Pro #1 – Great Parks

Starting with the pros, the first pro is that Wake Forest has a great park system.

For those who love the outdoors, there is so much to do in and around Wake Forest.

For the kids, the are multiple, state-of-the-art playgrounds around Wake Forest, which does a great job keeping their facilities safe and clean for the whole family to enjoy.

Many of these playgrounds are situated in larger parks, which have walking trails and some even mountain biking trails.

Wake Forest is also right next to two major water features in Falls Lake and the Neuse River.  There are tons of wooded trails to hike through the woods around Falls Lake, which is also a large lake that is popular for boating.  

And the Neuse River can be kayaked or tubed down, but it’s main draw is the 26 plus mile Neuse River Greenway that follows it all the way from the Falls Lake Dam down to Clayton.

Pro #2 – The BEST Neighborhoods

Next up, Pro #2 is that in my opinion, Wake Forest has the BEST neighborhoods in the whole area.

Now there are tons of great neighborhoods all around the Triangle, but Wake Forest has the best variety of neighborhoods while still holding onto more reasonable prices.

Wake Forest has plenty of wooded communities with homes that range on the older side to brand new construction neighborhoods.  There are neighborhoods with small lots and fewer trees for those who want less maintenance, and higher-end homes that have acre plus lots.  

Neighborhoods typically come with some pretty amazing amenities for neighborhoods, and there’s multiple golf course communities as well.  

The best part is that Wake Forest is still RELATIVELY affordable in comparison to Raleigh and its’ most popular suburbs with an average home price over the past year of $610k and a price per square foot of $218/SF.  And you’ll find that while the luxury neighborhoods are still expensive overall, they are quite a bit more affordable than comparable high-end homes in Raleigh and Cary.

Pro #3 – Historic Downtown

Moving on, the next pro is that Wake Forest has a beautiful, historic downtown that puts on many events.

Downtown Wake Forest is a great place to spend time at walking around, supporting the various local businesses and restaurants, and visiting its’ breweries.

But it’s most popular draws are the various events it puts on throughout the year, highlighted by its’ famous Friday Night on White summer music series, which always draws a big crowd.

And Downtown Wake Forest is continuing to expand with the construction of more townhomes, and the highly anticipated indoor food hall that is currently under construction.

Pro #4 – High Quality Schools

And the last pro of Wake Forest is its’ abundance of high-quality schools.

Wake Forest has some really great public schools, highlighted by Heritage High School that people move to the area for.  But it also has one of the strongest collection of charter schools in the whole Triangle.

There are so many different, highly sought after charter schools that even though it is a luck of the draw to get into one specific school, if you apply to multiple charter schools you’re likely to be successful at getting into a great school that like public school, is free of charge.  

For those families that are into sports, Heritage, Wake Forest, and Rolesville High Schools all have very strong athletic programs, with many of their teams in regular competition for top in the state.  

Alright, let’s move to some of the cons about living in Wake Forest, NC.

Con #1 – Location

The first con is that Wake Forest is located further out than many of Raleigh’s most popular suburbs.

Located on the north side of Raleigh, it takes a solid 35-40 minutes to get into downtown Raleigh and the Research Triangle Park, and even longer during rush hour.

For much of Wake Forest, you end up traveling on Capital Blvd and Hwy 401, which are frustrating roads to drive on due to the heavy traffic.  

Now, for Wake Forest being further away from downtown than many suburbs, it is directly adjacent and has a seamless connection to North Raleigh, so it does not feel like it’s far out overall like some other suburbs of Raleigh. 

Con #2 – Restaurant Diversity

Moving on, the next con of Wake Forest is the lack of diversity in its’ restaurant offerings.  

Wake Forest could definitely use some more restaurants overall, but the ones that it does have do not have the same diversity in offerings as other areas around the Triangle.  

While there are certainly restaurants of your typical cultures like Italian, Asian, and Mexican, there are just not a large number of them.  Nothing against those restaurants as they are still good, but it’s not the same authenticities as you’ll find in other areas of the Triangle.

Con #3 – Minimal Nightlife

Next up, Wake Forest gets pretty quiet after 10pm with very limited nighttime entertainment options.

As with most suburbs, there is very little to do after typical restaurant hours.  Wake Forest has a few bars and breweries that will stay open until midnight, but do not expect a very vibrant scene overall as Wake Forest is more geared towards families as a whole.

For those in Wake Forest looking to stay out later but don’t want to go all the way downtown, there are some options in nearby North Raleigh as well as North Hills, which is about 25 minutes away.

Con #4 – Commercial Development Shortage

Moving on to our last Con of living in Wake Forest is that Wake Forest needs more commercial development as a whole for its’ population.

Wake Forest could certainly use more restaurants overall, as many of the local restaurants can get fairly crowded.  But, it still lacks some commercial development that you would expect from a suburb of its’ size as it continues to rely on North Raleigh for much of what it lacks.

There are plenty of shopping centers, but more stores and entertainment centers are needed to keep up with all of the residential development that is occurring.  Wake Forest does have the essential grocery stores, Lowes and Home Depot, Target, Kohls, and more, but needs to take the variety to the next phase by adding things like sports stores, a larger movie theatre, clothing stores, larger gyms, and general entertainment.  

Wake Forest has been continually adding smaller pockets of developments pretty rapidly, but it could definitely benefit from adding a few more of the listed needs in the near future as the population rises.

So those are both the pros and the cons of living in Wake Forest, North Carolina.  Check out some of our blogs on Wake Forest on the best neighborhoods in Wake Forest and the best luxury neighborhoods in Wake Forest.

If you need any real estate assistance, we have one of the top teams in the area and would love to help you!

Please reach out via our contact information below:

Phone:  919-504-5265

Email:  alison@thewgroupraleigh.com

Website:  www.thewgroupraleigh.com