Small Towns with Job Opportunity (Phoenix: school districts, income, bus)

[flint8ball]

It's expensive to live in treed areas of AZ. The Pines are a hot commodity and also not areas of great job opportunities. Your mention of a driving job is probably a decent choice, but be prepared for a cost of living that might be too high to tolerate.
If you are ok with pinyon pines rather than the ponderosa pines, your options expand greatly, but admittedly the landscapes are much different.

[Hal Roach]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

Actually some districts are hiring bus drivers now here in the Valley and starting at $18.47/hr

Unlikely. Do you have a link? Does it include health insurance? I googled it and saw 15.82 in Gilbert..that is less than I started at in Virginia..in 2007, and had guaranteed hours and Kaiser.

[flint8ball]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

Unlikely. Do you have a link? Does it include health insurance? I googled it and saw 15.82 in Gilbert..that is less than I started at in Virginia..in 2007, and had guaranteed hours and Kaiser.

Isn't the cost of living much higher in VA? At least in northern VA?

[popwar]

Payson , Cottonwood, Flagstaff, or Sedona if you don't mind working at resorts. Payson has a 15k population and very few CV19 cases is a plus. Hospitality and Retail jobs are a big chunk of those towns. Do a blank keyword search on Indeed in your desired city and take a look .

[FirebirdCamaro1220]

Originally Posted by Hal Roach

Unlikely. Do you have a link? Does it include health insurance? I googled it and saw 15.82 in Gilbert..that is less than I started at in Virginia..in 2007, and had guaranteed hours and Kaiser.

You Googled, lol. One of the Phoenix elementary districts has a sign right outside the district office (can't remember if it's Cartwright or not) has the sign: hiring bus drivers, starting at $18.47/hr. You calling me a liar?

[Zoney]

What kind of work are you looking for? Safford has plenty of job opportunities at the mine; even with the recent downturn, it's still hiring. You can live comfortably as a haul truck driver then learn a trade(Mechanical, Electrical, Welding). The mine offers apprenticeships almost every year.

We aren't up in the trees; in the summer our temps get almost as hot as Phoenix but we still cool off at night. We do have Mt. Graham and Bonita Creek nearby if you want trees and a respite from the heat.

We aren't near any major cities: About 2 hours from Tucson, just over two hours from the eastern suburbs of Phoenix. We have a Wal-Mart, Home Depot, several fast food places and a Harbor Freight that just opened.

[Zoney]

Also, as others have mentioned, there's not many jobs outside of fast food and gas stations in Arizona's pine tree towns. (Show Low, Payson, Flagstaff, Prescott, etc)

My recommendation if you want to move to one of them and live comfortably is to stake out the government job boards and become a cop or something, or open your own business.

[oldcarguy49]

Of course if you live in Phoenix or Tucson the cost of living is higher, so you need to guarantee a certain higher wage.

Just speaking generally, with no specific knowledge on $$, I would point out that a whole lot of truck drivers are employed in southern (US/MX border) AZ. Many billions of dollars worth of produce comes across the border, just at Nogales. Not sure exactly how it works, but most of the produce gets transferred in Nogales and Rio Rico at chilled warehouses, and from there it gets trucked far and wide. The trains also bring a lot of the produce across at Nogales into the US.

With so many produce companies in that Southern AZ small area, I imagine a locally based, reliable driver might be a popular person.

[Hal Roach]

Originally Posted by FirebirdCamaro1220

You Googled, lol. One of the Phoenix elementary districts has a sign right outside the district office (can't remember if it's Cartwright or not) has the sign: hiring bus drivers, starting at $18.47/hr. You calling me a liar?

no, just saying you don't know ### you are talking about. and of course, it was too difficult for you to post a link.

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by Bugishu

Currently live in Henderson, Nevada and am going on to be 22. Looking to get out on my own in some place new and was looking at Arizona as an option. Prefer more pine areas than the desert. I understand jobs are usually in the cities so finding a smaller town with city access would suffice. Above all just really looking for place with job opportunities.

Mining towns if you don't mind working in a copper mining operation. They pay well and are in small towns. Globe, Kearny, Clinton / Moranci. As long as your background is fairly clean easy with little experience needed.

The Asarco mines are coming off of a strike now. They will need people.