I've been in Az for the last 37 years. Like anyplace they change with the times. Some good some bad.
If your into home town sports. the Phoenix/West Valley cities are the place to look.
The Cardinals, Coyotes and NASCAR are in the West Valley. The Diamond Backs and Suns play in the Central Phoenix area.
If sports is not your thing then pretty much anywhere would probably work out.
Like others have said try and find a job before you move here. After that find a city to move to that is close to that new job. Rush hour traffic on the freeways is not fun to drive.
My wife and would love to be near or around phoenix just waiting for a job opening. I know the real estate market is definitely a buyer's market but how is the unemployment rate for the area?
unless your company can move you to a az branch, or your moving to some small town in the mountains id secure a fall back plan before moving
If you are looking for cheap I would say somewhere in the east valley. Gilbert, Queen Creek. Houses are selling for dirt cheap right now. and Rentals couldnt be too much higher.A friends of mine just had his house sell at auction for $38,000 yes i said $38,000. Just saying dirt cheap.
I've been here 6 years now and just bought a house...it's cheaper than renting except for the initial outlay. From what I can tell the East side, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe is the most popular. Everything seems to happen, be sold on or exist on the east side...I live on the West side of course. Most anywhere about 10 miles directly north, south, east or west of Downtown Phx is kinda shaky....some more, some less than others. Outside of that you're better as far as crime stats etc.
Great place in the winter and not to far from cooler weather in the summer... The summers in Phoenix? Not so much... I live in Buckeye witch is west of Phoenix, it cools off at night here but not in town... Good luck!
Not a bad place to live, depending on where you're coming from. I'm an Arizona native, but from a small town and can't say I'm too big a fan of the people in Phoenix as a whole. But of course like anywhere you have your bad apples. Lots of opportunity for a mechanic in this area if dealer certified. If not, you have UTI.
I work out of the house, so I could live anywhere. We currently live in the Chicago suburbs, but we want to move somewhere warmer, and we've got our eye on either Scottsdale or Gilbert. Taking income and employment out of the equation, how would you rate these towns? How are the schools? How is the crime?
I grew up in Buffalo, and I moved to Phoenix and lived there 12 years. It was awesome in the 90s, but it got WAY to hot, way too crowded, and too sketchy in terms of crime. If you can live anywhere, why Phoenix?? Try going to Best Places to Live: Compare the Best Cities & Small Towns for You! and take their cool online test...it tells you where the best match for you is based on all the things you seek (temperature/gov't/prices/etc.). You don't have to use your real information (e-mail/name), and it is free. I moved to San Diego for ten years, and the weather there is PERFECT. It is, however, crazy expensive and rather crowded. I took the test from that website and I now live in Sequim, WA. Kind of like bask East without brutal winters...