Phoenix, Arizona

Whats it like living in Phoenix?
phxbimmer
Living in Phoenix
Updated 8mo ago
✭✭✭✭

I was born and raised in NYC, and in 2014 I moved from there to Phoenix. I didn't have a job lined up, I just wanted somewhere warm and sunny and relatively cheap. Nine years later and I still have not regretted my decision. Things I love:

• The weather. Yes, the summers are hot, but if you work a white-collar job it's more of a nuisance than anything… you'll find that most indoor places in Phoenix are extremely well air-conditioned. Summer is also a great time to go north, which brings me to my next point.

• There's a huge diversity in landscapes. We've got the desert, forests, lakes, rivers, and everything in between. Heck, if you miss the snow you can take a visit to Flagstaff, which is one of the snowiest cities in the US. In the summer when it's hot, it's a great time to go to Flagstaff, Prescott, Payson, where it's a fair bit cooler.

• It's a 5-6 hour drive to Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque. So if you're ever bored here, there are a ton of fun weekend trip opportunities.

• The grid-based street system is so easy to navigate, along with some useful highway loops, you'll be a natural at it in less than a month. I don't remember the last time I needed to use GPS to get anywhere.

• The roads are generally quite good compared to a lot of the country.

• There's tons of great food options and at this point most major concerts/events stop in Phoenix so you've got a lot of entertainment options.

The downsides are fairly minor, in my opinion:

• Traffic's gotten worse over the years, but is still a cakewalk compared to NYC and LA

• The public transit is not particularly useful here, so you'll have to drive most places.

• Housing has gotten more expensive over the years, but the market's starting to cool down a bit. Rents are higher than they used to be, but still reasonable compared to NYC or LA.

I may be a little biased towards Phoenix, but I have to say I still love living here. It seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it thing with people, so you'll just have to find out for yourself.

Do you like living in Phoenix?
fingerblast69
Living in Phoenix / Updated 2y ago
✭

Personally, not really. I’ve been here my whole life though and I’m just kind of burned out.

Real tired of the heat, lack of rain or anything really green in the valley. I wouldn’t even call it affordable either at this point with how much housing and rentals have sky rocketed. Some of the highest inflation in the country.

Depending on where you live in the valley can suck pretty hard too. Like the west side is a bunch of lifted truck driving, angry Republican bro’s.

I get the appeal of Arizona to people who are from cold climates, I really do. I’m just a firm believer in people want the opposite of what they grew up in so I’d love to have some rain and greenery around me, maybe even some snow. Basically just a place with four seasons 🤷🏻‍♂️

Any_Drive6497 / Living in Phoenix / 1y ago
✭✭✭✭

I left twice and always came back for the same reasons. We all know the heat sucks, but I’d rather have a monsoon season than a tornado or hurricane season. I’ve never had shovel heat or slipped and broken an ankle on sunshine.

Through out the year you can be in almost any climate you can ask for in less than 4 hours. How many other states can you go from sand dunes to snow covered peaks and end up at natural wonder of the world in one day?

People fly from all over the world to see LA and Vegas, we can drive there in half a day. We are one of only a handful of states where you can take a day trip to a completely different country. No big deal to drive and go skiing or surfing.

Our state flag is easy to draw when your in elementary school. The song “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” was written at the Biltmore. We are one of two states with spring training. Half of Hollywood lives in Scottsdale. Our roads are on a grid system. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing worth nuking here.

And I will fight anyone who says their state has better Mexican food.

What is it like to live in Phoenix, AZ?
David Waedemon
Lives in Houston, Update 3yr

I moved here in 1994. Phoenix is a place that is like no other I’ve seen. Barring some sort of natural or man made disaster it will remain my city of choice. Phoenix is built out instead of up. Traveling from the different cities that make up the Phoenix area takes well over an hour on the interstate. Yet ever during rush hour you still get where you are going without too much trouble. nothing like New York gridlock. The city is laid out using Thomas Jefferson’s grid pattern. each main road intersects with another every mile. Directions are not given in terms of left or right at a light or sign. Compass terms are used. It’s very easy to find your way around.

There are plenty of cultural things like museums and concerts. We have major sports all year long. There are local publications that give details for whatever type of event you may be looking for. We have just about anything. Cost of living has increased over the years as we have a lot of transplants. I’m one of them.

We have our problems like all major cities. But for the most part we don’t have the issues of L.A. Chicago or N.Y. Just about anyone can be self sufficient here. That may not seem like a big deal but I’m comparing it to cost of living in new York where five grand a month gets you a shoe box.

It is hot in the summer. Like blast furnace, makes the devil sweat, can actually be life threatening, hot. So three months a year folks don’t do much outside. To me that is a small price to pay for skipping Jersey winters.

Things you should know before moving to Phoenix AZ