🇺🇸 Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees, which line the streets in the heart of the city and is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

Raleigh is home to North Carolina State University (NC State) and is part of the Research Triangle together with Durham (home of Duke University and North Carolina Central University) and Chapel Hill (home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County. The towns of Cary, Morrisville, Garner, Clayton, Wake Forest, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon, and Rolesville are some of Raleigh's primary nearby suburbs and satellite towns.

Raleigh is an early example in the United States of a planned city. Following the American Revolutionary War it was chosen as the site of the state capital. The city was originally laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the centre. Following the establishment of the Research Triangle Park (RTP) in 1959, several tens of thousands of jobs were created in the fields of science and technology, and it became one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States by the early 21st century.

Economy Raleigh's industrial base includes financial services, electrical, medical, electronic and telecommunications equipment, clothing and apparel, food processing, paper products, and pharmaceuticals. Raleigh is part of North Carolina's Research Triangle, one of the country's largest and most successful research parks, and a major centre in the United States for high-tech and biotech research, as well as advanced textile development. The city is a major retail shipping point for eastern North Carolina and a wholesale distributing point for the grocery industry.

The healthcare and pharmaceutical industry has experienced major growth in recent years with many companies based in Raleigh including PRA Health Sciences, Chiesi USA (subsidiary of Chiesi Farmaceutici), formerly Mallinckrodt prior to tax evasion with Ireland, MAKO Surgical Corp., Metabolon, TearScience, and American Board of Anesthesiology.

Raleigh was number one on the 2015 Forbes list of the best place for businesses and careers. Companies based in Raleigh include Advance Auto Parts, Bandwidth, Truist Financial, Building Materials Holding Corporation, Capitol Broadcasting Company, Carquest, First Citizens BancShares, Golden Corral, Martin Marietta Materials, PRA Health Sciences, Red Hat, Vontier, Waste Industries, and Lulu.

Social Blade, a website that tracks social media statistics and analytics, and Temple Run developer Imangi Studios are based in Raleigh.

The North Carolina Air National Guard a unit of the Air National Guard is also headquartered in Raleigh.

In April 2014 Steven P. Rosenthal of Northland Investment Corp. referred to Raleigh as "a real concentration of brain power. You have a lot of smart people living in the same place. That will drive the economy".

Economy: Top employers According to a recentFinancial Report, the top employers in the city include:

Employer No. of employees

1 State of North Carolina; 2 WakeMed; 3 North Carolina State University; 4 Wake County Public School System; 5 UNC Rex Healthcare; 6 City of Raleigh; 7 Wake County; 8 NC DHHS; 9 Duke Energy Progress; 10 Wake Technical Community College.