The American Lung Association recently released their ‘State of The Air’ report with some good news for our state. The report showed North Carolina’s air quality continuing to improve in every category. State and federal laws that were enacted over the past 10 years have made the biggest impact on our air quality, but we still have plenty of work to do.

One of the biggest improvements our state saw was in the category of tiny air-born particle pollution. Charlotte is also now ranked as being one of the cleanest cities in America for ‘Short-Term Particle Pollution’, according to the report.

Ozone levels also saw a significant decline throughout our state, although the 12-county Charlotte region still has an average of four high-ozone days per year. That’s not bad, considering that we averaged 92 days per year when the report first started 18 years ago.

The report cites North Carolina’s Clean Smokestacks Act from 2002, required power companies to cut emissions from coal plants, as having one of the biggest impacts on our current air quality improvements.

The report was primarily based on data collected by the EPA.

The City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have just launched a city-wide survey to see what improvements and additions should be made first.

They’ve asked us to help distribute an online survey, which will be used to determine what areas they will focus on first.

The city noted, “We want to know what our community’s residents think is most important for the overall well-being of the city and their individual neighborhoods. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey to help us identify the issues and factors that matter most to you. This survey will help us design future strategic plans, helping align our work to what is important to our residents.”

You can take the survey here – http://bit.ly/CLTResidentSurvey

What are the top 3 things you think Charlotte should focus on improving first?

Charlotte is now experiencing one of the most significant growth stages in its history, with construction starting on a new apartment complex almost every week. We’re also seeing an equally significant growth in new companies moving here, booming start-ups, and local expansions – all adding to increased demand for new workers.

Our job sector is currently growing faster than our housing sector, meaning the continued increase of rental rates around our city.

According to ApartmentList.com, Charlotte rents have increased 0.5% over the past month, and are up moderately by 2.4% in comparison to the same time last year. Charlotte’s annual rent growth leads the state and national averages – both at 2.3%.

Our rapidly expanding supply of apartments all over Charlotte (and especially along the new Lynx Light Rail Line) is keeping our rates substantially lower than other comparable cities around the country.

• Charlotte’s median two-bedroom rent of $1,100 is below the national average of $1,160. Nationwide, rents have grown by 2.3% over the past year compared to the 2.4% rise in Charlotte.
• While Charlotte’s rents rose moderately over the past year, many cities nationwide also saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.3%), Atlanta (+2.3%), and Seattle (+2.1%).
• Renters will find more reasonable prices in Charlotte than most comparable cities. For example, San Francisco has a median 2BR rent of $3,040, which is more than two-and-a-half times the price in Charlotte.

Locally, Charlotte’s rental rates have seen the second highest increase last month behind Rock Hill – we now have the third highest rates in the area, behind Matthews and Huntersville;

Have you recently tried to find an apartment in Charlotte?

How did your experience go? 

More great news for small businesses and entrepreneurs in Charlotte looking to connect – our city was just ranked as one of America’s top cities for small business growth.

WalletHub recently released a study which ranks the ‘Best Large Cities to Start a Business‘. They used over a dozen metrics, including; five-year survival rate, office-space affordability, educational attainment of the local labor force, availability of human capital, and overall small business growth rate.

The study analyzed 150 of the biggest cities in America and compared them across three key areas: business environment (50 total points), access to resources (25 total points) and costs (25 total points). They then identified 16 metrics in each grouping, and ranked each city according to their total score.

Overall, Charlotte ranked as the #3 best city to start a business, beating out Austin at number 8, Raleigh at 12, Houston at 18, and Atlanta at 38. If you think Charlotte makes a nice place for your small business, this guide on how to form an LLC in North Carolina is the place to start.

If you’d like to support one of our many small businesses in Charlotte, check out our list of the Top 10 Online Small Businesses in Charlotte.