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Are considering a move to tucson. Have spent time in phoenix and lived in vegas and s. Ut.
Any suggestions for good schools? We have an 8th grader.
Would like to rent a house in a nice area, good schools etc.
Really don't want to be too inner city, can anyone suggest a nice suburb?
We're transplanted new yorkers. Are there lots of us there?
How does tucson compare to phoenix? Good restaurants and shopping? Lots to do? How is the cost of living compared to phoenix?
What are areas to avoid? How is crime?
Would appreciate any feedback!
OK, Ritchie and Laurie, be forwarned you're going to get lots of negative post about living in Tucson! Some people just hate it here and but aren't capable enough to figure out a way to get out of a place they hate. Some choose to blame the inanimate for their own shortcomings. So you guys will just have to evaluate the negative post and give them the merit you think they deserve.
That being said, Tucson is like most larger cities, the inner city areas are rough, rough hoods, rough schools, high crime, drugs, gangs etc. As you move out of the city into the burbs things get better, much better! And as you might guess I am rather fond of Oro Valley, fairly new K-8 and High School. Wilson K-8 and Ironwood Ridge HS Lots of nice subdivisions, low crime rates, etc. More stats than you ever would want to know about a place on the City-Data/Oro Valley site. More info on the Oro Valley Site too. I know "some people" get irritated when we just post links, but what the heck it is fun to aggravate them! I am partial to Oro Valley, there are other nice burbs too, Tanque Verde, Vail, the Foothills, all have a different feel. But come on down! Rents are cheap now, lots of them available and see for yourself what part of town suits you style. Most important of all Lots of Golf Courses! Even if you don't play theyr'e nice to look at.
And then you're gonna get the promoters of their own hoods, which actually usually happen to be their own towns outside of the city limits, as if all of the rest of the place is a cloaka.
As your questions are very general and have been answered hundreds of times, you'd do best to just read the forum and make up your own mind.
I lived in Phoenix for many years before moving to Tucson. I like both towns for various reasons. It really depends on what you are looking for. The Phoenix metro area is about 3-4 times the Tucson area. So proportionally there is much more to going on there shopping wise, restaurant wise, etc. But if your living in Glendale, how often do you really go to Scottdale to go eat? But the option is there.
Overall Phoenix is a more metropolitan type atmosphere, Tucson is more laid back easy going style. Phoenix has all the professional sports teams, Tucson is a big college town, the U of A is nationally known for its basketball, softball, golf, swimming and other programs. They are still working on the football thing. But Phoenix is close enough if you want to catch some Diamondback or Cardinals games it not a bad drive.
Since you have spent time in Phoenix and Vegas your are familiar with the heat. Phoenix tends to be about 3-5 degrees hotter durring the day in the summer, but once it gets over 100 to me there's not a lot of difference between 103 and 108, it's just hot! Biggest difference though in Tucson we cool down more in the evening than Phoenix. Tucson gets about twice the rainfall of Phoenix, so there is absolutely no comparison in the rugged desert beauty, Tucson wins hands down.
Housing wise Phoenix has been hit much worse by the housing crisis, there are some great deals here in Tucson, but there are more in certain areas of Phoenix.
And yes, there are plenty of you New Yawkers out here! And there are plenty of them Boston people too so you can still have some lively debates at the local pub!
Come and see Tucson up close and personal, you Noo Yawkers. All of the above comments are very good, and, as they say, you'll need to decide for yourself. Check out several old threads about Tucson. You'll find the negative posters and the positive posters as well. We all have our own perspective on Arizona. I personally believe its one of the best places on the planet to live, but I'm biased. So... come and join us and find out!
Let me chime in here with my impressions of Tucson. As the regulars know, I don't live there - in fact I don't even live in Arizona yet - but I own retirement property SE of Tucson and have visited a couple of times.
My overall impression of Tucson:
Not really a beautiful town. It seems kind of dry and dusty - much more so than Phoenix - because there is so much desert landscaping (as opposed to Phoenix where water is used much more lavishly). Though it is pretty good size city, it doesn't really feel that way - more a like small town that's no longer really small but still feels small. Like many cities, the downtown area is pretty dead on the weekends - but they are making efforts to revitalize the area and change that. In some ways the downtown area kind'a reminds me of downtown LA in that regard. All in all it's an OK town - not really beautiful - and as I said, feels kind'a dry and dusty - but nevertheless "OK". Because of the lack of greenery, the poorer areas tend to look a lot worse than they probably are.
