Charlotte, North Carolina, is a city on the move. Known as the “Queen City,” Charlotte is the 18th largest city in the U.S. and the heart of the nation’s fifth largest urban region. Fortune magazine has ranked Charlotte as having the nation’s best pro-business attitude.

More than 750,000 people reside within the city of Charlotte, and approximately 2.6 million people call the 16-county region around the city home.

Charlotte is a business location for 365 Fortune 500 companies, including ten corporate headquarters: Bank of America, Duke Energy, Family Dollar, Goodrich, Lowe’s, Nucor Corporation, Sonic Automotive and SPX. The 16-county Charlotte region is home to 950 foreign-owned firms, representing nearly 42 nations in North Carolina.

Charlotte is the nation’s second largest financial services center (only New York is bigger), with more than $1.9 trillion in banking assets. Other important industries in the Charlotte area include insurance, distribution, health care, manufacturing and a wide range of service industries.  Energy, Aerospace & defense contracting, and motorsports are including in the growing number of emerging markets within the region.

Charlotte is the home of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats and the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. The Charlotte Knights are a Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, and the Charlotte Checkers are part of the American Hockey League (AHL). If you’re a NASCAR fan, Charlotte is now home to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the Charlotte Motor Speedway is just north of uptown Charlotte, in Concord. And, of course, we cheer on our home team, the UNC Charlotte 49ers.

Residents of the Charlotte region also enjoy a variety of arts and cultural resources, including the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, the Mint Museums, the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Levine Museum of the New South and Discovery Place. Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Arts & Science Council is the second-largest arts oversight group in the country.

Charlotte is located in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Our climate is mild and sunny. The beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains are a two-hour car ride away, and the fabulous Atlantic beaches of North and South Carolina are about 3 1/2 hours away. Some of the world’s best golf courses are within in a few hours’ drive from Charlotte.