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Chapel Hill and adjoining Carrboro might meet your needs.
1) For a small city, Chapel Hill has an excellent public transit system and it is free (no fare) for most trips (exceptions for special buses to sports/concerts and for the late night shared ride service). It is an impressive system. Much of Chapel Hill has sidewalks and every effort is made to promote walking, biking, and using public transportation. New development in town is by in-fill or in planned neighborhoods with walkable shopping and dining (e.g. Southern Village, Meadowmont). Chapel Hill Transit provides services within the towns. The Triangle Transit Authority runs connecting busses to Durham, Raleigh, and the Research Triangle. The regional systems still need considerable improvement.
2) The Durham/Chapel Hill Greek Orthodox community seems healthy. A new church is under construction. There is a Greek festival, etc.
3) The cost of living is higher here than Columbia, mostly in housing, but ours is still much lower than places like Boston or even Portland.
4) This area has a relatively good job market.
5) The climate in Chapel Hill is slightly cooler than Columbia, but not really that different.
Be glad to answer any other questions in this forum or by PM.
BTW I live in one of the newer neighborhoods with sidewalks. A side effect is that we get over 300 kids at Halloween! Of course, downtown Chapel Hill is famous for its Halloween street party drawing 70-80 thousand people each year.
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