Phoenix AZ Best Town

[teeej]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

South Scottsdale for sure. It won’t be the fanciest place but you should be able to find a decent apartment within your price range in a great area. It will be an easy commute, you’ll have lots to do nearby and it’s a fairly central location for house hunting/exploring in various places throughout the valley.

+1 I live in South Scottsdale, it's cheap and close to everything. North Tempe would also work.

I can't imagine considering some of the commutes that you are proposing.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by KLR87

Hey everyone,

My husband just got a job in Paradise Valley, AZ. We aren't millionaires so we won't be living there.
We are childless (do not plan to have any), early 30's, and he is in law enforcement and I am in health care.

I understand this is subjective, but we are looking for a town in Phoenix that is low crime, clean (not a ton of run down developments, buildings, etc), modern (newly built stores, etc), and scenic with mountain views. He is willing to travel 45-60 min from Paradise Valley. I don't have a preference.

We have been out there twice and from what we were told, stay away from southern metro Phoenix (that's okay because we don't want to live in the city), east Mesa, and east Chandler.

Any suggestions based off of my list? Thank you!

Also, we do like the west valley because it doesn't seem as busy, but if there is a town on the east side that meets our needs, I'm cool with that too.

It is kind of a pain from West Valley to get to Paradise Valley because there is no cross town freeway in between the 101 and the I-10. Both freeways are pretty bad for West Valley commuters, and so is the I-17. When I lived in Glendale I would take the I-17 down to Camelback and take that across to get to Scottsdale Fashion Square. If it's really in the heart of PV you could take Glendale Avenue because it turns into Lincoln but that drive across would take me 45 minutes without rush hour. I lived in Central Glendale (Peoria and 51st avenue), right on the border of Phoenix proper, you'll find from Paradise Valley to stay under an hour West Valley will basically be entirely off limits.

Now that I live in Central Scottsdale and need to get to Central Glendale I take Cactus all the way across until it changes to Thunderbird and then head down and that's a minimum of 30 minutes regardless of what time of day. It is nearly the same amount of time using the 101 but adds an extra 10 miles, assuming not rush hour. Which makes sense because it's 20 miles away and most surface streets have the speed limit of 40. Being somewhat near Cactus and Thunderbird already makes the drive a bit more convenient, as I'm not really near Camelback. I don't recommend living south of Peoria here in West Valley because it gets high crime rather quickly. Especially near Glendale and Camelback which is where you would need to be to get a good commute.