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Recently moved from Tampa (12 yrs there) across the bridge to St Pete. I prefer St Pete over Tampa especially downtown. Both cities have their good and bad points but I prefer the vibe of St Pete. When I moved to Florida 12 yrs ago I didn’t care for St. Pete at all. Things have and will continue to change . It’s not a huge city but has many large city amenities and it’s downtown is connected and walkable . Tampa has been very good to me though and it’s a short yet annoying drive across the bridge when I need my Tampa fix. Anybody who lives here will understand what I mean by annoying- 275 TRAFFIC lol.
I also called Vegas home but that was 15+ yrs ago. I enjoyed the city but I started to feel isolated once the newness started to wear off. Leave the Las Vegas metro and there’s not much around .
Ideally traveling and spending time in each city will give you the best idea of what you like the most. People have certain criteria when choosing the best city for them personally. Opinions will differ so one place might seem more appealing than another depending on what is important to that person .
And you can entirely avoid the university too--don't get me wrong. There is a really wonderful arts/entertainment/culture scene in Tucson, and it is very good for a city its size. When I was in college, I waited tables at the Tucson Hilton East, and a waiter I worked with who grew up in Tucson called Tucson the "cultural black hole of the southwest." hahah. I always thought it summed it up, to a degree.
But you will run into students--undergrad, grad, medical, and so on--about everywhere in the city. The University is very large and dense--in terms of physical scale (it's like a city within a city--beautiful campus). And I would put the student population around 40,000+ if I had to guess currently. It was 35,000 back when I was in college in the late 1990s.
It is smaller town feeling than Portland, for sure. Portland is a lot larger than Tucson. The Tucson metro is just right at a million people, but as mentioned, Tucson feels smaller (which is good I think)--but it is constantly growing too.
Oh yeah, and the scorpions you won't have to worry about, unless you live in a development that is brand new near the desert or mountain areas, or if you live in a house in the foothills that is super close to the desert. I never saw a scorpion when I lived inside town, but then we moved into a house in Star Pass in west Tucson and saw scorpions about once a month. Same with snakes--as long as you are in the city of Tucson, you'll never see a rattlesnake. As soon as you venture into a development or subdivision near the desert or mountains, you'll occasionally see them on the road.
I just felt the need to chime in after reading your post. I've never seen a scorpion in Phoenix since I moved here in 2010; however, the only times I ever saw scorpions or snakes in Tucson was when I too lived off of Starr Pass. In addition, I also worked at the Tucson Hilton East back in the 90's as a part-time waiter and worked early morning room service. Small world.
Recently moved from Tampa (12 yrs there) across the bridge to St Pete. I prefer St Pete over Tampa especially downtown. Both cities have their good and bad points but I prefer the vibe of St Pete. When I moved to Florida 12 yrs ago I didn’t care for St. Pete at all. Things have and will continue to change . It’s not a huge city but has many large city amenities and it’s downtown is connected and walkable . Tampa has been very good to me though and it’s a short yet annoying drive across the bridge when I need my Tampa fix. Anybody who lives here will understand what I mean by annoying- 275 TRAFFIC lol.
I also called Vegas home but that was 15+ yrs ago. I enjoyed the city but I started to feel isolated once the newness started to wear off. Leave the Las Vegas metro and there’s not much around .
Ideally traveling and spending time in each city will give you the best idea of what you like the most. People have certain criteria when choosing the best city for them personally. Opinions will differ so one place might seem more appealing than another depending on what is important to that person .
St Pete now is a town where that good vibe can turn bad if you take a wrong turn. Nowadays I would think Vegas would easily be a better city to live in. I prefer Tampa to St Pete. Tampa and LV for their own reasons are literally a tie with which one I want to end up in eventually. Looks like its down to those 2, skipping Arizona altogether. Tucson has that nice looking 4th Avenue but I dunno, the rest of it looks crappy. Maybe even crappier than St Pete I dunno plus theres no ocean. I just know from experience that St Pete has many scammers living there and fake people. Probably even more than Tucson because its by the beach, the L.A dreamers of old are probably now going there and Seattlites. People from Denver area also I think are flooding St Pete.
I may not be black but I still come to the same conclusion it seems like. I also don't think Phoenix or Tucson would work out well. Scottsdale for sure not. Mesa no. Flagstaff for sure not. Arizona pretty much out.
Vegas or Tampa this boils down to I'd say. I also been to the other Vegas, the cold one.. ManchVegas.. that was my type of city too I'd say albeit smaller and colder. It was actually Manchester airport I got assumed to be a muslim at the airport.. had to go into extra screening. In AZ that would be abundant I bet. No shortage of that crap I'd imagine. Thats the modern day version of Jim Crow, probably worse. Its us vs THEM. Thats it. Illegals over there, Americans over here but I know the language they're speaking all too well and its code word-ism. My take is if you're black in AZ you have to "tow that line".
It sounds like you didn't like Tucson very much though if at all.
Op, gotta call "bull" on this uninformed statement. Have you ever been to Phoenix? While it's not for everyone it's nowhere as bad as your perception. For the record, I was born and raised in New England and the racism is much worse there than anywhere I've been in Arizona. Oh, and I'm black living in Arizona!
Vegas gets a lot colder, and hotter, than Phoenix and Tucson. If you want to avoid the cold, Tampa is the best option out of this list, it’s a lot more stable.
Here in Phoenix I’ve been waking up to mornings of 35 degrees. And that was this morning, not in December. Vegas is in a more arid desert, with half the precipitation, meaning drier skin, and more temperature extremes since it’s also higher elevation.
Nope. Phoenix is the hottest and least pleasant in the heat by a good bit. And in the high summer it is a lot wetter than Las Vegas. Tucson is a little lower in temperature but a good bit wetter. In the Winter Phoenix is the warmest and Las Vegas and Tucson a little cooler. The altitude in Las Vegas and Tucson is similar. Phoenix is lower.
Op, gotta call "bull" on this uninformed statement. Have you ever been to Phoenix? While it's not for everyone it's nowhere as bad as your perception. For the record, I was born and raised in New England and the racism is much worse there than anywhere I've been in Arizona. Oh, and I'm black living in Arizona!
Ya, came to say the same. Not sure where that opinion came from, but if he feels that strongly, why is it even on his short list. My wife is full hispanic and has never experienced racism here. The only time we have seen racism fairly bad was in Michigan and Vermont of all places.
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