Oof. The Raleigh-Cary metro population is 1.5M and the Durham-Chapel-Hill population is 610k. Combined we get 2.1M and it's still smaller in land area than CLT metro by OMB (read: denser throughout). And everyone knows the 2 metros connect seamlessly. There are parts of Raleigh that are closer to downtown Durham than they are downtown Raleigh and vice versa. Shared suburbs and employment centers (RTP). When you combine Raleigh, Durham and Cary's (all border each other) population you get 988,000 people over only 318 square miles (1,020,000 at 326 if you add Morrisville) vs Charlotte at 945k with 308 square miles. The CLT MSA and CSA are insanely huge, so it's easy to artificially inflate your population numbers. Lastly, the Triangle is a tech-heavy metro, lots of compsci and lifesci dorks. That will auto-lend itself to more weatherdorks as science people usually enjoy other sciences. Charlotte is just generic banks, insurance, investments, etc.