AZ or bust.. Glendale, Surprise or Peoria? (Gilbert, Paradise Valley: home, neighborhood)

[riffrandall]

Glendale - North Glendale, Arrowhead, Overland Trails, Bellair

Good Schools - Deer Valley, Arrowhead school districts

Crime - low, mostly property crime (car stereos, etc) and graffiti

Housing - still affordable

[sheena]

Originally Posted by enigmadsm

as stated above, the arrowhead ranch/arrowhead area are very nice, northern peoria and glendale are good areas also.

I peronally live in surprise, its a good area, and is said to be majorly expanding, it is just tiresome with the everyday traffic, there is only 1 major road going through surprise at this time.

as far as schools. Personally i like the peoria school district.

the high schools have block scheduling with is a plus in my opinion. I graduated from Ironwood Highschool, after transferring from a Deer Valley district, and the teachers were amazingly better, seemd more qualified. The schools were cleaner as well.

Agree Peoria is a great school district and Ironwood HS is among the best. I heard Centennial was also pretty good.

[jco]

Arrowhead area of Glendale - Mountain Ridge High School

I don't recommend other areas of Glendale.

In Surprise, either Valley Vista or Willow Canyon High School.

[topjimmy]

The further north and west you go, the better off you are.

There are some nice areas in there, but you might as well just not move anywhere east of the 101, to be safe.

Of course, where are you going to work?

[Surpriseazmom]

I live in surprise and like surprise alot. I live in the newer part (far west ) of suprise. We do not run in to a lot of crime, Less then Glenale, Phoenix etc. I would stay away from the zip code 85379 it is closer to El Mirage and the older part of suprise. Zip codes 85388 and 85374 would be fine. I commute to N. Phoenix for work and it takes about 35 mintes using the 303. Don't bother taking Bell Road. It will take for ever. I have heard the Peoria School District is the best district. My children are young so I couldn't give much feed back on schools in surprise.

[formercaligirl]

Originally Posted by sablebaby

North Glendale is a great place to live - very safe! North Peoria is also very safe as well. In my opinion, I like these two areas more than Surprise. Surprise is fine, it's just far to commute to phx. But I have lived in northern area of both Peoria and currently Glendale. Arrowhead Ranch is a very nice area. I hear the schools are good up here and also in peoria. I lived in a subdivision called Fletcher Heights in peoria, and it's very close to tons of shopping, very family friendly, and an overall great place to live. Homes here are $275k-500k. Arrowhead is more at $300k-1+ million.

I worked in Surprise for a short time doing home visits (family therapist at the time) and I can tell you I went to a lot of lower income/educational levels with lots of family problems. I was surprised at the amount of children who didn't go to school and parents who didn't really care. But Surprise is a big area and it's not all like that.

Surprise has a lot of great areas and has turned into quite a nice suburban family area. We love it here. Don't know much about the schools but we live in Surprise Farms II and have heard the high school over here is good! Know kids that go there and have said they feel safer (less fights and drugs) than schools in Peoria...this is just what the students themselves have told us. You'll have to investigate it for yourself though to be sure.

[MotleyCrew]

We love N. Peoria. Tons of new shopping, clean city, great choices in developments. Good luck in your search.

[Great Joy]

Originally Posted by formercaligirl

Surprise has a lot of great areas and has turned into quite a nice suburban family area. We love it here. Don't know much about the schools but we live in Surprise Farms II and have heard the high school over here is good! Know kids that go there and have said they feel safer (less fights and drugs) than schools in Peoria...this is just what the students themselves have told us. You'll have to investigate it for yourself though to be sure.

We live in northern Peoria, and the elementary school our kids go to do not have issues with fights or drugs. We also have quite a few friends with teenagers in high school here, and they haven't mentioned issues either. We are very pleased with the schools here. Maybe it's another part of Peoria or a different city?

Peoria schools are overall very good. I've also heard good things about Glendale and Surprise schools.

[ibarrio]

Surprise schools are getting better. AZ Central recently published the scores and how the schools preformed.

[WESTCOASTER_19]

Originally Posted by maya11

Can anyone give me any information about the Glendale, Peoria and Surprise area, especially what areas to stay away from and any info regarding the best High Schools in these areas. Is the crime they talk about so bad that you feel unsafe or is it just like every where else, because here in N. Florida you hear about crimes everyday, but certain areas are great. How is the cost of living? I hear the job market in construction is good. I know about the heat, I lived in Las Vegas for over 10 years. Looking for quiet, safe, family area with great schools. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

you'll probably get many different answers but i live here and glendale is okay i live in the northwest valley though which is the most desirable part and there's virtually no crime in this area but in reality crime is everywhere it all just can't make the news. areas to avoid would be south phoenix, and the east valley is just trashy and filled with illegals (most every where in phoenix) and sexual predators, scottsdale is overly expensive and the people think there the $hit........far from true.