Job growth is 5.3% in Raleigh, 4.6% for Durham. Combined, the area secured the No. 2 spot on U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Places to Live list after ranking No. 11 in 2020. New real estate agents are piling into the Triangle’s red-hot housing market. Shawn Hays, president of the Durham Regional Association of Realtors, says there are nearly seven agents for one home on the market.