Living and Working in Arizona

apayne8508 · Jan 22, 2016

Phoenix - It is the largest city in the state, and the 5th largest city in the country. It is HUGE. That being said you have more amenities around. Phoenix has many suburbs, Mesa being one of those. There is camping, hiking, lakes, all kinds of sports event and concerts in the city all the time. Phoenix is also one of the hottest cities. From about May- September its HOT... like 95-115. You stay inside, park in a garage, wear flip flops, go swimming. Its not that bad. Its a dry heat which makes it okay, but when you walk into a store you will still feel like your skin is burning. BUT from October - April the average temp is about 70. Phoenix is more central if you want to travel, but you have the insane traffic.

Tucson - smaller town feel, still pretty large. It is a huge college town (Go Cats!), it has a more liberal feel than Phoenix. Lots of arts festivals. Tucson is BEAUTIFUL. There is mountains surrounding the whole city. You can do all the same things as phoenix for the most part. The cost of living is about the same in all three cities you listed. The Mexican food is on point. You can hike, swim, go to sports (wildcats) plays all the same kind of things on a smaller scale. Tucson is slightly cooler than Phoenix by about 5-10 degrees all year round. Tucson is where I was born and raised, its very pretty, but can be a slower pace of life than Phoenix.

Cost of living - small apartment in nice area 1 bedroom $700-1000 depending on how nice of a place. Average house rent 3-4 bedrooms in a decent area $1200-1500. Electric ranges due to summer but about $150 for a 2000 sqft home. Groceries: Milk $2 Chicken $1.97 Hamburger 3.99/lb produce is fairly cheap if you shop at sprouts ( blueberries this week are like $.70 I think) Gas is ~$1.85 a gallon right now.

I hope this helped a little!

susana942, RN · Jan 22, 2016

Thank you so much apayne8508 is good to hear the information from someone that lives in Arizona.

It was really helpful:)