4 Industries Fueling Raleigh’s Business Boom
It’s a good year to be a Raleigh business.
Part of the esteemed Research Triangle, Raleigh has long served as home to a thriving life-sciences sector, cutting-edge technology and top educational institutions. However, during the pandemic, Raleigh’s rapid economic growth has even exceeded that of its Triangle neighbors. Forbes named Raleigh one of the best places for business and careers in the United States — an honor that was no surprise to local employers or employees.
Data from 24/7 Wall Street shows the Raleigh-Cary metro area grew by 25.6 percent from 2010 to 2020, exceeding the state growth rate by roughly 14 percentage points. The metro’s median annual household income is around $80,000, compared to North Carolina’s median of $57,341. Raleigh’s gross domestic product has increased by more than 72 percent over the past decade, reaching roughly $95.3 billion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
As Raleigh experiences steady economic and population growth, developers are racing to keep up with housing demand. A recent report by the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com ranked Raleigh as the No. 10 emerging housing market for homeowners and investors out of 300 metropolitan areas across the country.
In addition to its ripe real estate and abundance of local talent, Raleigh has a concentration of healthy industries that are fueling its boom. Here are four industries making waves in the Raleigh area.
Information Technology
Raleigh is sometimes called the “next Silicon Valley” because of its quickly expanding software and information technology sector. Raleigh is one of the best metros in the U.S. for STEM professionals, according to WalletHub. Its business-friendly policies, proximity to the Research Triangle Park and leading research institutions have made the city attractive to tech giants.
Pendo, a Raleigh-based cloud technology startup, added 590 new jobs to downtown Raleigh in 2018. Software communications provider Bandwidth added 1,165 jobs to west Raleigh. In 2021, tech company SingleStore selected Raleigh as its East Coast hub and innovation center.
Nearby, Apple is building its East Coast headquarters in Research Triangle Park, and Microsoft, Google and Amazon are also increasing their footprint in the area. Now, Meta is considering opening an office in Durham.
Health and Wellness
Many of the major employers in the Raleigh area are in health services. In 2019, WakeMed Health Hospitals and UNC Rex Healthcare alone accounted for roughly 16,673 jobs in Wake County, according to the city of Raleigh.
The healthcare industry’s strength in Raleigh partly reflects North Carolina’s statewide initiatives. Politico wrote that North Carolina was “arguably the most innovative state in the country when it comes to improving how healthcare is delivered” because of policymakers’ attempts to address rising healthcare costs, homelessness and other social factors.
Raleigh can also thank the Research Triangle for its steady growth in the healthcare industry. The area has one of the highest concentrations of medical professionals in the U.S., with the Triangle-based Duke University Medical Center and UNC Medical Center frequently ranking among the best hospitals in the country.
Homegrown Startups
Raleigh is frequently touted as a hub for successful startups. Its low unemployment rate, low corporate tax rates and young, highly educated workforce shot Raleigh to the top of LendingTree’s list of America’s best places to start a small business.
While venture capital stalled nationwide, support for Raleigh startups stayed strong. Axios found that startups in the Research Triangle area raised $2.4 billion in the second quarter of 2022 — an increase of 540 percent from the second quarter of 2021.
One of the Raleigh-based startups currently making headlines for its hiring surge is Relay, a 124-person firm that makes a data-driven tool for frontline work. After reporting recurring revenue growth of 645 percent over the past year, Relay will soon relocate to a larger office in North Hills that will give it the room to potentially double its size in the coming years.
Manufacturing
Though the service-providing sector accounts for more of Wake County’s growth, goods-producing jobs in industries such as manufacturing have grown quicker in the past seven years, according to the city of Raleigh.
In 2021, biopharmaceutical company Cellectis opened a large manufacturing facility in Raleigh that will create up to 200 jobs. Ineos Automotive chose Raleigh as the site for its North American commercial operations and said it was considering bringing manufacturing to the U.S.
Nearby, Vietnamese auto manufacturer Vinfast selected Chatham County as the home for its first North American automotive assembly and battery manufacturing plant. It will create 7,500 jobs and be the state’s first car manufacturing plant.
Job growth projections show that this is only the beginning of Raleigh’s economic growth. Businesses are betting big on Raleigh’s future as the leading Southeastern hub of talent and innovation, and the city is already reaping the rewards.
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