The Charlotte metro area is a major financial center, transportation hub, and entertainment destination.

Charlotte is the second largest financial hub in the United States behind New York City, being the headquarters for Bank of America and Truist Financial as well as housing the East Coast headquarters and largest employment hub of Wells Fargo.

[citation needed] The regional area around the city was at one time called Metrolina, a portmanteau of Metropolis and Carolina.

The term has fallen out of widespread general use, though it still maintains a presence and is used by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Metrolina refers to the region that includes the cities of Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia and Rock Hill.

The name Metrolina came into fashion when North Carolina's other two large metropolitan areas took on nicknames—the Triangle for Raleigh/Durham/Cary/Chapel Hill and the Triad for Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point.

CATS is also building a commuter, light rail, streetcar network as a supplement to its established bus transit throughout the region.

Other important US highways in the region include: US 74 (east to Wilmington, west to Asheville and Chattanooga), US 52 (through the far eastern part of the region), U.S. Route 321 (through Chester, York, Gastonia, Dallas, Lincolnton and Hickory), US 601 (passing east of Charlotte) and US 70 (through Salisbury, Statesville and Hickory).

[citation needed] CLT is also supplemented by Concord-Padgett Regional Airport with service provided by Allegiant Air to several destinations.

Other places of interest in the surrounding area include the Schiele Museum (in Gastonia), Charlotte Motor Speedway (in Concord), the Carolina Raptor Center (in Huntersville), Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden (in Belmont), Latta Plantation (in Huntersville), Brattonsville Historic District (in McConnells), the North Carolina Transportation Museum (in Spencer), Fort Dobbs historical site (in Statesville), Catawba County Firefighters Museum (in Conover), the Arts & Science Center of Catawba Valley/Millholland Planetarium (in Hickory) the Museum of York County (in Rock Hill), James K. Polk historical site (in Pineville), the Catawba Cultural Center (in York County), the Museum of the Waxhaws (in Waxhaw), Glencairn Gardens (in Rock Hill), and the Reed Gold Mine (in Locust).

Alongside mountain-biking and running trails, a climbing center, and challenge course, the park's unique feature is a multiple-channel, customized whitewater river for rafting and canoe/kayak enthusiasts of all abilities.

The USNWC is only 10 minutes from downtown Charlotte and provides roughly 400 acres (1.6 km2) of woodlands along the scenic Catawba River.

Olympic-caliber athletes, weekend warriors and casual observers share this world-class sports and training center.

Several downtowns can claim an abundance of shopping options, along with restaurants and other entertainment, and a few other specific districts have emerged: Central Avenue, especially in the Plaza-Midwood area; the NoDa area of North Charlotte; and the Arboretum in southeast Charlotte (geographically, south), to offer a handful of examples.

The Charlotte Eagles of the United Soccer Leagues and the Hickory FC of the National Premier Soccer League call the area home, Truist Field (home of the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox), and the Hickory Crawdads are a High-A Minor-League Baseball team and the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers are a Low-A Minor-League Baseball team located in this region.

[19] [20] Companies with headquarters in the region include Bank of America, Belk, BellSouth Telecommunications, Bojangles', The Compass Group, Carolina Beverage Corporation Inc. (makers of Sun Drop and Cheerwine), Duke Energy, Family Dollar, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Lance, Inc, LendingTree, Lowe's, Meineke Car Care Centers, Muzak, Nucor, Chiquita Brands International Transbotics, Royal & SunAlliance (USA), SPX Corporation, Time Warner Cable (a business unit of Fortune 500 company Time Warner), and Wells Fargo.

A majority of the municipalities and counties in the North Carolina parts of the Charlotte metropolitan area belong to the Centralina Council of Governments.