Tucson is a dark sky site by legislation and has done a great job in reducing light pollution - there are major world class observatories surrounding the city - Kitt Peak and Mount Graham, along with Mt. Lemmon.

I moved to Tucson specifically because of the dark skies to build my own observatory.

As far as crime, its much lower than Phoenix, and most of the activity seems to be right at the border itself or within 15 - 20 miles. Most of the criminals I've helped intercept with CBP are all within a few miles of the fence line. Occasionally you hear about a truck stop full of aliens or whatever but its not every day as some would have you believe. A fair number are picked up in the field. Those by car usually get through the crossing undetected.

If you're curious, just come down for a few days and check the place out. Get about 5 miles north of the airport area and things are much more civilized. Essentially north of 22nd. The foothills are very upscale.

Tucson has several things that increase the population. The university when its in session probably brings in about 80,000 students and the snowbirds escaping winter. But once the temp gets into the mid 90's they all flee north so the population can drop by as much as 150,000.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
Tucson is a dark sky site by legislation and has done a great job in reducing light pollution - there are major world class observatories surrounding the city - Kitt Peak and Mount Graham, along with Mt. Lemmon.

I moved to Tucson specifically because of the dark skies to build my own observatory.

Thank you for those details. I suspected you knew about the crime rate, too. We looked at the Phoenix area 12 years ago and it did not fit for us, which was strange, because people who've lived in AZ in other parts of the State liked it.

Do you get inversions in the Tuscon area during any time of the year?

Arizona

We moved to Arizona (Scottsdale) 20 years ago from Southern California and love it. The only thing we miss is being close to the ocean, as we grew up there. We sure don’t miss the traffic, politics, outrageous gun laws or cost of living.

Arizona is consistently rated as the most gun friendly state in the union. Lots of ranges, indoor and outdoor, gun shops, etc. etc. Granted, the summers are hot, but you learn to cope… stay out of the sun, take care of business in the morning and get out of town when possible in June, July and August. We have a place in Flagstaff and it’s 2 hours door to door. Flag is a mile high and usually 20-25 degrees cooler than down here in the valley and, In the winter, there’s good skiing in Snow Bowl. Or, you can have breakfast here and drive over to San Diego by lunch and enjoy their great climate. Of course, there’s also Sedona and the Grand Canyon that are within a 2-3 hour drive.

Arizona is known for its hot summers, but most people don’t realize that we really do have seasons here. It’s a pretty big state (6th largest) and a wide range of topography from the desert everyone knows about to the mountain and forests in the north. Arizona has 6 national forests, including the largest Ponderosa pine forest in the world. I’m sure you must have seen some of the Arizona Highways magazines that do so well in showing off the state.

I’m a golfer and the number of world class golf courses is as long as your arm. Golf is pricey in peak season, but when it starts warming up, it’s a real bargain. There’s no daylight savings here, so in the summer you can tee off at 5:30 in the morning and be done by 9:00. The heat doesn’t reach its highest until 3-4 in the afternoon.

If you’re a baseball fan, this is a great place to be in the spring. There’s 15 major league teams with spring training camps here and are part of the Cactus League. Phoenix is one of about a dozen cities with all four major league sport franchises. The D’backs and Cardinals are pretty good… the Suns and Coyotes, not so much.

Anyhow, that’s enough of my chamber of conference spiel… good luck in your decision.

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Property taxes in AZ are nothing compared to TX, though we do have a state income tax and sales tax is high. My house is worth around $450k and our property taxes are at about $1800/year. In TX that would be way, way more expensive.

We get maybe three scorpions in the house per year and, after 10 years here, I finally got stung last year. It was incredibly painful and lasted every second of 24 hours. But it still wasn't bad enough to make me want to live anywhere else.

quote:

Originally posted by Tooky13:
Arizona is known for its hot summers, but most people don’t realize that we really do have seasons here.

And with the low humidity and dew point (except for July/August), especially in late May and most of June, when it can hit the 100's, the temp really drops off at night. We leave our windows open and use big fans to suck in the cool air, then close them the next day when it reaches 70-75. All that captured cool air keeps the well-insulated house cool all day, or most of it, and we resort to AC only in the late afternoon. Some days not at all.
 

