Arizona DUers..a quick question

[cjm2222]

I hope some of you can help me with some useful information. I currently live in Vancouver BC, though I am an American. I'm considering moving back to the US and live in the Phoenix area. I know I'm lucky to live here, but I have lung "issues" and am greatly affected by the constant damp weather. I'm constantly sick with bronchitis, pneumonia etc.

Anyway, I'm curious about the economy (jobs, cost of living, etc) in Phoenix, possibly Tucson. My employment history is basically office work with advanced computer skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop). Any information you could give me would be helpful. I wouldn't be moving until the end of this year or the beginning of next. I'm waiting to see how the election pans out. Thank you all in advance for any information!

[imax2268]

1. try

www.azcentral.com

or

www.azfamily.com

I'm not sure about the Tucson area...I'm just west of Phoenix...
Good luck with your search...

[cjm2222]

2. Thanks!

I'll be sure to try the links.

[gate of the sun]

3. Phoenix is rather polluted

air wise....I'd try Tucson. MY brother is thinking of moving there. I know it's cheap to buy a house, the cost of living is alot cheaper than alot of places and Phoenix isin't too bad either. I don't know about jobs.

[MoonAndSun]

4. I have to be honest with you ,cjm2222....we have some pretty bad

air here in The Valley of the Sun (Phoenix and surrounding areas). Especially during what we call the winter months, and during the hottest part of our summer, July, August & September.

There are lots of ads in the papers for jobs with your types of skills, but maybe starting out with a temp agency would be a good start.

I love living here, but with the growth explosion that has happened in the last 10 years, the quality of life has slipped a bit. But then I would guess that has happened to other cities as well.

If you do move here to Arizona, you may want to try the Tucson area, they are a bit better at controlling urban sprawl and the air quality is a little better. They also have a more small town feel then the Phoenix area does.

:hi:

[imax2268]

7. good point...

sprawl is out of control around here...

I hope the city wises up and put a stop on it so the Phoenix area can catch up...it is growing to fast...

but I still love it here...better than Washington D.C. where I was born...

[SheilaT]

5. Be aware the Arizona is

a "right to work" state, which means unions are unusually weak there. (In a right to work state, workers are not required to join the union that may exist in their workplace.) As a consequence, wages tend to be low across the board.

It's EXTREMELY hot in the summer, which many people like. When I was there in the mid and late 80s, the shopping malls tended to have elderly people hanging out there all day during the summer because they could not afford to air condition their homes all day long.

Public transportation in both cities is limited, and a car is pretty vital.

Also, depending on precisely what your issues are, the pollen counts in those cities are often much higher than in other parts of the U.S. Unfortunately, what many people did as soon as they moved to the desert was to plant the trees and bushes they'd had back wherever, and the dry air tends to keep the pollen floating around much longer than it would elsewhere. Therefore, allergies are a huge problem.


good luck.

[Catshrink]

6. Be aware of valley fever...

Arizona has some respiratory irritants also. Dust is a big one. Orange blossoms cause some serious sneezing. Another thing is "valley fever" that is carried by spores in the soil. People with lung problems can be susceptible to this. My dad, who frequently gets pneumonia, had a serious bout with it several years ago. It lasts a long time, several months. Read up on it and evaluate the risk to yourself.

http://health.yahoo.com/health/encyclopedia/001322/0.html

I've been here 5 years and although it's nice not to shovel snow, I'm not really happy here in the "Valley of the Dumb."

edited to make sense.

[SiouxJ]

8. You might consider one of the mountain communities

(Payson, Flagstaff, Prescott) The air is still very dry up here and it's also cleaner (at the moment anyway). It's cooler in the summer too. I'm allergic to molds and my allergies are usually pretty good up here except during monsoon season (late summer). Of course if you want more of a big city then I would go with Tucson. It's prettier than Phoenix (IMO) and more liberal. Good luck and feel free to PM me if you think I can help you. We need more liberals here :-) .

[MoonAndSun]

9. The northern cities are pretty and nice and cool, but because of

the influx of ex-Californians, those towns that you mentioned SiouxJ has seen the cost of living and cost of housing sky rocket. I have a friend that moved to Flag and had to settle for a little trailer that cost almost $100,000.

I would say that the Tucson area would be the best bet for our newcomer.

[cjm2222]

11. Didn't see your reply until I'd posted

I might check into Tucson. In doing some research, it seems like an interesting city. Too bad there are no professional sports teams, though. LOL.

[SiouxJ]

12. Well yes, as an ex-Californian I'm sure I contributed

to the rise in the cost of living up here but you can still get nice houses in Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Camp Verde (yuck, I know), Cottonwood and other towns that surround the "mountain" towns for very little money. These towns are still very reasonable and are growing so there is a pretty good job market. I bought my mountain home on half an acre, 5 years ago for 227K (dirt cheap by Calif. standards) and now I bet I can get 300K for it but there are plenty of homes in my area for around 130K. A friend of mine just bought a beautiful one for about that. You just have to look in the older neighborhoods. That was right in town but he sold his old home, which was just outside of town for less than 100K and it wasn't a trailer. It was a nice, relatively new home.

It's all relative I guess. I feel like 300K is a steal for what I've got based on my San Diego housing experience.

[ldoolin]

13. Unfortunately...

...some Arizona towns are so full of right wingers that I'd recommend against them. Camp Verde and Payson are not friendly places. Show Low and Heber/Overgaard are the absolute worst places in the state - except of course for Colorado City which is wholly owned by some radical polygamist LDS splinter group. Stay well away from those.

Here are the best places in Arizona for liberals:
Tucson
Flagstaff (nice, but expensive)
Sedona (even more expensive, it's getting like Jackson Hole there)
Bisbee
Jerome
On edit: Prescott's getting pretty liberal-friendly too

[cjm2222]

10. I want to thank everyone for their replies

I appreciate all of your advice and will take much of it into consideration.

SiouxJ, I am allergic to mold as well. Unfortunately, I didn't discover my allergy to mold until I moved to BC. The constant rain produces so much of it. I think I will focus on one of the mountain communities.

Now, if we can just get a democratic president in 2004....