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The Central North Carolina Bubble
In the Research Triangle Region of North Carolina there exists an interesting geographical and socio-economical phenomenon known as "the bubble".

Bubble Origins
It all started with the growth of the Research Triangle. The Research Triangle, also known as Raleigh-Durham or Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, and commonly referred to as simply "The Triangle", is a region in the Piedmont of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by North Carolina State University, Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill respectively. The eight-county region, officially named the Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA, comprises the Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan areas and the Dunn Micropolitan Statistical Area. A 2009 Census Estimate put the population at 1,742,816. The Raleigh-Durham television market includes a broader 23-county area which includes Fayetteville, and has a population of 2,726,000 persons.[1] The "Triangle" name was cemented in the public consciousness in the 1950s with the creation of Research Triangle Park, home to numerous high-tech companies and enterprises. Although the name is now used to refer to the geographic region, "The Triangle" originally referred to the universities, whose research facilities, and the educated workforce they provide, have historically served as a major attraction for businesses located in the region. The region should not be confused with "The Triad", which is a North Carolina region adjacent to and directly west of the Triangle comprising Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, among other cities. Most of the Triangle is represented by, and closely associated with, the second, fourth and thirteenth congressional districts.

As the Triangle grew the original rural areas of the south began to change. Older buildings began to be upgraded and improved and new areas began to be developed for the first time. A lot of the areas inside the bubble that were being newly developed were having state of the art, high class, fancy shopping areas as well as living areas. Some of these areas even became villages with known names used throughout the region.

The most interesting part of the whole bubble phenomenon is how the areas that were thirty plus miles outside the bubble's limits ceased to change or be influenced by the bubble at all. Instead they remained in their original rural, unupdated ways. These outside areas also seemed to keep a higher concentration of non-transplants. This was exactly the opposite of people living inside the bubble's limits.

More Info
Basically, everything that is inside "the bubble" has lots of amenities and is more similar to urban, metropolitan areas outde of the rural south, as well as having a more "new" look to things.

The red line represents the extent of the known bubble. However, if something is on the fringe of the bubble it still may show some characteristics of places as well as characteristics of people that live inside the bubble. The bubble's boundaries are subject to change. After all this is NOT an exact science or an officially documented phenomena.