Now, having said that, let me add that while the city itself feels dry and dusty, the surrounding desert is remarkable lush and green (for a desert) and on our January trip to area we were amazed that it was so much greener than up here in Seattle at that time of year - and we have lots of evergreens here in Seattle, folks from back east (where they have fewer fir trees and more broadleaf trees (which of course are bare sticks in the winter) will be AMAZED at how green winter is in the deserts around Tucson. The greenery of course is because of all the desert succulents (cactus etc).
The end result is that although the CITY of Tucson is not particularly pretty, the SETTING is GORGEOUS! There are mountains in all directions and views that are spectacular. This is particularly true in the areas closest to the mountains - specifically the "Foothills" area north of the city, the eastern slopes of the Tucson Mountains (west of the city), the northeast areas near Sabino Canyon and the east side near the Old Spanish Trail. These are all beautiful areas and fairly (in some places VERY) upscale. Certainly in these area (if you can afford them), life would probably be a delight.
All in all, I LIKE Tucson. True the town itself is not that beautiful - but the setting IS and some of the outlying (ie newer and more upscale) areas are quite lovely in of themselves (even without the setting) - and of course the fact that there is (to most peoples standards) no real winter and year-round abundant sunshine most definitly adds to the appeal. Like a lot of folks on this board I LOVE the summer monsoon season - those desert storms are just spectacular and the rain and coolness they bring feels TERRIFIC. In fact, just last night here in Seattle we finished up a 3 day heat wave with temps getting near 90 (VERY warm for us) and the change in the weather brought with it "storm like" conditions. While we had but a sprinkle of rain at my house, the clouds were dark and ominous the wind picked picked ferociously - and before the front passed through it was up in 80's (at 8 PM) still and I was immediately struck by how much it reminded me of Tucson during Monsoon season. I LOVED IT!
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's my take on Tucson.
It's not for eveyone but I really like the place (warts and all).
Let me chime in here with my impressions of Tucson. As the regulars know, I don't live there - in fact I don't even live in Arizona yet - but I own retirement property SE of Tucson and have visited a couple of times.
My overall impression of Tucson:
Not really a beautiful town. It seems kind of dry and dusty - much more so than Phoenix - because there is so much desert landscaping (as opposed to Phoenix where water is used much more lavishly). Though it is pretty good size city, it doesn't really feel that way - more a like small town that's no longer really small but still feels small. Like many cities, the downtown area is pretty dead on the weekends - but they are making efforts to revitalize the area and change that. In some ways the downtown area kind'a reminds me of downtown LA in that regard. All in all it's an OK town - not really beautiful - and as I said, feels kind'a dry and dusty - but nevertheless "OK". Because of the lack of greenery, the poorer areas tend to look a lot worse than they probably are.
Now, having said that, let me add that while the city itself feels dry and dusty, the surrounding desert is remarkable lush and green (for a desert) and on our January trip to area we were amazed that it was so much greener than up here in Seattle at that time of year - and we have lots of evergreens here in Seattle, folks from back east (where they have fewer fir trees and more broadleaf trees (which of course are bare sticks in the winter) will be AMAZED at how green winter is in the deserts around Tucson. The greenery of course is because of all the desert succulents (cactus etc).
The end result is that although the CITY of Tucson is not particularly pretty, the SETTING is GORGEOUS! There are mountains in all directions and views that are spectacular. This is particularly true in the areas closest to the mountains - specifically the "Foothills" area north of the city, the eastern slopes of the Tucson Mountains (west of the city), the northeast areas near Sabino Canyon and the east side near the Old Spanish Trail. These are all beautiful areas and fairly (in some places VERY) upscale. Certainly in these area (if you can afford them), life would probably be a delight.
