Living in Sandhills & Fayetteville

The Sandhills and Fayetteville region groups four inland North Carolina towns that share a Sandhills/inland Coastal Plain geography but serve four genuinely different kinds of movers. Pinehurst is a world-famous golf and retirement destination -- Pinehurst No. 2 is a committed USGA Anchor Site through 2047, and the USGA's second headquarters and the relocated World Golf Hall of Fame both opened here in 2024 -- with a median age more than double the U.S. average. Southern Pines, minutes away, offers a genuinely different identity built on more than a century of equestrian tradition and a walkable historic downtown, at a real, meaningfully lower price point than its famous neighbor. Fayetteville is a company town for Fort Bragg, home to the U.S. Army's XVIII Airborne Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division, and U.S. Army Special Operations Command headquarters -- a $8.3 billion regional economic anchor that makes it one of the state's clearest fits for military relocation, with North Carolina's full income-tax exemption on military retirement pay a genuine added draw. Sanford, the region's northeastern member, is a historically manufacturing-anchored small city (Caterpillar, 3M, Pentair among current employers) now building toward a life-sciences workforce role within reach of the Research Triangle. Prices span a real, wide range across these four towns, from Fayetteville and Sanford's genuine affordability to Pinehurst's golf-community premium.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-22. Independent research; see individual place pages for metric-level source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.