AREA INFORMATION

If you’re contemplating retirement and looking for the ideal spot to enjoy life and race your pigeons, you might consider relocating to Western North Carolina. With a population of 70,000, Asheville is the largest city in Western North Carolina and serves as the regional hub for business, health and human services, the arts, shopping, dining and other community amenities for citizens and visitors. The city is large enough to offer many amenities, yet small enough to retain small town friendliness and charm. Asheville’s average elevation is 2,165 feet above sea level with nearby elevations of up to 6,685 feet within a short drive.

Asheville is appealing in all four seasons since the highest mountains in the eastern United States surround it, and the city lies just minutes away from protected wilderness areas providing numerous outdoor activities. Western North Carolina has a diverse topography ranging from pristine pasture land, rolling hills, mountain tops, valleys, steep mountain terrain and mountain knolls, and we enjoy a true four seasons, each casting its own landscape over the country side.

Quality of life is good in Asheville and the people that live here are blessed with a mild climate, beautiful scenery, low crime, low unemployment, and a diverse culture. This is true for other county seats within our club boundaries, including Brevard, Hendersonville, Waynesville, Marshall, and Burnsville.

Western North Carolina has a true four seasons yet a mild year-round climate with an annual average rainfall of 47.07 inches and an average annual snowfall of 13.3 inches.

In fall, visitors travel hundreds of miles to enjoy the leaf color that adorns our beautiful mountains. Spreading like wildfire, autumn brings vibrant multiple colors of yellow, orange, pink, blue, red, burgundy, and purple to every tree and shrub, seen from panoramic views no matter where you drive about.

The area enjoys a mild summer with afternoon thunderstorms cooling off the hottest days – enhancing the vast greenery. Temperatures in Asheville can reach over 90 degrees but usually not lasting for more than a few days.

Asheville has a pretty mild winter, with major snowstorms becoming increasingly rare. The area normally gets multiple snow flurries in winter averaging an inch or two or three at a time and normally melts off in a day or two. There are always exceptions, of course, such as Asheville’s blizzard in 1993 that dumped three feet of snow in a 24-hour period. Snowfall is much more abundant in the counties north and west of Asheville, however.

Spring is equally exhilarating as azalea, dogwood, rhododendrons and hundreds of other flowering plants and trees come to life with brilliant flowering colors, bringing new life to the landscape after the cold and grey of winter.

Asheville’s low and high average temperatures:

MONTH
LOW
HIGH
 
January
25
47
February
29
50
March
36
58
April
44
67
May
52
74
June
60
81
July
64
84
August
62
83
September
56
77
October
45
68
November
37
58
December
30
50

Asheville's Population

Asheville is the largest city in WNC with about 70,000 residents, Buncombe County 217,000 and Asheville MSA (metropolitan statistical area) 390,000. The racial composition for Asheville North Carolina is 77.6% White, 17.4% Black, 0.4% American Indian, 1.0 Pacific Asian, 4.9% Hispanic. The median age for Asheville is estimated at 39.9, for Buncombe County 39.6, for Asheville MSA 40.9, for North Carolina 36.1, for United States 35.3.

Asheville’s Distinction

Hundreds of trails weave within nature while the Urban Trail meanders throughout the city past sculptures, historical sights, and architecture that earned Asheville the name “Paris to the South”. In the same tradition is Biltmore Estate, a magnificent French Chateau built over a century ago, America’s largest private residence with 8,000 acres of gardens, trails, and award-winning winery, the nation’s most visited vineyard. Many have come to the area for a visit and stayed a lifetime, because while you may leave the mountains of Western North Carolina, they will never leave you.

  • Men's Journal – Ranked 11 among the 50 best places to live


  • Money Advisor – Asheville was voted one of the five best places in the country to retire


  • Farmers Insurance Group – Ranked 19 among the top 25 most secure places to live


  • American Style – Ranked 8 among America's top 25 arts destinations


  • MSN – Ranked 8 of the top ten best places to live


  • MSN – Ranked among the top ten best places to retire


  • MSN Money – Ranked among the top 10 towns for a second home investment


  • Forbes – Ranked 31among 168 metros of best places for business


  • National Geographic Magazine – Ranked as one of the ten “Great Adventure Towns”


  • USA TODAY – Ranked as one of America’s top five special cities and safe getaways


  • Parents Magazine – Ranked as one of the top family getaways


  • AARP Magazine – Ranked as one of the top 15 dream towns

Asheville’s History

Asheville was a primitive outpost when founded in 1792. Frontiersmen such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett traveled through in the early days and the city was little more than a crossroads of Indian trails on a plateau surrounded by mountains and rivers on all sides. . In 1840 Asheville's population was around 750 until the construction of the railroad in 1880, which transformed the city into a resort and therapeutic health center. Asheville became a Mecca for visitors searching for a mountain escape, its population climbing to nearly 30,000 seasonal residents in 1890.

In 1888 George Vanderbilt visited Asheville, who at that time was one of the wealthiest men in America. After his visit, the world traveler had fallen in love with the region and purchased 125,000 acres of land, deciding to build his grand estate consisting of a 250 room French Renaissance chateau with 34 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces and 43 bathrooms. The endeavor took six years to build using a thousand workers. Vanderbilt commissioned renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to design the grounds and gardens, and celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to help him plan the house. Biltmore Estate has withstood the test of time and modern mansions are dwarfed by the regal home. This magnificent home, known as the Biltmore Estate, is still in the family and a leading tourist destination with over one million annual visitors. After his death, 87,000 acres were sold to the US Forest Service, which now makes up the majority of Pisgah National Forest.

In 1920 Asheville started to boom and started full construction of its downtown area. It had no money to invest in urban renewal projects that were so popular in other cities following Black Monday, so the magnificent buildings erected during the boom years were spared the bulldozer as a result of the city’s commitment to repay its debt. This is why Asheville is a snap shot of what an American boomtown looked like during the turn of the century.

The largest populated area in Western North Carolina, the city is a flourishing and vibrant community that attracts visitors from all over the country, referred to as “Paris Of The South” by many. Asheville now attracts over five million visitors a year compared to the 1920 boom of 35,000. Asheville has always drawn visionaries, poets and explorers.

Thomas Wolfe was born in Asheville and grew up in his mother’s rambling boardinghouse, known as “Dixieland.” Wolfe is one of the giants of American literature, and Asheville is the backdrop for his autobiographical novel, “Look Homeward, Angel.” The Reverend Billy Graham was married here and has called the Asheville area home for fifty years. Several world-renowned personalities live in western North Carolina, attracted not only to the beauty and quality of life found in the area but also the privacy afforded them.

Back to the Top


Latest Asheville, North Carolina, weather