Peoria, Arizona

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 are much lower as compared to wages for Peoria than in the cities of the West Coast and the Northeast. People come here and can buy a home. If they remained in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York that was/is unfathomable. This makes Peoria, and cities like it, the new center for the American dream.

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 make it possible for working class families to own their own homes. Once you're past the starter options, Peoria moves into more custom developments, so if you can hold out, it does get better!

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.

We highly recommend visiting Peoria and staying in the community in a VRBO rather than a hotel to get a feel for what it's like to live among the locals. You can receive discounted fares on travel via our partnership with Expedia as well

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.