I'm considering moving to Arizona for retirement.

[Susan Calvin]

What would you say is the best place within about an hour of Phoenix? Prescott has been suggested to me, and it certainly does look nice, but it's a little farther from Phoenix than I really want. I'm wondering at what point between Prescott and Phoenix the climate changes.

[apcalc]

1. Tuscon. Lotsa Dems there too.

[LizBeth]

4. Tuscon, Flagstaff and Sedona are my choices in Az. All more than an hour, probably.

[blueinredohio]

5. My brother lives in Tucson and loves it!

He's a capital D democrat, says it's very liberal. He's also on disability and doesn't make a lot of money but he gets by pretty well.

[brush]

27. I'd say Tucson also. It's blue and a college town. There is...

one other place I haven't seen mention on this thread, Bisbee. It's an art colony sort of town. It used to have a working, open pit copper mine there but that's long closed. It has hills and an upper level and lower level where the downtown is. My wife and I bought a rental property there in the late '80s which we sold a few years later so I don't know how much it's changed but the downtown was charming with one traffic light and galleries and restaurants. A big attraction was the Victorian style hotel built way back in the copper boom, late nineteenth/early twentieth century, called the Copper Queen. It's un-restored and in good shape. The town is south of Tucson, about 11 miles north of the Mexican border, 40 or so from Tucson. And the altitude is higher so it's not unbearably hot.

It's worth a look if you're not looking for close closeness to a metro area.

[AZLD4Candidate]

37. I hope to be representing Tucson, the TON Reservation, and half of Yuma next year

if, God willing, I can beat Joel John and join Charlene Fernandez representing LD4.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. Check out Payson. It still gets hot but not as hot and doesn't stay hot all night like the valley.

In the winter it occasionally get a bit of snow but it's not like you'll ever get snowed in (or very very rare).

It's a BEAUTIFUL drive down to Phoenix (well, a lot of it is) from there as well, but parts of it are fairly winding/require real attention to your driving. And it takes about an hour to get to the outskirts of Phoenix from there.

[pamdb]

3. AZ

My brother in law and his wife just moved up from Phoenix (too hot in the summer and too much traffic) to a little town called Payson. It's about an hour, I think, from Flagstaff.
Just since they moved (maybe late December) they've had snow a couple of times but it never lasts. When they first moved there temps were in the 60's. They have Elk in their backyard.

My cousin had a 55 and up place in Surprise for quite awhile. I think that's about an hour from Phoenix, East maybe? She only was there in the winter so the weather was nice.

[abqtommy]

6. Consider moving to New Mexico instead. I've lived in Phoenix and am very happy here

in Albuquerque.

[marybourg]

21. My experience has been just the opposite.

[abqtommy]

24. Well, we can't all be happy! My second wife and I passed up a chance to move to New

Mexico back in 1995. Now the best part is that she's not here with me!

[marybourg]

28. I *am* happy. But in Phx, not Abq.

Lol. 😂

[abqtommy]

30. I lived in Phoenix for a number of years and I was miserable. I guess the laugh's on us!

[Thekaspervote]

7. Be sure to look into the water and drought issues b4 you move...neither are good with no

Good long term solutions

[Kali]

9. urban areas barely pay attention to that

[Kali]

8. about an hour from Phx is just more Phx

or one of the other metro cities. the problem with the mountain communities "near" Phx is the small highways that you have to drive to get back and forth. they are often clogged with weekend traffic and/or wrecks.

[Susan Calvin]

12. Thank you.

That's the kind of thing I wouldn't know if I hadn't asked here.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

10. Prescott is racist central

Its also a Covid hotspot because they refuse to enact a mask mandate. There's a reason Trump held rallies there.

[Susan Calvin]

11. Thank you.

That's out then. Where I really want to move is Southern California, to tell you the truth, as I already know I liked it there, but in the time I was gone from California I acquired a Quaker parakeet, who is illegal there.

[kimbutgar]

19. Exactly

My husband has a niece who lives in Prescott and it is KKK central. I was up there a couple of years ago and kept getting the squint eye from people trying to figure out my nationality. ( I am a light skinned black woman with nice hair) married to a white man. Even my husband noticed it.

Tucson is nice though.

But Arizona is so friggin hot you basically have to stay In the air conditioned house for 6 months and the utility bills are $300-400 monthly.

[brush]

26. Tucson is blue politically. Always has been. It's a university town too.

[marybourg]

20. Agree. *Not* Prescott.

[AllaN01Bear]

13. one of my cuz and her wife live in suprise az. dont know the political demograpics there .

[kimbutgar]

22. Surprise was the initial place the tea party was founded in 2008

[AZSkiffyGeek]

23. Surprise is Debbie Lesko's base

The Northwest Valley is the poster child of suburbia. White neighborhoods, lotsa evangelical megachurches, wide roads, HOAs, mcmansions...

[JDC]

14. If you want to go a little farther, Flagstaff is very nice.

As others have mentioned, Tucson is also nice and the north and south sides down towards Oro valley are very nice.

[Bradshaw3]

15. I've lived in several places in AZ and have friends and family all over

The last place I lived being Prescott. It's a pretty little town with a quaint downtown but extremely conservative with plenty of trumpers and also lots of flat out racists and neo-Nazis. Also the home base of Gosar, even though he lives in Flagstaff. I hate saying these things because I still have friends there. It is a beautiful area with moderate weather but between the extreme politics and the fact it has become the go-to place for Cali refugees, as housing prices have soared, making it hard for others to stay. A lot of people who move there find there is little to do and few good restaurants.

