Where is Arizona's nicest MILD climate? (Phoenix, Tucson: fit in, low crime, home)

[AzDreamer]

If you are searching for a place based on climate then maybe these maps will help.

http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening/climate/azonemap.html (broken link)

http://www.ag.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/climate/azclimatezonemap.html (broken link)

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/hzm-sw1.html

[steve22]

Sedona is beautiful but expensive.

[BriansPerspective]

My wife and I used to live in Maryland and got tired of the cold weather. We searched on Weather.com for the best weather in the country. Southern California has nice weather but the housing prices are rediculous. We wanted nice weather, reasonable housing prices, civilization (restaurants, shops, etc.), and we wanted to live on a golf course. Prescott had it all, so here we are!

[Steve97415]

As previous posts indicate, there are a lot of personal preferences involved in interpreting what "MILD climate" entails. Some tilt toward relative lack of extreme winter cold, others toward relative lack of extreme summer heat.
Based upon the presumption that 75-80 degrees F. constitutes the ideal range, the place that shows the least amount of variance from that is Sierra Vista.

[Griffis]

I lived in Cottonwood for a couple of years. The people were the coolest and while the town was small and jobs may be difficult, I thought it was ideal in some ways. Just down the mountain from Flagstaff and Jerome, enough going on to be interesting and the best part-- 20 minutes in one direction and you were in the mountains with gorges and switchback roads and woods, 20 minutes in the other direction and you were in high desert. It's also close to Sedona, though I thought Sedona was kind of a fake looking tourist trap.

I miss it, and the friends I made there.

[Ashley A.]

Originally Posted by brian_2

"A graduate student of sociology would have a field day exploring a thesis of why and how young boys are brought up to believe their masculinity is threatened unless they drive a big, aggressive looking (male trait on steroids) truck. I'd love to read that thesis.

I'd love reading that too! Most of those trucks are a little too noisy, and have a little too much blue smoke coming out the rear too!
And yup! You can bet they've all put that 4wheel drive to use!!! Unlike all the trucks (for which there are also many, many, many) that congest the Phoenix metro freeways and surface streets.......now I doubt very seriously they have ever "locked-in" the wheels, nor had more than a couple splashes of mud stay on longer than a few hours before rushing to their circular drives to wash and wax them to a glistening sheen once again! Yet, they still must have that status of driving a macho machine.

Back to the O.P.'s original question................Verde Valley weather can't be beat. So it gets to 105 frequently during July or August.....it is a dry heat here, very low humidity compared to Phx. metro.......the summer evenings are to die for! Low 70's to mid 60's.......and a sky full of so many stars that it is surreal! Love it here! (Prescott.........good climate, but very crowded and loss of small town atmosphere.............Flagstaff........sometimes bitter cold winter with wind, wind, wind........too short of growing season to plant anything......and most of all..........housing tract after housing tract after housing tract with California price tags!)

[azloafer]

Originally Posted by azloafer

We are looking for the nicest four season climate in Arizona. Green Valley is TOO HOT in the summer! We have lived here for 20 years. Like the community but not the summer weather. Ready to move but don't know enough about the weather in the rest of Arizona. azloafer@cox.net

We have researched a LOT of posts in the Arizona section and also other states. We have also checked out several places in-person. We have concluded that, although there are a lot of [high desert] really nice places, they are too expensive for people on a modest pension and SS. The housing in the upper part of the state is very costly for anything decent. Of course this is relative and compared to Green Valley. We have decided to concentrate on New Mexico from what we have read and we plan a trip to the Silver City area soon. Thanks for all the help. This forum is a really great place for information!

[deeptrance]

If you're open to leaving Arizona, I'd recommend someplace like Ruidoso, New Mexico (or one of the nearby mountain communities), or possibly even Cedar City, Utah (college town, high enough elevation to be much cooler than nearby St. George.)

And then there's southwestern Colorado.... Durango, Cortez.... and central west CO has the very nice town of Grand Junction, which I think is grossly underrated, surrounded by gorgeous scenery, you can easily get to mountains of all types or desert or rivers, whatever you want, and it's big enough to support a thriving little downtown with nice older neighborhoods in the central area. Some of its suburbs are kinda tacky but that's true of any place with a population over 25,000.

[azloafer]

Originally Posted by deeptrance

If you're open to leaving Arizona, I'd recommend someplace like Ruidoso, New Mexico (or one of the nearby mountain communities), or possibly even Cedar City, Utah (college town, high enough elevation to be much cooler than nearby St. George.)

And then there's southwestern Colorado.... Durango, Cortez.... and central west CO has the very nice town of Grand Junction, which I think is grossly underrated, surrounded by gorgeous scenery, you can easily get to mountains of all types or desert or rivers, whatever you want, and it's big enough to support a thriving little downtown with nice older neighborhoods in the central area. Some of its suburbs are kinda tacky but that's true of any place with a population over 25,000.

Thanks for the info. The cost of housing is a major concern when ones income is limited. Aren't these places a little pricey or at least above average?

[deeptrance]

Originally Posted by azloafer

Aren't these places a little pricey or at least above average?

Durango is expensive. The southern New Mexico mountains are surprisingly cheap considering you've got access to skiing and other mountain recreation. Cloudcroft is another one of such places. But your choice of looking into Silver City is a much more affordable one than anything I mentioned, to be sure. I just drove through there last summer and while I didn't think much of Silver City itself, the mountainous areas just north of there are drop-dead gorgeous! Sounds like a smart choice for you to at least look into.