Winston is a medium sized city positioned to the west Greensboro NC, supporting a population of just over 250,000 within cities limits and MSA of ~681,000 and employing about 309k people. -I will be using the data analytics for the City in this post, in the next I'll focus on MSA numbers-

Winston's annual population growth rate is sitting around 0.39% which is meh, 1.17% growth since the 2020 Consensus has been recorded. Persons over 65 account for ~14.3% of the population. Median age of 36.4, ~21.6 min average commute to work, and bit more than 10,000 veterans locally. Winton-Salem is the 5th largest city in NC, and 89th largest in the US.

Development: I spoke previously about I-40 and some of it's developments. I want to talk about Highway 74 really quickly. Highway 74 is one of the more exciting developments, and as someone with Family in the northern outskirts of Winston-Salem I must say it's a great improvement in local infrastructure. 74's goal is to effectively create a beltway that circumvents inner city traffic and links to the highways that people are frequently trying to get to. As of right now the most complete and useful section is running from Rural Hall down to 421 past Walkertown, effectively linking to 40 and giving drives a massive shortcut to use now. This simple stretch cuts about 25 minutes off of a drive headed to the northern outskirts of Winston (Like Rural Hall/Germanton, and into King/Stokes County). The idea is the west and east side will effectively create and upside down U around the North side of Winston Salem connecting it to the main veins that run east to west on either side of the city. I cannot express enough how much time this road will save for drivers, and the amount of congestion it will decrease in areas that see a lot of through traffic.

In my next post I will cover businesses more in depth, we'll stick to the roads for this one.

Winston's largest employer is Wake Forest Baptist Health Medical Center, which employs over 11,000 people. Novant Health, and the Public School Systems, following up on the largest employers in the City.

Winston's in City schools that are worth mentioning are Wake Forest University, and Forsyth Tech Community College. 8,789 Enrolled Students at Wake Forest as of 2020 with a 91.6% full time student rate, Forsyth Tech is putting up 7,587 Enrolled Students with a 35.7% full time student rate. As a side note- if you are Familiar with Wake Forest Uni. it is one of the premier schools in the states, and one of the more prestigious schools in the country. FTCC is honestly a very solid community college, and I know plenty of people who have attended there an give it high marks. It offers a host of vocational and trade schooling opportunities, and is very connected with the Public School system in the communities.

Let's talk crime, then numbers. Winston sits at a 2 out 100 on the crime index (with 100 being the safest). Published 3 year crime report from the PD for Part I Crimes is showing a 4.3% drop in crime from 22-23 and an 8.9% decrease since 21-23. This is a total crime stat, and Violent Crimes in particular are down a massive 14.8% from 22-23. Looking pretty solid on the work going on locally. My previous post touched a bit more on crime locality.

The median home value is around $165,000, median sale price is around $260,000. Average DOM around 45 with average homes getting 1% under list and pending in 32 days, and hot homes are getting an average of 2% over list and pending in 17 days. Some homes are getting multiple offers, and I'd consider it "Mildly" Competitive for the deals that are going. Winston-Salem is growing and there is plenty of traction in the area. I grew up around Winston, and with speaking to some of the agents that I know that are working up that area, it is still and extremely interesting market with plenty of people putting their hands into the pot. The savvy investors needs to know where in Winston to swing on, and there is great opportunity around. Also considering that a lot of Winston and it's surrounding areas are still in need of, or currently going through development.

About a 55% owner occupied ratio. SFH 67% MFH 31%. Poverty rate is around 19.0%. Affordable housing is a need, there is amply opportunity for MFH options when it comes to investing in Winston-Salem.

Winston-Salem has a cost of living ranked as 38/50th most expensive in NC, which means as far as NC is concerned it's pretty agreeable in pricing.

Winston-Salem's most recent figure for GDP is at $38.5 Billion, in 2018 they were at $34.9 Billion, decent growth considering the pandemic.

I of course have to mention appreciation in Winston, looks like the average annual appreciation rate is sitting around 2.86% since 2000.

To conclude Winston-Salem is an area that if you flip, you should be paying attention to. The price points, attraction of the area, and large base of SF Homes to work with, anything that touches or is situated near I-40 shall continue to reap the benefits of being on the I-40 Line, as such Winston is no exception. Winston-Salem is a name you will be hearing the future, not just because of the City, but what it is producing. It's becoming an extremely large medical research hub, including Nano-tech and regenerative medicines. The partnership between Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest Uni. has been tremendously advantageous for Winston-Salem. I'm sure eventually some of the technology in development around here will reach headlines. It's impressive stuff, and a lot of money being poured into it. (Thanks Wake Forest)

Talk at you again in 3 months Winston-Salem!

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! Don't be stingy with upvotes or commenting anywhere on this thread, it's how I know this content is bringing value to readers.

Cheers!

For more reading and sources:

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

https://worldpopulationreview....

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

https://datausa.io/profile/geo...

https://datausa.io/profile/uni...

https://www.neighborhoodscout....

https://www.cityofws.org/Docum...

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

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/se...

https://www.cityofws.org/