Wanting to move to AZ

Hello everyone, My husband and me are looking at a State that is warm/hot but dry due to his health. I don't want to live in the City or near a City any good suggestions on areas in AZ that might be nice to live? I know they say there are some areas of AZ that don't get so hot. Donna

What kind of employment are you looking for? There are a lot of beautiful places in Arizona. The jobs aren't as plentiful in small communities. The pay isn't as high either but for some of us it is worth it. Payson and Prescott are great. Tucson is about 5 degrees cooler than Phoenix. Unless you work outside, Phoenix isn't bad. Everything is air conditioned. You just don't do much outside in the summer. I live in Lakeside. I am in the White Mountains. Our elevation is about 6500 feet. We get snow in the winter but the summers are the best.

My husband can transfer through his job. Thanks for the information on Lakeside. Donna

Northern Arizona is cooler than middle and southern Arizona. Phoenix is hot, hot, hot in the summer but just two hours north in Flagstaff it's nice and cool, but then in the winters it snows bad in Flagstaff, while Phoenix stays around 70 degrees. Before I moved here eight years ago I explored various websites on Arizona to see where it would be best for me to live. Yeah, it's dry heat but it's still heat and it still gets humid. So there's pros and cons to living in Arizona. Jobs are more plentiful for bigger companies in Phoenix metro (Phoenix, Glendale, Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale) and Tucson. Tucson is about two hours south of Phoenix. Hope this helps! Trisha in Glendale

My husband works for a large company that deals with large buildings that have A/C. He must make sure that the A/C units run properly at all times plus he does other things besides just the A/C units. We are talking about going for a visit this next summer to see if I like it. Another plus is that it's closer to Alaska and that's where my sister lives. I could move back to Alaska but I left there to get away from the long dark winters and now I'm living in the mountains of Pocono PA where we get hit with winds and snow The humidity kills me here in PA but some people have told me once the weight comes off I'll be able to tolerate it much better. Donna

I lived in metro Phoenix (Gilbert) for 10 years before moving back to metro Detroit (job also). The heat was unbearable in summer, so you stay inside, but I also forgot about HUMIDITY -- Michigan is killing me, and I hope I'll cool down when I lose weight. People are steering you right. Prescott is lovely, Flag(staff) (college town) is wonderful but very expensive now. Traffic in PHX is very bad during Snowbird season (after Thanksgiving up to Tax time), but if you live out in the urban sprawl, strategically situated to your husband's work commute, it can be done. The relative humidity in the PHX area has changed due to settlement - swimming pools, golf courses, and lawns have all changed it from the original 5-6% upwards to 30 +%, still very dry by MI and PA standards tho. Sierra Vista, down by Bisbee, is supposed to have "the most temperate climate" in the US -- it is a military town and nice, Bisbee is too hip, but touristy, & both may be a little too close to Mexico. Tucson is cooler and a very nice bigger city. There are places out and around the Phoenix area that are nice and very small townish, but work could be a problem -- like Snowflake, Peyson, & Show Low to the NE, Casa Grande (bigger city) to the Southish, & Miami, Superior, and Globe (SE) are sleepy, deserted ex-mining towns, that don't cost much, but are somewhat economically down. AZ is a beautiful state with access to mountains, ocean, Vegas, San Diego, Mexico; and the Sonoran Desert is breathtaking. You can live a lot of different ways in a city like Phoenix, a palace to a doublewide trailer and less & it is much more acceptable than up North. Just about everyone in AZ is from somewhere else. In the past 10 years about half the population of LA has moved to PHX, so traffic & crime are up and so forth.... Mormons (Church of the Latter Day Saints) can be a big thing in the East Valley (Mesa and Gilbert), and they make excellent neighbors. If you want a basement it'll be expensive and they are somewhat rare. You also will get used to scorpions in your house, maybe Black Widows on your patio, (in the East Valley mainly, near orchards and farmland), hearing and seeing coyotes loping around, an occasional tarantula or rattlesnake (but mostly out in the desert, if you live there, or take jaunts). Everyone has a 7-8 ft. cement block/stucco fence enclosing their backyard, a custom probably started to beat back the desert and it's critters. As my brother shrugs & says, "you get used to them, & they become YOUR bugs". I'll be moving back when I retire because my family is there. Chances are, if you move there, the rest of your friends and family will eventually join you. Old bones like to be warm and dry. The cost of living is a tiny bit lower than up here, but climbing fast. In the winter you'll be lucky to put on a jacket or wear a sweater more than two or three weeks -- but, what is refreshing and exhiliarating in the winter is the radical temperature differences between night and day. It can be 80+ in the day and drop to

Thanks Jill for all the information. We need to make a trip there and see if might like it. I see we had surgery very close together. Donna

OOPS!! my mistake. I read your surgery date wrong.I thought it said 12/14/04 and it's 02/14/2005. Won't be long you'll be on the losing side. Donna

I live in Gold Canyon and love it. It is quiet and only a short 15 min drive to stores. It is east of Mesa.

I live in Gold Canyon and it does get a little cooler here than the city 10 degrees or so at night- if you go to gold-canyon.com you can view pictures to see how gorgeous it is out here. Also we are 20-30 minutes from major eating and shopping and about 45 minutes from the airport-lots of houses out here in different price ranges and great people... Cyndi