Raleigh-Cary → Wildwood-The Villages
Relocation analysis based on 7 federal data sources
Should you move?
Moving from Raleigh-Cary to Wildwood-The Villages is favorable: BEA regional price parity goes from 98.2 to 85.4 (US = 100), and HUD 2-bedroom rent falls by $422/mo.
- -$4,917
- BLS median salary lower in Wildwood-The Villages
- 365 to 210
- violent crimes per 100K (FBI UCR, state-level)
- 15.8:1 to 17.8:1
- NCES student-teacher ratio
- $1,018
- DOL infant care higher / yr in Wildwood-The Villages
BEA Regional Price Parity, HUD Fair Market Rent, BLS OEWS, FBI UCR, NCES, and DOL. The table below lets you override the composite with your own priorities.
Pros of Moving
- + 13% lower cost of living
- + $422/mo cheaper rent (2BR)
- + Lower violent crime rate
Cons of Moving
- - $5K lower median salary
- - Higher student-teacher ratios
Purchasing power opens up: BEA RPP falls from 98.2 to 85.4, so each dollar covers more in Wildwood-The Villages (ratio 0.87). HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent drops $422/mo ($5,064/yr) from $1,750 in Raleigh-Cary to $1,328 in Wildwood-The Villages.
The seven-dimension ledger splits (4 destination wins · 3 origin wins); priorities decide this move. Wildwood-The Villages sits #52 of 387 metros on PlainRelocate livability (top third of the corpus). Raleigh-Cary is #241/387 on the same ranking. Composite verdict: Favorable. Override it with the dimension table below.
BLS OEWS median salary moves $4,917 lower ($68,693 → $63,776). Labor-market size: 725,130 tracked jobs at origin vs 34,870 at destination.
State retirement friendliness is near-even: North Carolina 68 (C, #13/51) vs Florida 62 (C, #23/51). Full state tax and healthcare sub-scores sit in the retirement desk below.
State retirement friendliness
Primary-state scores from PlainRelocate's retirement registry (tax + healthcare + climate composite). Metro pairs use each metro's primary state abbreviation.
- Income tax
- 68
- Property tax
- 66
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 30
- Income tax
- 100
- Property tax
- 67
- Estate tax
- 100
- Healthcare
- 12
Full retirement ranking · Source composite documented on methodology (Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides + federal healthcare/climate inputs).
Salary Adjustment Calculator
Enter your current salary in Raleigh-Cary to see what you'd need to earn in Wildwood-The Villages to maintain the same purchasing power.
Wildwood-The Villages metro profile · Livability rankings · Methodology
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS OES, FBI UCR, NCES, DOL, EPA; retirement desk: Tax Foundation + AARP tax guides June 2026