What's the best town to live in for a family?

[Montanama]

Many master planned communities have the feeling of and function as a "small town" within the vast suburbia that is the Phoenix Metro Area (which all feels like suburbia, with a few exception). I'm familiar with the west end of the valley more than the east, so I will throw out there that our "neighborhood", Estrella Mountain Ranch in Goodyear, has the feeling of a smaller town, is somewhat removed from the bustle of the interstate business corridor, but still within ready access to all the metro area has to offer. Same for Verrado in Buckeye.....and for many other MP communities on the outskirts of the metro area. Most of those have activities and lifestyles that would appeal both to families and retirees (at least the sort of retirees that don't mind having families around...) Most that we investigated had good schools right in the community, though that was not near the top of our list of important factors as our kids go to school in MT. Estrella has schools that we would be very happy sending our children too if we moved full-time to AZ, same with Verrado, and both have nice community centers that are used both by families and retirees.

There are nicer/more expensive areas that would fit your very broad criteria as well--we liked Cave Creek particularly but couldn't justify the added expense for a part-time home, and once we saw Estrella we really didn't feel like anything out there had more to offer at any price, really.

The metro area is absolutely huge, with an overwhelming number of choices of neighborhoods that are nice, safe, quiet, and friendly to both families and retirees. As JKGourmet said above, you need to start with your place of work and find something close by. I would hate to be driving across that valley every day, and there's no reason to do it. Plenty of choices wherever your job might be.

We do really like Goodyear overall. It feels like a nice small town, and besides Estrella there are other, more centrally located very nice developments. We're close enough to everything we use occasionally (baseball stadium, downtown PHX, football stadium) without feeling claustrophobic, and we enjoy the scenery in the west valley and the local spring training fields immensely.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by Kailee G

I also would not like a town with a huge population.

But all of your choices are in Phoenix Metro? You will have a huge population. Aggregate about 4.2 million.