All in all, I LIKE Tucson. True the town itself is not that beautiful - but the setting IS and some of the outlying (ie newer and more upscale) areas are quite lovely in of themselves (even without the setting) - and of course the fact that there is (to most peoples standards) no real winter and year-round abundant sunshine most definitly adds to the appeal. Like a lot of folks on this board I LOVE the summer monsoon season - those desert storms are just spectacular and the rain and coolness they bring feels TERRIFIC. In fact, just last night here in Seattle we finished up a 3 day heat wave with temps getting near 90 (VERY warm for us) and the change in the weather brought with it "storm like" conditions. While we had but a sprinkle of rain at my house, the clouds were dark and ominous the wind picked picked ferociously - and before the front passed through it was up in 80's (at 8 PM) still and I was immediately struck by how much it reminded me of Tucson during Monsoon season. I LOVED IT!
Anyway, for what it's worth, that's my take on Tucson.
It's not for eveyone but I really like the place (warts and all).
Ken
Dusty? Heck,We are living in the middle of the desert.Tucson is also 1/4 the size of the Phoenix area.
If you require a fast pace of living,Phoenix is your place.
I know this thread is several years old now, but I gotta respond to this claim that Tucson is dusty and dirty compared to Phoenix. This the strangest claim I've ever heard and smacks big-time of some spuriously motivated bias... like the poster is a real estate agent or something in Maricopa county.
Tucson is at a higher elevation than Phoenix and is generally wetter as well. Phoenix sits at a dismally low elevation (think Death valley) and the only reason it is livable is because of man-made irrigation. 99.999% of the vegetation you see in Phoenix is because of human intervention and would not stand a chance otherwise. You just have to experience one major dust storm in the Phoenix area and you'll see exactly what I mean.
You want to live in a totally artificial environment, then settle in Phoenix. You think you'll have some place close by to escape to a pleasant bit of nature? Good luck. Once you get out of the never-ending deep suburbia of Phoenix you are in one of the lowest, dustiest, driest desert areas in the nation. Not my idea of a nice place to live - not even close. May as well live in an off-world colony on Mars.
I know this thread is several years old now, but I gotta respond to this claim that Tucson is dusty and dirty compared to Phoenix. This the strangest claim I've ever heard and smacks big-time of some spuriously motivated bias... like the poster is a real estate agent or something in Maricopa county.
Tucson is at a higher elevation than Phoenix and is generally wetter as well. Phoenix sits at a dismally low elevation (think Death valley) and the only reason it is livable is because of man-made irrigation. 99.999% of the vegetation you see in Phoenix is because of human intervention and would not stand a chance otherwise. You just have to experience one major dust storm in the Phoenix area and you'll see exactly what I mean.
You want to live in a totally artificial environment, then settle in Phoenix. You think you'll have some place close by to escape to a pleasant bit of nature? Good luck. Once you get out of the never-ending deep suburbia of Phoenix you are in one of the lowest, dustiest, driest desert areas in the nation. Not my idea of a nice place to live - not even close. May as well live in an off-world colony on Mars.
While I don't disagree with anything you've said here as to the REASONS (ie all the man-made irrigation in Phoenix) that Tucson (the town - NOT the surrounding desert) appears "dustier" than Phoenix it doesn't change the fact that the developed parts of Phoenix ARE greener than the developed parts of Tucson. This, in SPITE of the fact that Tucson gets more rain. The reality is, the Phoenix area has easier access to water than Tucson does and thus it's more "extravagant" in its' use of water and therefor there tends to be more greenry in the developed areas - more lawns and more trees.
In Tucson on the other hand the norm seems to be xeroscaping (ie desert landscaping) or (in the poor areas) just plain old dirt.
It's interesting that you dispute the claim that Phoenix is greener than Tucson - the go on to explain WHY it's greener than Tucson (the greater presence of that "artificial" environment you mention). You are right though in stating that it's "totally artificial" - it IS "artificial", that's WHY it's so much greener - that was my whole point. Phoenix residents are MUCH more wasteful of water than the folks in Tucson are - and it SHOWS.
Great shooting ranges on each side of town. Pretty good live theater, comedy club, U of A drama department. Decent restaurants.
Bad, some cartel activity but Tucson P D is pretty darn good, although a bit understrength.
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Tucson dustier than Phoenix?
