Winston Salem is the 5th largest city in NC, sporting a population of around 250,000 not including the immediate surrounding towns like Lewisville, Clemmons, Kernersville, Walkertown, and Rural Hall. Those added populations of those areas bring it to ~332k people within about a 20-30 minute drive to heart of the city. This draws a lot of people in to Winston, which helps the local economy and has lead to rapid need for development here recently in the Winston area. Before we dive into what's being built or worked on lets cover population data.

The Winston-Salem annual population growth rate is sitting around 0.79% which is nothing to jump at, but no small number for a large population either. 1.6% growth since the 2020 Consensus. Persons over 65 account for 14.3% of the population. Migration is incoming from Raleigh, DC, NYC in that order, with outbound searches going to places like Myrtle Beach, Asheville and Charlotte. There is a frequent trend with people moving from the bigger cities to Myrtle Beach and Asheville my guess is retirees, retiring soon, and/or people who are in affluent positions due to finances. Around 70% of buyers looked to stay around the Winston area. No doubt having something to do with the massive investments in infrastructure here recently in Winston. Median age of 36, 21.6 min average commute to work, and about 10,000 veterans locally.

I-40 and Biz 40 run through/around Winston Salem and generates a ton of the traffic coming into and out of the city. In recent years a massive initiative was taken to study traffic all over NC, and begin working on some of the areas. This included the section of Biz 40 that runs straight through the heart of the city. They've redone massive sections, in just a few years time. They have begun construction on a section of highway that will make an effective bypass from the northern outskirts (Rural Hall/Walkertown) and connect down to I-40 heading to Greensboro, making it much easier for the locals to get to places like Kernersville/Clemmons. Walkertown and Kernersville have been benefitting from having larger companies move into them creating more jobs and traffic, like Amazon for example. So the new/updated roadworks are becoming an ever critical focus for a city that may have outpaced development with growth. WS currently has many road projects and studies actively open, including MLK Dr, Peace Haven connectors, a recently updated transportation comprehensive plan, and a project to make Winston-Salem a 100% walkable city. Not to mention an airport right outside the city, while not being an amazing airport in it's own right, there are obviously advantages that comes with that.

Winston sports a great nightlife, with many great colleges like Wake Forest University- one of the more prestigious schools in the world, many excellent community colleges like Forsyth Tech, and even Historical Schools like Winston-Salem State University, even the all girls college of Salem University. A massive college population and extremely popular community college laying right in Winston creates a lot of night time business, foot traffic, and a need for rental housing.

Tobacco under RJR and Textiles were the main local economic pillars Winston-Salem was built around, in the most recent time Baptist Health, and Wake Forest have begun to make Winston-Salem one of the leading medical research hubs. Nanotech, Regenerative Medicines, and Biotech fields have been growing steadily in the area. Personally I went to lecture given at Wake Forest by one of the head of the departments of Regenerative Medicine research back in 2016, and truly it's astounding what they have achieved already. Extremely excited to see what comes of their research in the coming years.

Let's talk crime, then numbers. Apparently Winston-Salem is horrible for report crime data to national surveys. Not sure why, so I found the local Winston-Salem PD Report, and will use those numbers rather than some of the ones I'm finding online as they are unreliable at best. Looking at a total of violent and non-violent crimes at 13415 = 1 in 19 chance of being a victim of a crime, 1 in 86 (WS) chance vs 1 in 235 (NC) chance of being a victim of a violent crime. Reporting online is wildly inaccurate making WS out to be an extremely low crime area, which is really isn't that bad, but it's not a haven of the friendliest people on earth either.

As some one who grew up 30 minutes north of Winton Salem, and have spent most my work life in Winston job market- I can speak fairly confidently from experience in the area. There are a couple sections of Winston that everyone knows are the rougher areas, but by and large those areas are not the places you need to go to shop/ect. Except the Mall, Hanes Mall for some reason has in recent years became a hot bed of ridiculous and bold crimes. Including a full on riot in the parking lot at one point, it's a nice area near everything, and it's strange to see blatant crime in Winston, cops are pretty on top of things, so bold crime usually isn't a standard around there.

The median home value is $158,000, median sale price is at $260,000. Average DOM is 26, with less popular homes getting 1% under list, and popular homes going in 14 days around 2-3% over list price. It's not extremely competitive, but many homes are still seeing multiple offers. Cost of Living is ranked 40/50 in NC making Winston extremely cost effective. Ranked in the top 23% most expensive in the world.

About a 54% owner occupied ratio, 67% SFH and 31% MFH. 19% Poverty rate, there is a need for affordable housing, and SF/MF are both viable options in this market.

Buyers are in town, and Winston is experiencing yet another massive period of growth and development. A city under work, constantly is a lovely thing to see. The highways, roads, business, and people are all standing on the precipice of what Winston-Salem will become in the next decade. Winston is on track to soon become one of the leading medical/biotech research hubs in the world, with a local economy and infrastructure to support it. Baptist Health is already the largest employer in Winston (nearly 11,000 employees). If Winston-Salem wasn't on your radar before, put it there. Nothing is screaming red flags, and everything says that the future of Winston-Salem is very bright.

As a final point, Winston is pretty much "2nd" on what I'm going to start referring to the 40 line. I-40 connects many of NCs northern cities in almost effectively a straight line that's 4/5 hours end to end. From left to right Statesville, Winston Salem, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, Greenville. The 40 line is one of the most important highways in the state, and also one of the largest and best developed in the state. I-95 has been under construction for what seems like since the day they started laying the beginnings of the road, but I-40 when it sees work, it gets completed. No one can explain why I-95 is so behind (including many DOT older timers who've got 30/40+ years of tenure) I haven't spoken with anyone who worked directly on I-95 but I know other DOT members who find it suspicious. To end my tangent I will say 95 is finally seeing the same love and care that I-40 gets.

If it's on the 40 Line though, expect it see growth, and expect the small areas nearby to benefit greatly from their proximity to the larger cities connected on by 40.

As always looking for questions, comments, concerns, and any feedback. It's impossible to know everything about a market, so any value add information is expressly desired, and I appreciate it! I'm looking to connect with more people on here, so please reach out!

For more reading and sources:

https://www.cityofws.org/2442/...

https://www.redfin.com/city/19...

https://www.realtor.com/reales...

https://www.neighborhoodscout....

https://worldpopulationreview....

https://www.census.gov/quickfa...

https://censusreporter.org/pro...

https://livingcost.org/cost/un...

https://www.cityofws.org/537/S...

https://www.cityofws.org/DocumentCenter/View/26337/2021-Annual-Book-Final-reducedl-

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