Looking for opinions on where to live in AZ

[BMC]

I live just south of Tucson, and love it down here. PHX has just too many people and traffic...

[Saguaro]

I like what Elkaholic said. Pick a part of town you can get out of quickly if you choose the valley. That was the way I picked a house. I work too much and when I get a chance to leave, it's usually at 4 or 5 in the afternoon on Friday. I live in east mesa so I just take the bush highway and I'm out of town in about 30min. If it was phoenix, Chandler, Tempe, it would take another 30 min. I have family in Flag and when I go there I drive to Payson and then through lake Mary. The I 17 is horrible so I learned the first few times coming and going to avoid it. There were a few times where it took an hour and a half to get from Greenfield and the 202 to Anthem. If there is a wreck on a Friday, which there always is, it could take 6 hours to get home from Flagstaff. Make sure to think about this if you move to the valley.

[PRDATR]

Rio Verde?

[naturebob]

Pinetop, Payson, Prescott in that order if it was me. Screw Phoenix. Well 4 months in winter is ok................BOB! ,,,,,,,,From Phoenix! LOL

[naturebob]

I just looked at temps.at 3:50pm. Phoenix 105, Payson85 ,Prescott 83, Pinetop 77. . Give me Pinetop and Alpine too........BOB!............PS, Alpine 68 degrees. Thats the retirement spot.

[Tac]

I live in Gilbert and work outdoors year around if you stay out of the sun and have a breeze or evaporative cooler blowing on you it is tollerable except for july and august. If you have a pool and swim when you get out it is cold not like east coast where you stay wet. The water evaporates so fast you get a cold feeling from it.

I,m a native so this is all i know.I have seen temps in flagstaff of -18 on a elk hunt and worn shorts when deer hunting in october.

[Whitesheep]

Ha Ha Ha. Anything in AZ is better than OH. Just move. You will figure it out once you get here

[Ernesto C]

  On 8/29/2016 at 1:43 PM, teej89 said:

 

  On 8/29/2016 at 1:13 PM, PseAZ said:

You guys should check out Prescott, hour .5 from phoenix and about the same to flagstaff. Slightly cooler weather as well. A lot smaller than phoenix but also has everything you could need. I grew up there and would move back in a heart beat. good hunting as well

 

Another option is Payson, but it has a lot cooler winters.

I was looking at prescott, it looked really promising but then I looked up the temps and she essentially wants to be able to be outside in shorts and a tee all year round.

 

Then take Yuma out of your list! Here we wear no shorts all summer!

[Sneaker]

Kingman! Great climate and size, great hunting close by for just about every game species in the state.

[Snapshot]

Stay out of Tucson. There is a good reason why this blowhole of a city made the top 10 worst cities, for employment, and economic growth.

[CatfishKev]

  On 8/29/2016 at 9:26 PM, SunDevil said:

Sierra Vista

 

What he said. It's pretty spot on population wise for what your looking for. It's 5-10 degrees cooler than tucson at about 4500', we are one hour southeast of Tucson. In my opinion one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in Southern AZ. And if you want you can drive to the top of Carr canyon and its like your in the Poconos (20 minute drive). It's also a military town so theres a handful of GC's you could work for that work on post. Look up Marsh Development I subbed for them for awhile and they've been pretty fair. Lots of Whitetail and Mulies and a five hour drive to good elk country. Fishing options are Parker lake about 30-40 min. drive (trout, bluegill, bass and some channel cats), and Patogonia lake (my favorite because they have flatheads and the same others as parker) but it's an hour drive which sucks.

 

All that being said we have 5 kids and don't want one marrying a GI and moving across the world and we never see our kids again (or future grandkids). So we have a five year plan to move to Camp Verde someday to get away from the military base (I'm not anti military, just anti never seeing my kids). Much smaller population and I don't think the economy is as good there but I'll figure something out. The upside is its also surrounded by mountains and much closer to prime elk country. The verde river runs right through there which has flatheads so no long drive. Also pretty close to high country trout lakes and a couple huge lakes down towards phoenix. Camp Verdes about an hour north of Phoenix.

 

For what your after SV sounds good with Camp Verde and surrounding areas a close second.

[trphyhntr]

  On 8/30/2016 at 12:18 AM, Snapshot said:

Stay out of Tucson. There is a good reason why this blowhole of a city made the top 10 worst cities, for employment, and economic growth.

And you're under martial law.

[Snapshot]

  On 8/30/2016 at 1:01 AM, trphyhntr said:

 

  On 8/30/2016 at 12:18 AM, Snapshot said:

Stay out of Tucson. There is a good reason why this blowhole of a city made the top 10 worst cities, for employment, and economic growth.

And you're under martial law.

 

I like it when you talk dirty

[AZ8]

You're gonna hate the heat. It's like nothing you've experienced. You just have to live through one summer to understand. I work outdoors, so it's miserable to me.

 

Like a few others, I grew up in Northern Arizona, but live down here in the valley. Moved here in 1992. My first opportunity....I'm outta here! Lol

 

Based on what you're saying, Prescott seems to fit the bill. Cool enough in the summer, and warm in the winter. Sure, they get snow, but it's gone pretty quick. The snow cover here isn't like Ohio. In Prescott, it's usually gone within a few days after a storm. Maybe a bit longer during a cold spell. But 3 months of snow cover in Prescott will never happen.

 

Remember, Arizona sits at much lower latitude than Ohio. So our winters are pretty mild. That's why our elk become monsters!!

[muledeerarea33?]

  On 8/30/2016 at 1:01 AM, trphyhntr said:

 

  On 8/30/2016 at 12:18 AM, Snapshot said:

Stay out of Tucson. There is a good reason why this blowhole of a city made the top 10 worst cities, for employment, and economic growth.

And you're under martial law.

only south of I-10. I'm between benson and Tucson. Work in Tucson, 45 min or so drive to work with milder weather and neighbors are far away. Best part is coming home. My 15 year goal is to have another chunk of property up north. East AZ or western NM. Pry more money to be had near the Phoenix area but depending on what you do it's had everywhere. I do ok in Tucson.