I cant say enough good about NC, if you live in the Raleigh area, you are 3 hours from the Outer Banks and 3 hours from the Blue Ridge Moutains and the Great Smokeys. I am from the mountains but live in Charlotte right now for college, but I love NC and really never plan on moving. I live in the biggest city in the state and traffic is not bad at all, I love NC and never plan on moving out of this state. And if you smoke, are cigs are cheap as hell!
And for 300K, in say the Hickory area like Z-Dreamer was thinking about moving to, you can have a 2500 sq ft house with 20 acres or so.