Young family needs some advice on moving to Tucson

[Marcy1210]

I live in Oro Valley, and I'd have to agree with a lot of what has been written. It's basically a suburb of Tucson on the north side, near the Pinal county border. It has more open space and is less housing dense than Tucson proper, so it has a somewhat more country feel in places.

There are young families here, and from friends with younger children, kid activities are really good, but it does tend to attract more senior citizens than other Tucson neighborhoods, probably due to the many golf courses and resorts and slower pace of life; the schools are in the Amphi school district and are pretty good compared to TUSD but not as good as Vail (in my opinion, however never having had a child in AZ schools), public safety is good; shopping is very good; health, medical, dental and hospital proximity is excellent; housing is a little on the high side; taxes and costs for services are higher than other areas, and it is at least 15-25 minutes north of most of the activities in Tucson; symphony, cultural arts, theater, dining, downtown, etc. So, it's a mixed bag, really, depending on just exactly what you're looking for. If you want family oriented, close but not in the city, then OV might work for you, but if you're urban hip, or extremely culturally and arts oriented, it won't work as well.