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by Tooky13:
Arizona is known for its hot summers, but most people don’t realize that we really do have seasons here.

And with the low humidity and dew point (except for July/August), especially in late May and most of June, when it can hit the 100's, the temp really drops off at night. We leave our windows open and use big fans to suck in the cool air, then close them the next day when it reaches 70-75. All that captured cool air keeps the well-insulated house cool all day, or most of it, and we resort to AC only in the late afternoon. Some days not at all.
 

Yes, my friend, but you have two things going for you up there that Phoenix area residents don’t have. Higher elevation. Congress is 2000’ higher than the Valley. Maybe a little more, as I recall, Wickenburg is 2200’ in elevation and you’re at the base of Yarnell Hill.
Edited to add: Phoenix, 1000’; Wickenburg, 2,000’; Congress, 3000’

Concrete and blacktop. Phoenix holds onto daytime heat much, much longer. I recall watching the 10:00 news and Phoenix was still at 110* and we were at times down to the 80s at the same time where we lived, north of Wickenburg.

Thanks for the info nhtagmember and all others that responded.

I can add Tucson is a sanctuary city, very lib, and crime is worse than Phx because the police are severely understaffed and don’t want to investigate anything for fear it will lead them to illegal immigrant activity.

There are some vety nice parts of Phx (like Awhuatukee) and nice areas very close to Tempe.

Well, if you’re looking at Tempe and have little ones...the Kyrene School District is fantastic and the Tempe Union High School District is pretty good too. While I am pretty biased towards AZ, I’m sure most would agree that you can’t beat our gun laws:
-Constitutional Carry
-Open Carry
-Strong preemption laws
-No ridiculous magazine/firearm restrictions

$200k wont get you much in the Dallas area. Can't recommend the Dallas public schools and the uppity suburban districts are not much better from what I've heard. TRAFFIC SUCKS and only getting worse since so many are moving into the area. Contrary to popular belief, the local economy is not that good (again due to so many moving into the area of the past five years). Every road in the area is under construction. Texas is conservative and Dallas is liberal so local politics suck. I hope I've convinced you to move somewhere besides Dallas. We don't need any more people here.

Dallas can be a really nice place to live if you're wealthy and retired. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
Arizona most definitely but its too bad your choice is limited to Tempe

there are much nicer places in Arizona...do you have to drive to a specific location for work?

Can you please elaborate? I'm giving serious consideration to making a move to Arizona in a few years and would like as much information as possible. We were in AZ last year and really like it but certainly do not want to buy in a less than desirable area. What do you consider better?

You did not ask me but I lived there last year, around the campus is growing and the quality of food grew in the short time I was there. Nothing wrong with Tempe, it has some nice neighborhoods but depending on what you are looking for going a bit south or even south east would be better.

I was looking at a similar sized home and good schools, it seemed these were in Chandler more than Tempe. Maricopa seemed to have good home prices as well and was far enough away from PHX.

Whjat ever you do do not get in a position that you have to travel east to west or vice vs for work, the 10 sucks. I had people who actually quite due to the drive from west to east. They have a great range up north, $7 all you can shoot, good 200m range that allows full auto.

If I had to live in AZ i would look around the Prescott or Chino valleys. I drove through them to drop off and pick up mu BHP at the action works and I really liked it up there.

One great thing about AZ is the amount of good shooting schools and great gunsmiths in the area. Yost, robar, The Action works.....and it seems everyone just shoots in the desert, I never tried that but there certainly is anough room to do it

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Yes, my friend, but you have two things going for you up there that Phoenix area residents don’t have. Higher elevation. Congress is 2000’ higher than the Valley. Maybe a little more, as I recall, Wickenburg is 2200’ in elevation and you’re at the base of Yarnell Hill.
Edited to add: Phoenix, 1000’; Wickenburg, 2,000’; Congress, 3000’

We are north of Wickenburg, about 7 miles, near the old Wickenburg Inn but we're on US 93. Our elevation is 2500 ft, so that's even a little better than Wickenburg. Sometimes during the hot season, though, weird rotations in the weather patterns put us in the same temp range as the Valley. Elevation if a definite plus in AZ.