Phoenix is nice for six months and unbearable for six months with multiple months where the temps surpass 110. Anywhere in the Valley is about the same, even an hour away. Up around Sedona, which is expensive, you have Cottonwood, which is also growing rapidly and unremarkable but more suited to middle class people; Jerome is a former mining town which is now an artist/tourist town on the side of a mountain. Flagstaff is beautiful and cool but expensive and cold for five, six months. Payson I also lived in. If you like fishing and pine forests it is great but the most exciting thing there is bingo night and dodging the elderly fishermen tooling around in their golf carts on city streets.

[Susan Calvin]

16. Thank you.

I was thinking about it because a friend is currently there for medical reasons and she said she liked it. I do know I want out of the Houston area where there are hurricanes and just recently that horrible freeze.

[Bradshaw3]

17. Hope I wasn't too negative

Of course whether any place one lives is enjoyable depends on the wants of that person. I can understand wanting out of Houston and Texas but housing prices in AZ really started rising after I moved there. If you can afford it, and if you don't mind the heat then the Phoenix area is fine and vice versa for Flag, which is about an hour and a half from the Valley. If you want more details feel free to PM me.

[Susan Calvin]

18. I can afford it, barely

Water would worry me more than Heat.

[brush]

25. Tucson is blue, if that matters to you. It's an easy two-hour drive.

[asiliveandbreathe]

29. We moved to the NE Mesa AZ area about 24 years ago..Red Mountain

to be exact..(from Mass, I was on a transfer /co)..many of my peers made the suggestion to look North of Guadalupe RD..dairy farms galore..so settled 10-12 miles North (of Guadalupe) at Power and Thomas..is the last community before heading out to the Salt River and the Indian Rez.. 20-25 minutes East from Sky Harbor Airport..,we have the RT202 wrap around - very convenient..further East is Gold Canyon, now that is very nice, but a hike from Phoenix..

I was just reading about the area near the Gateway Airport, which is about ten miles south of us - ..huge growth but need to be careful of promises (shopping, and restaurants, and now looks like warehouses and eminent domain) made by developers..they are expanding RT 24 and is causing much consternation ..not to be negative, just informative..Prescott..I only visit during Art Festival week-end..Tempe is lovely as well..of course they have ASU..

I do worry about the water situation, the heat is, well, its Arizona..(an hour drive North to Payson, not only beautiful, but cooler) but, we love our little neighborhood..we moved from Red Mountain south 3 miles to a small golf course community...and built our forever home in '06..I didn't know what an HOA was until I moved to AZ..very important to check HOA costs..if you can get a copy of the communities CC&Rs..btw..hard to find a community w/o an HOA..but there are some..APS (I believe they serve West of Phoenix), and SRP Electric Co's..SRP has been as good to us as can be, with 120 degrees at times..

West of Phoenix you have lovely communities, Goodyear, Avondale area..my son and DIL bought a home in Goodyear 5 year ago..is a newer community, young families - they are both teachers..the growth, however, west of Phoenix is huge..traffic on I10 is obnoxious..East or West..the 202 has completed all the way around to West I10..which is a good thing..but along with expanded highway you have ever increasing traffic and development..wishing you well in your search..

[locks]

31. Consider Cloudcroft New Mexico

Much cooler than AZ and liberal.

[Scruffy1]

32. Check out El Paso, Texas

I lived in Phoenix once wouldn't recommend it to anyone. El Paso has very affordable housing. a very low crime rate, and while it gets hot it's nothing like the hellhole of Phoenix in the summer. December and January are winter with lows around freezing and average high about 60 degrees f . The people are very friendly and polite and we are about 70% D. I love it here. BarBQ today on my patio. 75 and sunny.

[nwliberalkiwi]

33. Check out Oregon

Oregon might be nice. Also check out Ellensburg, Washington a college town and only a couple of hours from Seattle if you feel the need of a big city occasionally.

[Susan Calvin]

34. I actually feel the need of a big city pretty much all the time.

I like live music and theater. Just not Houston.

[DesertRat]

35. Your choices for live music, theater and a more progressive demographic here

are Central Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff.

Otherwise it's mostly right wing central. I've lived in AZ all my life.

[AZLD4Candidate]

36. Sedona!

Go to Sedona. BRIGHT BLUE!!!

Hour from Phoenix if the cold bothers you. . .hour from Flagstaff if the heat bothers you.

[Susan Calvin]

38. Thank you. nt

[LittleGirl]

39. Just saw this post.

I lived in Phoenix in the 90s and Tucson from 2013 to 2018. I loved Tucson more.

Phoenix was just a cement hot box. Mesa is full of Mormons which is fine for some. Tempe and Scottsdale are great areas for restaurants and shopping but expensive. Apache Junction is a bit cooler at night as well as Cave Creek.

What bothered me the most were allergies to everything in the Southwest. I was miserable with daily headaches. Traffic was always an issue.

I would suggest spending a winter there first. See if you can meet some people because I had trouble making friends there. The retirement communities might have better neighbors but watch out for HOAs. Finding a doctor that takes Medicare might be hard too.

Water is a big concern. They are having another severe drought. Monsoons didn’t show up last summer and winter was dryer than normal.

Good luck on your decision.

[Susan Calvin]

40. Thanks.

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I had probably better stay where I am, much as I feel trapped. I'm finding out it could be worse.

[LittleGirl]

41. I'm so sorry

That you feel trapped. That’s not good either.
Remember 2020 and 2021 have not been normal years at any location. I hope you find a place that fulfills your needs.