The absolute explosion in population across the south central and southwestern states is driven by one most critical characteristic. The housing and cost of living being much lower as compared to wages for Peoria than the cities of the west coast and the northeast. People come here and are able to buy a home. If they remained in San Francisco, or Los Angeles or New York that was/is unfathomable. This makes Peoria, and cities like it, the new center for the American dream. 

**Here's a local on living in Peoria/area:** 
*Lived in Glendale & Peoria for 10 years. Generally, southern/eastern Glendale/Peoria is much older and areas can be a bit rough. Northern/western areas are very nice. We like the area, schools, neighbors, traffic, shopping, recreation, and house prices. Don't like the fact most restaurants are chains (though not all). If you like night-life, there are few places. Typically Glendale & Peoria are families with kids, and older people.*

For more reviews of Orlando from locals check out: [**The Buzz**](https://lookyloomove.com/locations/peoria?page=buzz)

The Financial Ratio

The Best Thing About Peoria? 

Suburbs like Peoria handle their growth by constructing homes and apartment buildings at a torrent pace. That means duplicating styles for speed of construction and reduction in costs. The apartment buildings give singles/couples or young families a soft landing and the inexpensive housing is the next step up the ladder. While the designs might not reflect extremely creative design thinking they do make it possible for working class families to own their own homes. Once you're past the starter options Peoria does move into more custom developments so if you can hold out it does get better!

**A local gives their pov on the area:** 
*I grew up in Scottsdale suburbs until I went to Flagstaff for college, and then moved to where I am now in 2018. I couldn't drive until I could provide the resources to get one myself in college, so my experience would be biased, but there's definitely more things to do on the east side. It feels more like a city. The west side still feels rural and/or like suburban sprawl than a city. Even up to Glendale, Peoria, and surprise. It's getting better, especially in Glendale, but there's still a lack of hang-out spaces like the malls or entertainment districts like there are on the east side.*


Cookie Cutter Growth

The Worst Thing About Peoria?

Peoria is a highly rated suburban city and so you can expect tons of family activities, parks, pools, good schools, and all the things a growing population of families needs to get through a week. Downtown Peoria is in the midst of an effort at creating a more dense social experience for locals and Old Town is leading the way. While Phoenix remains your destination for big nights out there are more casual restaurants and bars available in town so you don’t always have to hit the road to enjoy yourself here. Perhaps most importantly for baseball fans Peoria is also is home to spring training for the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners who play at the Sports Complex so expect to hit up some games if you move here. 

If you want to see what's happening in Peoria check out the calendar of events: https://www.eventbrite.com/d/az--peoria/events/

Lifestyle of Peoria

As was noted cities like Peoria give off a real vibe of the new America. Middle class (and some upper class) families working hard to climb the ladder in a way that can be invigorating if you come from a region of the country that is so expensive no working class family could reasonably expect to afford to live. That means younger families are here in droves and there is something exciting about that in the way the bigger northern and western cities likely felt at earlier stages in their growth. While retirees might bely the idea of a "younger city" it holds true outside the 55+ communities. 


Younger City Energy

Why You Should Move Here Now?

Peoria is largely built around master planned communities. A couple of the really popular ones include Westwing Mountain, which not surprisingly is built partly up Westwing Mountain. It has amazing trails for hiking and biking and plenty of luxury homes and custom homes up the mountain line. Vistancia is another higher-end master planned community. Divided into four sections it has The Village for more town-like living, Blackstone, which is a golf community, Trilogy which is a 55+ age-restricted area and Northpointe at Vistancia, which is under construction now. The entire neighborhood is filled with parks, walking trails, community centers and your own grocery store, coffee shops and elementary school so when the kids are young you can truly live in the “town” that this neighborhood feels like. 
- Westwing Mountain
- Vistancia
- Fletcher Heights


Families

Westwing Mountain

The Phoenix area is a dream come true for many retirees and snowbirds. Low cost of living, mild climate and safe streets make it perfect for a move. Ventana Lakes is one of the popular age-restricted neighborhoods here. It has lakes for those who like to head out on a boat and do some fishing or just enjoy the water. There are great walking paths around the water and neighborhoods and community center with all the amenities for enjoying time with neighbors and friends. Trilogy in the Vistancia planned community is another 55+ development. It feels like you’re living in a resort with a beautiful golf course, and tons of recreation opportunities including health club, pool, spa, and the Taproom for enjoying a cocktail and meal with friends. https://vistancia.com/the-communities/trilogy/
- Ventana Lakes
- Trilogy at Vistancia


Retirees

Ventana Lakes

Peoria

**Peoria opinions?**

Gonna depend a lot on age and lifestyle.

We moved to 99th Ave between Northern and Olive Aves about 4 years ago. Love it.

