It forms the northern apex of the three cities that comprise the Research Triangle, a rapidly growing metropolitan area of 720,000. The other two cities are also sites of major research universities, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh. In the middle of the Triangle area is Research Triangle Park , the site of more than 50 major pharmaceutical, biotechnology and telecommunications companies, among them the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences , the Environmental Protection Agency , the Research Triangle Institute , the North Carolina Biotechnology Center , the National Center for the Humanities , and the administrative offices of Sigma Xi . Together these educational and research organizations provide a rich source of employment opportunities and scientific interactions, with the result that the Triangle area has one of the highest per capita concentrations of Ph.D.s in the country. Durham and the surrounding community offer the attractions of affordable living in an uncrowded atmosphere with many of the cultural amenities of larger metropolitan areas.
Housing is relatively inexpensive and readily available.
Duke is the home of the nationally acclaimed American Dance Festival , and has wide offerings in theater, film, classical music, blue grass and jazz. The moderate temperatures throughout the year allow outdoor recreation of all types, in the local lakes and forests and, less than three hours away, on the Atlantic coast to the East or in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the West. These attributes, combined with the rural quality that remains in much of the Triangle area, continue to make Durham an attractive place to live.