Casa Grande Commuters (Phoenix, Tucson, Chandler: houses, to buy, living) - Arizona (AZ) - City-Data Forum

Raingirl1963 · 07-16-2015, 06:17 PM

We are moving to Casa Grande in less then 2 months. This thread is not to bash this city, or why there, we happen to like the city thank you very much.

My question to anyone who lives there and commutes. I will eventually be looking for work. I work in healthcare in computers. I will probably have to commute, Banner Health in Casa Grande has nothing in my field. This means a commute of some kind.

Would I be better going to Chandler area or Tucson area from Casa Grande? I suspect one is longer but no traffic, the other is shorter but traffic. Now that doesn't mean I have to take freeways to Chandler by looking at maps but not sure if that would be good or not.

sh9730 · 07-16-2015, 08:13 PM

Hi there - you are about right on your assessment. People DO commute to both areas from CG and traffic is likely less towards Tucson, but it is quite a bit further because:

Chandler is the closest in suburb of Phoenix to CG - yet there are plenty of healthcare related IT jobs in Chandler/Gilbert area. So your commute to these places is likely under 45 mins depending on exactly where you are in CG and where the job is.

WHEREAS

I suspect most of the Tucson healthcare IT jobs are related to Banner UofA Med Center which is basically in downtown Tucson - about 1.25 hour commute. So, quite a difference.

As for no freeway to Chandler - it can be done without hitting a freeway at all - but MUCH longer - you can cut out some freeway by getting off I 10 at exit 175 and taking the shortcut through the reservation, but then you hit stop and go near Intel in Chandler.

Its all about choices - and which job is better!

Raingirl1963 · 07-16-2015, 09:19 PM

Thank you for your reply. You did confirm what I suspected. We will actually be living at the north end of CG not 5 minutes from 387. There are more opportunities in the Chandler area, I just wanted to hear from someone who might know what that drive would be like. I am also coming from Seattle area so a 45 minute commute in traffic is peanuts to me.

yukon · 07-16-2015, 09:39 PM

A 45 minute commute in Seattle is a shortcut.

defiant_357 · 07-25-2015, 02:29 AM

Not to hijack the thread but I was actually going to ask a very similar question and saw this. I'm wanting to buy a house, but work at Sky Harbor, I do like the AZ City area, because there seems to be extremely good deals on newer (last 10 years or so) houses, and because it's one of the very few places that you can get a newer house with no HOA. The question is: is it completely insane to commute from AZ City to Sky Harbor 5 days a week, or is it worth it for a good deal? I would be purposely avoiding rush hour with my schedule as well, but I realize it's very far.

observer53 · 07-25-2015, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by defiant_357

Not to hijack the thread but I was actually going to ask a very similar question and saw this. I'm wanting to buy a house, but work at Sky Harbor, I do like the AZ City area, because there seems to be extremely good deals on newer (last 10 years or so) houses, and because it's one of the very few places that you can get a newer house with no HOA. The question is: is it completely insane to commute from AZ City to Sky Harbor 5 days a week, or is it worth it for a good deal? I would be purposely avoiding rush hour with my schedule as well, but I realize it's very far.

I think you will get very tired of it. I don't know what you mean by avoiding rush hour, as it's really rush HOURS. If you are way out of normal traffic patterns with your schedule, that will help a lot. It's a long way to go just to have no HOA. And, when you get home, there's not much around. It depends on what's important to you, and whether spending all that time in a car balances out with that.

sh9730 · 07-25-2015, 10:15 AM

OP,

Noone can judge whether you can tolerate the drive or not but you.

HOWEVER, though you are correct that you can get a very inexpensive house in AZ city, there are other factors. The fire dept. in AZ City is volunteer, you have only a small grocery store and a couple of restaraunts etc. and will be coming into Casa Grande for much of your needs - now you could do that to and from work since you ll be going through CG.

Also, AZ city road network is much more flood prone than that of CG since it was built to very old county standards.

But, the houses ARE cheap - and you can get some space between you and your neighbor if that is important to you.

Its all about choices.