for the N.C. Institute of Minority Economic Development
- 2007 Durham-based U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NIEHS ranked in Top 15 Best Places to Work for Post-Docs by The Scientist
Economy/Housing
- 2010 #1 housing market in the U.S. by The Wall Street Journal
- 2010 #6 healthiest market among the top 100 U.S. Housing Markets by Hanley Wood Market Intelligence
- 2010 #7 on the 2010 Most Livable Bargain Markets by MSN Real Estate
- 2010 Durham listed as one of 20 Cities Surviving the Recession by Yahoo Finance
- 2010 #10 for the Best Mid-Sized Cities for Jobs by Forbes
- 2009 #6 best performing metro area in the country by Milken Institute
- #3 area with the biggest change in the number of financial services jobs by the Wall Street Journal
- 2009 #8 place to get more for less by Forbes
- 2009 #3 Top 20 College Towns for Jobs by Forbes
- 2009 #9 on nation's top midsized cities for young professionals by Next Generation Consulting
- 2009 #5 on Relocate-America's 2009 Top 100 Places to Live
Education
- 2010 #9 highest projected creative class job growth in the country by The Atlantic Monthly
- 2010 #2 America's Brainiest Cities by the Daily Beast and the #4 "Brainiest Bastion" in Portfolio.com
- 2010 Duke University tied for 9th in the 2011 edition of "America's Best Colleges" in U.S. News & World Report
- 2010 Duke University's medical school remained tied for 6th for research, law school tied for 11th, business school 14th and the Pratt School of Engineering tied for 33rd in U.S. News & World Report
- 2009 Duke University 23rd in the nation for the most "super lawyers" in the state by Super Lawyers Magazine
- 2009 Duke Corporate Education the world's top provider of custom executive education by Businessweek and The Financial Times
- 2009 Duke University's Fuqua-Global Business School #10 of the Best Business Schools by Business Week
- 2009 Duke University 13th for graduate programs and 14th for undergraduate programs in list of World's Best Universities in U.S. News & World Report
- 2009 Durham metro area 4th on national ranking of the Intelligence Density Quotient that assesses the talent and capacity for innovation, creativity, and problem solving
- 2009 Duke University School of Law #7 Best Classroom Experience by Princeton Review
- 2009 #6 best small MSA for college students by AIER College Destination Index
- 2009 Duke University #10 on list of the Best Colleges for 2010 in U.S. News and World Report
- 2009 Duke University 2nd for biomedical/biomedical engineering programs in U.S. News and World Report
- 2009 Duke University ranked #18 Jock Schools, #17 More to do on Campus, #19 on the Happiness Meter, #4 Best College Library #7 Students Pack the Stadium, #9 Best College Newspaper by Princeton Review
Food
- 2010 Durham raked #5 on Bundle's top-eating cities list
- 2009 Counter Culture Coffee #1 in coffee roasting industry's homegrown innovators list by Details Magazine
- 2008 Durham and Chapel Hill named America's Foodiest Small Towns by Bon Appetit
Health
- 2010 Duke University Hospital #10 on the U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Hospitals listing for the second year in a row and was among 14 hospitals nationally to make the magazine's Best Hospitals National Honor Roll
- 2009 Durham #6 in nation for pharmaceutical, 7th for R&D and 26th overall in the rankings of national tech hubs by Miken Institute
- 2009 Duke University Hospital #10 in major teaching hospitals for national benchmarks and 11th on the 100 Top Hospitals: Everest Award for National Benchmarks Winners by Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals
- 2007 Arthur Frommer highlighted Duke Diet & Fitness Center as the #1 facility for a fitness vacation
- 2007 Duke University Health System ranked by ComputerWorld as one of the Top 100 Places to work in IT
Lifestyle
- 2010 #1 Place to Retire by Money Magazine
- 2010 #7 Best Place for College Students to Live by American Institute for Economic Research
- 2010 #20 most-livable midsize city in a quality-of-life study by Portfolio.com
- 2010 #4 Best City for College Graduates by the Daily Beast
- 2010 #4 most affordable city in America by NBC's Today Show
- 2010 #30 most charitable cities by Men's Health
- 2009 #9 in the country for communities with a population between 100,000 and 299,000 by National Night Out Awards
- 2009 #37 in Children's Health 100 Best Places to Raise Kids
- 2009 #52 safest driving city in the nation by Allstate Insurance Company
- 2009 East Durham named one of 51 "Best Old-House Neighborhoods" by This Old House
- 2009 One of the 10 Best Places to Live in the Nation in U.S. News & World Report
- 2009 Downtown Durham scored 98/100 on Walkscore.com's "walkability test" making it a Walker's Paradise
- 2009 #10 "Where Recycling Rules" by Men's Health
- 2008 #5 most smoke-free in the nation by U.S. News & World Report
Regional
- 2009 Durham part of the 22 county Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville) Nielsen media designated market area ranked #1 smartest in the nation by The Daily Beast
- 2008 Durham one of four NC cities ranked in the top 20 hottest housing markets by MSNBC and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight
Sports
- 2010 Men's Basketball and Men's Lacrosse NCAA Team National Champions
- 2010 The Durham Bulls team of the decade by MiLB International League
- 2010 Women's Tennis NCAA Team National Champions
- 2009 Mike Krzyzewski selected #19 on list of 50 All-Time Greatest Coaches by Sporting News
- 2009 Duke vs. UNC basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham is ranked one of the top 10 sports experiences of a lifetime in The 100 Sporting Events you Must See by topendsports
- 2009 Duke University Golf Club most bang for the buck in the Triangle according to Business North Carolina
- 2009 Bull Durham chosen #1 best baseball moment in a movie by Premiere.com
- 2009 Durham (along with Chapel Hill) chosen as the best basketball towns to visit by CNN
- 2008 Duke ranked #5 greatest college basketball program of all time NBC Sports
- 2008 Cameron Indoor Stadium -- "one of the ten Great Places to Get Pumped for NCAA Action" by USA Today
- 2007 Duke Men's Basketball, Top program of the last 10 years by ESPN.com
Visitor Sector
- 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival was named one of the Top 50 Film Festivals in the World by Indiewire
- 2010 Museum of Life and Science #10 most visited museum or historic attraction in North Carolina by Carolina Publishing Associates of Matthews
- 2010 DPAC -- Durham Performing Arts Center on list of the top 100 theater venues on the planet by Pollstar Magazine
- 2009 Durham Art Weekend chosen as one of 11 great weekends in Our State Magazine
- 2009 Duke Gardens named #6 best public garden by Southern Living
- 2008 Raleigh-Durham International Airport is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the #10-best airport based on a misery index