Scottsdale, Arizona

MrITRecruiter
7mo ago
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I was made for this question. I lived in Scottsdale for 5 years before moving to Upstate NY for 2 years and now I'm moving back at the end of the month lol

Any helpful tips for living in Scottsdale as a renter with a dog? Keep your dog leashed. Always have plenty of water. Keep them off the pavement during the summer day/night. If you're in N Scottsdale, watch for snakes.

Are scorpions a thing? Yes, but I haven't had any issues at any of the apartments I've lived at.

Is it cycling friendly? Walkable? Old town, friendly to both. Green belt is a great cycling area. N Scottsdale is cycling friendly, but not walkable. Not a cyclist, but I saw people all the time.

Places to avoid? Best YP neighborhood? Every part of Scottsdale is relatively nice, I haven't experienced or heard anything horrific. Be aware of road rage. Try to stay east of the 51 for the most part.

Will my mom be proud of me? Always ;)

Decent grocery stores? Typical, sprouts or whole foods. Can never beat Costco. Fry's, Safeway and Albertsons are the generic options.

Best place to buy a car? Hard to say now, I bought mine 5 years ago from a dealership. I'd recommend trying FB marketplace first. But learn from a recent mistake, don't always trust a CarFax. Run a report through an approved national database.

Am I gonna need a sunblock routine? I'd say so. It's good practice wherever you live anyways.

Does dry heat require as much gold bond for my thighs as the humidity on the east coast does? I never had problems with this until I moved to NY. Now I have gold bond everywhere I go. Shouldn't need it as much.

IndependentNovel372
9mo ago
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Pros: the weather is glorious eight months out of the year and there are a plethora of hiking trails in N. Scottsdale. It's where I was born and raised and wouldn't have had it any other way.

Cons: it's EXPENSIVE. Not as pricey as NYC, but very expensive to live there. Also, we have this thing called summer and it's not for the weak-minded. Does it compare to August/Sept humidity in TX, hell no. Is it still uncomfortable? Oh yeah.

Comfortable-Ad2608
8mo ago
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I have lived in Arizona (mostly Phoenix) for 26 years and Scottsdale for 4 of them. Scottsdale is by far the best place to live in the valley. Overall a good city to live in and just depends on your tastes if you will enjoy it.

Pros:

Nice weather November-May. October and June can be mild some years.

Consistently sunny almost year around.

Clean city and generally very safe.

Many hiking trails in close proximity.

If you like to golf then you’re probably in one of the best cities for it.

A green belt that goes about 11 miles throughout Scottsdale.

Lots of newer restaurants, less chains than other parts of the valley.

Roads are grid system so very easy to drive around.

Minimal weather events, we do get monsoons in the summer but nothing catastrophic.

Overall healthy active city. There are many gyms and people with similar athletic interests.

Close roadtrip distance to southern California, Las Vegas, southern Utah and parts of Colorado. Northern Arizona has 4 seasons and is only a couple hours from Phoenix.

Cons:

Hot weather June-October (very hot July-September). Probably the worst con and can be a dealbreaker. If you have access to a pool then that can help a lot. People say getting out earlier is fine but I personally think it’s too hot all hours of the day.

Deere33
9mo ago
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Given your young age, I would recommend looking at North Scottsdale. I’m in my upper 30s in Old Town and I feel too old for the area. AZ is a different beast and a great place for introverts. I’ve realized that my friends that like it here the most are my introverted friends that like their space and don’t do much outside of their home. That’s not to say that it’s not an amazing place to go out and socialize and meet people, but without the alcohol and partying, people are pretty cold here. I love it here, but we just also have to reframe it as it is very different from the midwest where I grew up where I was taught trust until given a reason not to. In AZ, it is the opposite—don’t trust until you give me a reason to. Also, with that being said, Phoenix is a lot larger than where I grew up in the midwest, but I have also lived in DT Denver and DT San San Francisco and haven’t experienced the level of coldness like I’ve experienced in the Phoenix Metro.

In Phoenix, there’s no one season of amazing weather. In the winter, it’s less cold than other parts of the country, but still cold. You really have to time it right in the winter as you’ll probably be able to go out midday in the winter and do a hike or something—if you’re not working or on the weekends—or in the summer before the asscrack of dawn. In the midwest and Colorado, summer and part of spring and part of fall are amazing, so there’s a lot more longer stretches of pleasant weather.

Still, the desert and the landscape are amazing and beautiful and I wake up looking at palm trees thinking I’m on vacation—until I get in my car and realize I’m going to work. Lol

Pros and Cons of Living in Scottsdale Arizona