Small typical subdivision. But very quiet, which we like. We're right behind Park West, so our kids (ages 14, 12, and 9) can walk or ride their bikes and get to the movies or do some shopping.

For my wife and me, we like Park West as well. Some good eating there (BJ's, Flemings, Cabin... altho Cabin gets crazy at night). Easy to go see a movie.

We're not far from Westgate. Depending on who you ask, that's both a blessing and a curse. We like it because again, there are some decent places to eat. It's a fun night out for the family.

We're close enough to the 101 that, even though we're "out there", it's easy to get to wherever we need to be.

We've been very happy with the Peoria schools. My son is a T1 diabetic and has developmental disabilities. They've been wonderful about accommodating his needs.

Hope that helps.

**Peoria opinions?**

Been in Peoria/Glendale pretty much my whole life, minus a few years when my parents split. Peoria unified School district is great, and I believe they are beginning to implement uniforms. Centennial has an awesome football program. There's a decent amount of entertainment, with West Gate, Parkwest, P83, as well as lake pleasant right up the road and plenty of parks. Idk if your looking to buy, but prices have been steadily rising as well. You have your good and bad neighborhoods, but that's pretty much everywhere. My neighbors in Peoria were very welcoming, and I don't think I'll be selling any time soon. The only thing I can say I dislike is the kids with imports can be annoying sometimes with their loud mufflers. I like it here. If there's any questions you have, I'd be happy to answer them for you, or point you in the direction of someone who can!

**Thinking of moving to Phoenix/Peoria area. Have some questions.**

Peoria is great, lol Arizona is great.cost of living I believe is lower then Delaware. I just moved here from Chicago 3 years ago I love Arizona. Heat takes about 2 summers to get used to but think of it this way. 120 is uncomfortable 0 degrees hurts. And Arizona women are 💣

**Thoughts on the Vistancia area of peoria?**

We built a house in Vistancia a little over 18 months ago. We LOVE our neighborhood! For Halloween us and about 10 neighbors put together a little block party and we are planning the same thing for the Superbowl. We take out 2 and 4 year old for a walk daily, and so do many other families. Biggest "crime" so far this year was some packages stolen from front doors. The nearest regesterd sex offender is in a retirement community about 5 miles away.

Out house Summer electric bill was around $400, and the winter around $150, over half was fees and taxes. Now that we are on equalizer billing (you can do that after one year) it's $205 / month. Our Natural Gas bill is around $30 in the summer and $70 in the winter (gas furnace, stove, water heater and dryer). Our water /sewage / trashbill is around $60/month. We also pay $105 a month for fiber internet (no data caps) and average 850Mb down and 625 up.

Now the bad.. The HOA! Out of the 4 community I've lived in, this HOA is by far and away the worst. When there is an issue they are somewhat slow to fix it. The board is very condescending and generally find a way to make whatever the problem is your fault. This is very evident in several threads that are on the "Nextdoor" app. The HOA actually TOWED MY CAR last Friday for it being parked in a "visitor parking space." here's the thing... THE HOA ISSUED ME A PERMIT TO PARK THERE A YEAR AGO!! we have a 2 car garage and no driveway, so the HOA issued me a parking permit for the 3rd car. They told me that the problem was "Accounting didn't tell Enforcement our account was current, but if I had notified them of our account standing this would have never been an issue." OK, two things, 1) I've been in their office, those two people have cubicles that face each other! 2) I also have automatic payments set-up, so we are NEVER delinquent! We've also been fined for "unrepaired storm damage" yeah, a flag got ripped off our house overnight by a thunderstorm. The security patrol came by two hours later and reported it. We've also been fined for the placement of our directv dish and the color of the wire coming off of it, that got overturned because there's nothing in the CC&R's about that. We've also been fined for excessive noise after hours... Yeah, that was when my youngest had Colic. If you buy in the Acacia Grove or Primrose Estate subs, you will have TWO HOA's as those two subs have their own "mini HOA" that covers the two private community pools (one isn't open yet due to not passing a building inspection) landscaping and a semi-private playground, plus the Vistancia Village HOA that covers the 2 mile nature trail, the 2 community pools at the community center, the playground at the community center and monthly activities at the community center.

Also, something else that is going on is that all the northern subdivisions in Vistancia are fighting with APS (the local Electric Company), the City of Peoria and the Arizona Corporation Commission (who oversee public utility's) over the placement of new electrical transmission lines. APS wants to build towers, the residents want the lines to be underground so the views are not ruined. There is also a number of construction projects that are kicking off that will connect Vistancia to the Peoria municipal water system (currently Vistancia uses city run ground water wells) Last thing, Vistancia is very close to an Auxiliary Air Field for Luke Air Force Base, so F-35's flying around at all hours is somewhat common

Overall, I would recommend the area, just do your best to stay under the HOA radar

Peoria, Arizona

No, The Other One

Looklyloo Score: 80

We're on it!