With its skilled work force, convenient location, growing population and booming economy, the Triangle has all the components for business success. In fact, the results of a recent survey performed by The Business Journals awarded the Triangle a five-star ranking (out of five) on its Economic Scorecard. This puts the Triangle in line with other top winners, such as San Francisco and Atlanta, as a first-rate place to do business.

Because Raleigh is the state capital, state government is the area's largest employer. The Triangle has a robust private sector as well, flourishing so broadly that magazines have named it the "Best Entrepreneurial Hot Spot,” “Best City for Work and Family," the area with the "Best Business Climate" and one of the "Best Places in the Nation to Make Money." Fortune Magazine recently rated the Triangle the "Best City for Knowledge Workers."

Outlook Magazine honored Raleigh in July 2002 as the "Healthiest Place to Live" in the United States. WakeMed and Rex Healthcare, among Raleigh’s largest employers, no doubt helped contribute to this rating. Forbes, in the May 2003 issue, selected Raleigh as the third "Best Place for Business & Careers." Employment Review has bestowed Raleigh with the ranking of “Best Place to Live and Work” for the past two years.

The Triangle's concentration of universities and colleges has attracted some of the country's best minds. Many of these workers, delighted with the area's wooded beauty and relaxed pace of life, have opted to stay, enhancing local businesses or starting their own. High-tech firms such as NORTEL, IBM, and SAS Institute remain some of the area's largest employers.

Talented medical and research professionals have been drawn to the Triangle's prominent medical centers, including the UNC Hospitals and Duke University Medical Center, as well as to pharmaceutical giant Glaxo-Wellcome and numerous biotech research facilities.

Fostering the quest for knowledge and information is the area known as Research Triangle Park (RTP). Founded in 1959, Research Triangle Park is the largest and fourth-oldest research park in the United States. RTP, home to more than 100 companies with 38,500 employees in such fields as computers, telecommunications and biomedicine, covers about 7,000 acres and is centrally located between the Triangle’s cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), a hub for American Airlines, is served by 11 airlines as well as a

 number of commuter airlines. The airport has more than 260 daily scheduled departures, providing ample opportunity for business travel and shipping. A recently added $40 million parking deck provides 2,160 additional parking spaces. The airport also includes a U.S. Customs Service office and operations for 25 freight companies.

Location, and the area's related infrastructure, has spurred Triangle business growth. Easy access to I-40, I-85 and I-95 allow for direct and efficient ground transportation of products and supplies.

Meanwhile, the expansion of I-440 (Raleigh's inner beltline) and I-540 (the outer beltline) has increased commuter access to the Triangle. Roads such as U.S. 64 and 70 are busy with passengers driving between the cities and exploding suburban Triangle towns such as Zebulon, Clayton and Garner. Wake County now boasts four of the top 15 fastest-growing towns in the state: Holly Springs, Apex, Knightdale and Morrisville.

To help facilitate commutes, the Triangle Transit Authority operates a regional bus line with connector shuttles, a vanpool service bringing commuters into the major work centers and a rideshare matching service. Over the next few years, TTA will develop a regional rail system using existing railroad rights-of-way to connect Durham, RTP, Morrisville, Cary, Raleigh and North Raleigh. This service is expected to carry about 44,000 daily riders by 2025.

By that time, according to state projections, the population of just the Triangle's three largest counties alone – Durham, Wake and Orange – should top 1.4 million. Such growth forecasts superb economic times and a healthy business climate in the Triangle for many years to come.