Retiring in North Carolina can give you a lot of options, all of them pleasant. The Atlantic coast offers white sand beaches, tucked away bays full of seafood and the outer banks, a group of low islands off the coast. Moving inland through the piedmont area of rolling hills you find the research triangle of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, the home of Duke University, the University of North Carolina and many high-tech research firms. The western part of the state is dominated by subranges of the Appalachian Mountain chain. The Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Great Balsam Mountains and Black Mountains comprise western North Carolina. The Black Mountains are the highest east of the Mississippi. There are three metropolitan statistical areas in the state with a population of over one million; The Metrolina – Charlotte/Gastonia/Salisbuty, population 2,338,289; The Triangle – Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, population 1,690,557; and The Piedmont Triad – Greensboro/Winston Salem/High Point, population 1,603,101.
