Raleigh’s 1999 time capsule

What was Raleigh like at the turn of the millennium? We took a look back at the final year of the 20th century to see what life was like pre-Y2K.

Raleigh skyline with a search bar reading "Raleigh 1999"

Hey Google, what was Raleigh like in 1999?

Photo via Canva

Do you remember 1999? Ricky Martin’s “Livin La Vida Loca” topped the charts, we were scared of the Blair Witch, and Google officially launched.

To celebrate, Google Trends opened its time capsule to see which fads were titanic in 1999. According to the report, adults were watching “The Matrix” and “The Sopranos” while kids were into “Toy Story 2” and “Teletubbies.” People also used the search engine to learn about David Beckham or evaluate their Pokémon cards, and searches for hot sauce set the web ablaze.

Livin La Vida Local

Want to know what life was like in Raleigh? We dug up some data to help us remember the final year of the 20th century — thanks to some help from a 25-year-old search engine.

To explore our local time capsule, we used the 25-year-old search engine to take a glimpse at life in Raleigh at the turn of the millennium.

  • Median family income: $59,500
  • City’s population: 261,205
  • Median cost to buy a home: $110,495
  • Average cost of a gallon of gasoline in North Carolina: $0.594

In the news

Sounds of the ‘90s

  • TLC performed their “FanMail Tour” at the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena — now PNC Arena.
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