With the current strain on Raleigh’s housing market + new developments coming to the more rural communities, Raleigh’s “exurbs” are growing. The term exurbs refers to the more rural communities that are too far from the city to be considered suburbs, but still within a reasonable driving distance.

For Raleigh, these include Wake County towns like Wendell, Rolesville, Knightdale, and Zebulon. Sharon Peterson, a Wake County Long Range Planning Administrator, told ABC 11 that of the 200,000 people who moved to the county since 2010, nearly half of them are 55 and older. That means they have more flexibility about where they can live within the county if they’re not tied down to a job center like Raleigh, she said.

KDM Development — the developer responsible for Raleigh’s Lafayette Village — is planning to begin work on a $55 million mixed-use development in downtown Rolesville this year. Kenyon Burnham, vice president of KDM, told ABC 11 they chose the area because it wasn’t far from Raleigh, but still gave the opportunity to enjoy the countryside.

"This is the fastest-growing area in the entirety of the country," Burnham said of the Wake + Durham County region. "Most importantly, the local government officials, they're pro-development, they'll work with you."

Thinking about checking out one of these exurbs? Here’s some how the areas stack up:

Wendell

Population: 7,308

Distance from downtown: 22 minutes

Zillow home value index: $258,136

Rolesville

Population: 7,488

Distance from downtown: 26 minutes

Zillow home value index: $376,205

Knightdale

Population: 16,001

Distance from downtown: 21 minutes

Zillow home value index: $263,781

Zebulon

Population: 5,404

Distance from downtown: 24 minutes

Zillow home value index: $248,132

Raleigh

Population: 474,708

Zillow home value index: $335,465