Best places to raise a family? Phoenix area

[AZParents]

Originally Posted by Reid3416

We live in the Tatum Ranch area of Cave Creek and absolutely love it. We moved here from Canada and could not be happier with the friendly, quiet area we have settled in.

I second this. We live in Tatum Highlands, which is about 5 minutes south of Tatum Ranch, and we love it. It's a very desirable school district to be in and (I think) you can get bus service to all the schools from here. You could definitely find a house in your price range right now.

It's also close to the Desert Ridge shopping plaza which has everything you need.

[frogandtoad]

Originally Posted by AZParents

I second this. We live in Tatum Highlands, which is about 5 minutes south of Tatum Ranch, and we love it. It's a very desirable school district to be in and (I think) you can get bus service to all the schools from here. You could definitely find a house in your price range right now.

It's also close to the Desert Ridge shopping plaza which has everything you need.

I would love to hear more about the schools there. Cave Creek/Carefree is where we would want to live if we choose AZ (we have a couple of choices). The schools are tripping me up though as there don't seem to be private school options (at least which aren't religious). That's fine if the public schools are great, but I just don't know how to judge if they are!! Where do the kids go from HS? Do they go to local schools? To Ivys? to a mix? Are the class sizes reasonable? My kids are young, but I'd want to be sure I'm getting into a school system that isn't just "good for AZ" but good even when compared to top notch states.

Any input would be great. I LOVE the area--gorgeous.

[grippit]

Positiveone - As you can see there are many areas that can satisfy your expressed needs. There is good and bad in all areas. What else is important?

[JILL NULLE]

What about anthem,az. Moving from iowa rural area use to safe community have a 7 yr, old notice close to lake big into water activity,register nurse plan to only work in areas north of bell av. Not further south what do you think want to be close to school and park

[JILL NULLE]

Inquiring about anthem,az.

[soontob]

Originally Posted by JILL NULLE

Inquiring about anthem,az.

You should start a new thread because this one is from 2008. You will probably get more responses that way

[TomB90]

Gilbert or Cave Creek area would be a good fit for you.

[LocoAZnative]

Hopefully the OP made a decision already since this is a 2 1/2 year old thread bumped for no reason.

[grippit]

There are some areas in north Phoenix (off of SR-51) that would fit the bill with a comparable commute to what you currently have.

[DRCR]

Originally Posted by sweettearose

Phoenix is like most large cities in that it's not a great place to raise a family IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT! Those who are in a position to be able to send their children to good schools and live in nice areas love Phoenix. If your combined income is less than 100K, I think there are many better cities to raise a family. I think cities like Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, San Antonio, Austin, Kansas City, Charlotte, Nashville, Portland are some cities have great surrounding suburbs that have great schools and affordable housing. Perhaps, you can throw Chicago into that mix as well. If you really want to be able to get the best out of Phoenix relatively speaking, I think your combined household income should exceed 100K and reallistically be around 150K + because homes are really expensive now and the cost of living increases each year.

I think this rule applies to the west coast in general. Seattle, LA and San Diego are the same way. If you don't earn enough money, they are really horrible places to raise a family. San Francisco/Bay area is pretty nice overall and their schools are excellent but the cost of living is so high there and for many people the cost of living just makes it an unreasonable option. The caveat of course is that if you can afford it, they are great places to raise a family

I'm sorry but this just isn't true. It's far more expensive to live in many of these cities than it is to live in a decent part of Phoenix. I just moved here from Chicago and the cost of living is much higher there, and the property taxes are insane (5k+ per year for a townhome). Buying a home in a nice area in the Chicago burbs will cost you several times over what it would here.