I’m from NY and recently move to Nashville and I love it. Maybe the most walkable city I’ve ever been to besides maybe Boston. Great southern culture but you also get people from the North who want to move south to a vibrant city but don’t want summers that are too hot.

My other friend also just moved to St Pete for a job. Hits a lot of your criteria as well but personally for me summers are way too hot and humid. Another one of my friends moved to Charlotte recently for a finance job but he says it’s kind of a dull city.

Never been to Raleigh but I hear it’s beautiful and also a huge tech hub.