Tucson, best place to live?? (Phoenix: apartments, lease, neighborhoods) - Arizona (AZ) - City-Data Forum

shellbum · 03-07-2011, 09:12 PM

I'd love some input on where the safest and most economical area to live is in or near Tucson. I'm coming from the gulf coast of Florida and the humidity is killing me off. I have a chronic lung disease and desperately need a change in climate. I thought about California, but it seems extremely expensive.
U.S. News & World Report ranked Tucson in the top 5 for air quality, plus I've heard the lung docs are very good.
Thanks!

coatimundi · 03-08-2011, 03:03 PM

Are you going to be renting or buying?
Kids?
Work?

1 bedroom apartments in decent neighborhoods tend to run around $500. My only suggestion would be to watch Craig's List and stay away from large complexes, because the ones in Tucson all seem to be either awful or vastly overpriced. When you find something, try your best to get a 6 month lease. It just works out better.

shellbum · 03-08-2011, 10:40 PM

Renting, probably 2 bedrooms. Thanks for mentioning Craigslist!

Jukesgrrl · 03-09-2011, 01:36 PM

The air quality is good unless you are troubled by particulate matter. It is very, very dusty here. There's a lot of wind and it blows the very fine dirt/sand through the air. Since it seldom rains here, the ground has a thick layer of particles that never get tamped down.

Also, the pollen count is high in Southern Arizona for most of the year. We don't just have one blooming season in the desert. I have very bad allergies and moving here hasn't improved that one bit. I don't have to worry about mold or grass allergies here so much, but the constant pollen and dust in the air make my reactions year-around, rather than just seasonal.

The dry air is very helpful for many health issues (my mother, who suffers from severe arthritis, improved tremendously living in Tucson). But it's not a clear-cut issue for many people. You might want to try out a long stay before you commit to moving here.

If you would consider the Tucson's Northwest suburb, rather than the city, I have a couple of posts with apartment information related to that area in C-D's Tucson section.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/tucso...-tucson-2.html

psulions2007 · 03-09-2011, 03:08 PM

FTR, I'm originally from Pensacola, and I have lived in 5 states (FL, PA, AZ, NE, IN). My worst allergies were in Tucson from the dust and I'm pretty sure a few plants as well.

Bummer · 03-09-2011, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shellbum

I'd love some input on where the safest and most economical area to live is in or near Tucson. I'm coming from the gulf coast of Florida and the humidity is killing me off. I have a chronic lung disease and desperately need a change in climate. I thought about California, but it seems extremely expensive.
U.S. News & World Report ranked Tucson in the top 5 for air quality, plus I've heard the lung docs are very good.
Thanks!

I'm gonna disagree with the other posts, Shellbum.

Having lived in a number of places from coast to coast, including California (both Southern and Norther) and Florida, I agree with U.S. News and World Report. Although not perfect, without a doubt, Tucson definitely has the best climate and air quality.

As far as "the best place to live" . . . where will you be employed? Commuting can be a booger here so living as close to work as practical will be best. Generally speaking, the North, either Northwest, North Central or Northeast are considered to be best but there are exceptions.

Good Luck

psulions2007 · 03-09-2011, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bummer

I'm gonna disagree with the other posts, Shellbum.

Having lived in a number of places from coast to coast, including California (both Southern and Norther) and Florida, I agree with U.S. News and World Report. Although not perfect, without a doubt, Tucson definitely has the best climate and air quality.

As far as "the best place to live" . . . where will you be employed? Commuting can be a booger here so living as close to work as practical will be best. Generally speaking, the North, either Northwest, North Central or Northeast are considered to be best but there are exceptions.

Good Luck

Considering you can physically see the gross amount of pollution in Tucson coming down from the foothills, especially in winter, I'd have to disagree.

For someone like her, as a meteorologist, I'd have to recommend somewhere like N AZ, Colorado, or Utah.

coatimundi · 03-10-2011, 07:53 AM

You're not going to get away from allergies anywhere. Maybe Antarctica.
The palo verdes about this time of year are what get me. They somehow know when the winds are going to pick up so the air just gets loaded with their pollen. The orange blossoms I also find really bad, but it's worse in Phoenix.
Because the desert has fewer pollinators, the blooms are staggered, so you have things starting to bloom soon (like the wildflowers, palo verdes) all the way up to September.
But the air quality is better in Tucson than in other regions as far as pollutants.

Saguarogirl507 · 03-10-2011, 08:06 AM

When I was there a few weeks ago, there was a dust storm. I couldn't believe it! I had never seen anything quite like that. You couldn't even see the mountains! Luckily we were inside that day or i am sure I would have had some kind of reaction to all that dust.

I still love it there though