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Old 09-09-2014, 08:18 AM
 
5 posts, read 12,041 times
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Hello City-Data folks! Husband and I have lived in the Chicago suburbs most of my life - now there's the possibility of a job transfer to the Phoenix area. Phoenix gets killed when I casually browse the internet for information - what a shame! - so I'm here to get *real* information from you folks. We're middle-class folks, conservative in politics but friendly with all, wouldn't mind leaving Illinois with its high taxes and lousy politicians! What can you tell me about lifestyle, weather, people?
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Old 09-09-2014, 08:29 AM
 
9,480 posts, read 12,294,079 times
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Lifestyle? Slow paced

Weather? 1000% better than the midwest. The heat is nowhere near as bad as what everyone kept warning me about. The humidty is non existant compared to what you are used to. No snow!

People? Friendly IME
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Old 09-09-2014, 09:14 AM
 
Location: Avondale and Tempe, Arizona
2,852 posts, read 4,502,741 times
Reputation: 2562
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElleTea View Post
Lifestyle? Slow paced

Weather? 1000% better than the midwest. The heat is nowhere near as bad as what everyone kept warning me about. The humidty is non existant compared to what you are used to. No snow!

People? Friendly IME
Hailing from a small city in the upper midwest myself, I can assure you Phoenix is not slow-paced compared to the entire midwest as a whole.

It's a little more so than Chicago but the majority of the midwest is rather bland and unexciting.

Phoenix has quite a few things to occupy one's time within the metropolitan area and so many natural surroundings outside the valley.

If you can't find something to do here you're either too picky or not looking hard enough.
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Old 09-09-2014, 09:25 AM
 
9,480 posts, read 12,294,079 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Java Jolt View Post
Hailing from a small city in the upper midwest myself, I can assure you Phoenix is not slow-paced compared to the entire midwest as a whole.

It's a little more so than Chicago but the majority of the midwest is rather bland and unexciting.

Phoenix has quite a few things to occupy one's time within the metropolitan area and so many natural surroundings outside the valley.

If you can't find something to do here you're either too picky or not looking hard enough.
Here we go again

The SW as a whole is very laid back in lifestyle. Just the way it is. I find the pace of life to be very slow, and I am not speaking merely of "stuff to do". (even though that is slow too, IMO.)
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Old 09-09-2014, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Avondale and Tempe, Arizona
2,852 posts, read 4,502,741 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ElleTea View Post
Here we go again

The SW as a whole is very laid back in lifestyle. Just the way it is. I find the pace of life to be very slow, and I am not speaking merely of "stuff to do". (even though that is slow too, IMO.)
Maybe you can expand on that a little more.

Compared to where I'm from in upper Michigan, Phoenix is very much a big city and fast-paced.

I can see the slow-paced lifestyle if you live in the boonies or a rural area in the southwest.

Are you from the Chicago area? If you are then Phoenix would probably seem slow-paced or laid-back.

Except for Chicago most of the midwest seems not only slow but very dull and uninteresting, at least to me anyway.
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Old 09-09-2014, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Rural Michigan
6,341 posts, read 14,687,030 times
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If you can bring a Chicago-ish pay scale with you, you'll find yourself most likely living in a bigger-newer house, in a newer-looking city. The burbs surrounding the phoenix metro are quite nice, the roads are good & the weather is exceptional, especially in the winter.

That said, there is no social safety-net here - if you get laid off, our unemployment system is a cruel joke, the sparse labor & consumer protection laws we have often go unenforced (since those agencies have been intentionally de-funded) & schools can be hit or miss.

If you have a bank-account & a solid job, you'll likely increase your standard of living measureably, but this is a bad place to live if you're a "paycheck to paycheck" family.
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Old 09-09-2014, 09:53 AM
 
Location: Phoenix metro
20,004 posts, read 77,384,761 times
Reputation: 10371
PHX is pretty laid back, much better politics here than in [baiting] Illinois. It will be a breath of fresh air. People here are pretty chill as well. I havent really had any issues with anyone here for the most part, people are generally friendly. Weather is nice in the winter, hellish in summer. Expect 5 months of 100+ degree weather. 100 degrees here doesnt feel too bad when the humidity is low. When it hits 108 and up, no matter what anyone tells you, its blistering. When its 115? Youll wanna die. Monsoons come in and make it hot and humid, but not Florida-style humidity, but its still sticky. What youll miss: food, architecture, big-city feel, suburbs that vary in appearance, trains to whisk you to the city center, etc.

Last edited by observer53; 09-09-2014 at 12:31 PM..
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Old 09-09-2014, 10:01 AM
 
9,196 posts, read 16,645,144 times
Reputation: 11323
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-o View Post
PHX is pretty laid back, much better politics here than in [baiting] Illinois. It will be a breath of fresh air. People here are pretty chill as well. I havent really had any issues with anyone here for the most part, people are generally friendly. Weather is nice in the winter, hellish in summer. Expect 5 months of 100+ degree weather. 100 degrees here doesnt feel too bad when the humidity is low. When it hits 108 and up, no matter what anyone tells you, its blistering. When its 115? Youll wanna die. Monsoons come in and make it hot and humid, but not Florida-style humidity, but its still sticky. What youll miss: food, architecture, big-city feel, suburbs that vary in appearance, trains to whisk you to the city center, etc.
Are all of your posts dripping in overdramatisation? Your posts need to be taken with a grain of salt, and new posters may not realize that. It's better to speak in facts than hyperbole. I haven't once wanted to die, even when the mercury was around 115 degrees. When it's that hot, it's very dry, which helps to prevent one from wanting to die.

Last edited by observer53; 09-09-2014 at 12:32 PM..
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Old 09-09-2014, 10:38 AM
 
Location: Amongst the AZ Cactus
7,068 posts, read 6,469,000 times
Reputation: 7730
OP, sounds like you'd fit in very well living in the Phoenix metro based on what you're looking for. I would certainly call it a friendly metro. I call it great weather all year round for I love even the hot summers here. If you don't care for hot weather in summer, get out early in the morning for a walk or later in the night and it's often what I would consider comfortable for many people. And if you don't like the heat at all, A/C is an amazing thing.
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Old 09-09-2014, 10:47 AM
 
Location: Tempe, AZ
1,484 posts, read 3,140,212 times
Reputation: 2380
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-o View Post
When its 115? Youll wanna die. What youll miss: food, architecture, big-city feel, suburbs that vary in appearance, trains to whisk you to the city center, etc.
I think these are the issues some people have with your style of posting. Those are YOUR feelings above and you have no way in knowing if they will apply to OP or anyone else for that matter. I came here from the Chicago suburbs and I do not want to die from the heat in the least. I actually love it. I do not miss food, architecture or the big city feel. YOU do. State your opinions in how they relate to yourself and not try to project your feelings onto others.
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