United States / Arizona / Tucson Metro Area / Pima County / Tucson / Zip Codes

Review of Tucson, Arizona

Tucson Really Sucks!
Star Rating - 2/10/2011
In 1992 I made the most grievous error of moving to Tucson. After living most of my life in New York City with a 7 year stint in Miami Florida, the move to Tucson was something I thought would be beneficial. Boy was I wrong.
It is impossible to plant ones roots and grow in this desert hell hole.
To begin with the people here are what really makes this place unlivable.
I have met some of the most unfriendly,so called human beings to ever exist, living in Tucson. The schools here are producing the next generation of Morons! The collective intelligence of the town shows an IQ of minus 10!
I come from New York City and I have heard it said that New Yorkers are rude.
Well let me tell you that here in Tucson you will find the rudest people on the planet! This town is still trying to preserve its place in history as the quintessential cowtown. All you have here are phony Redneck Cowboys with a huge sprinkling of Latinos. Since we are a border town Tucson experiences
a heavy influence from Mexico. Unlike Miami's progressive Cuban culture and New Yorks diverse culture, the Mexican sub culture has a Manana attitude. The constant flow of illegal bordercrossers, drugs and guns has turned this city into a video game of crime, low wages and despair.

As per the culture here in Tucson, There is more culture in a cup of Yogurt! Sure we have the symphony but the season stops with the hot weather.
The Opera is excellent, but only 5 performances a year! The Rodeo to me is one huge joke!!!

Tucson is the worlds capital of Mediocrity and Melaise! Nothing is ever
approached with any degree of panache and excellence. If you excell at any of lifes endeavors you are either put down or ignored! Witness the boondoogle of Rio Nuevo! What could have pulled the downtown area out of it's current state of demise has been mismanged and destroyed. Downtown Tucson will never happen because the local devlopers are too busy infilling the valley with ugly strip malls and cookie cutter communities. The only thing that could save this city would be handing the developing rights over to Donald Trump! We have lost Sports teams, a possible Aquarium that the voters approved and if we are not careful we will lose the prestigous Gem Show!
On top of this the economy has never been good, not even in the best of times!

Yes we have physical beauty due to the mountains surrounding the city but if you snap your fingers and make them disappear, you have an ugly
city! The extreme heat of the summer is anything but comfortable!

I should have thought a hundred times before moving to Tucson! 20 years of my life could have been spent elsewhere in a place that allows people to grow and achieve. If God wanted to create a place worse than Hell he could use Tucson as a model!
Ira | Tucson, AZ
Agree 223   Disagree 61  Thanks for Voting!   Report Abuse
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15 Replies

Thank you. I almost made the mistake because of the natural beauty of the Sonoran, instead I stayed in NM just a couple notches above your description, sadly.
joanie | Corrales, NM | Report Abuse
Agree 37   Disagree 42
I agree. I have been to over 30 states in this country. I can honestly say that Arizona, and especially Tucson has it's share of the RUDEST people you will ever run across. I have lived in Tucson now for a grueling 5 years and can tell you it's felt like 15. Driving is horrendous, people usually do 10-15 mph UNDER the speed limit or cut you off and nearly cause an accident basically anywhere. So not only taking 2 hours to get anywhere, you get behind these people who are basically catatonic behind the wheel. Then everywhere you go you have to deal with everyone's inflated egos in this city. I have never seen so many bald-headed, goatee wearing, tattooed, cut off sleeve, wannabe tough guys in my life. Everyone's running around like this is the wild-west and don't know how to be civil to another human being. Like I said, i've seen a good share of this country and the people are here...just have no clue how to treat other people. This place is good to vacation in no excess of a week. If you come from New England or another part of the world and want a change of scenery, it's good...for about a week. IF you're not here to be social..Because if you try to crack a joke or try to be friendly to somebody, they'll look at you like you're one-eyed and GREEN. I am desperately trying to get out of this state and furthest away from it as I can. I really cannot fathom how ANYONE can defend this place unless they were born here and never set a foot OUTSIDE of Tucson's city limits. Then you have some people who make the argument "they're from somewhere else". No they're NOT. The only NICE people i've met here actually are from other states.
Sam | Tucson, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 90   Disagree 27
I completely disagree with you. Yes, Tucson may be a desert, but it is very nice here. I live in Tucson, and frankly, you don't see me going around, criticizing other states, do you? No. Because all of the states are their own, and they are all nice. Tucson is not that bad. You just don't like it because you're used to the cold climate. We are used to the warm climate because it is warm here, and humid. But we still have cold seasons, I.E Winter and fall.
Alijah | Tucson, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 58   Disagree 74
Tucson is beautiful!
cloudweller | Pittsburgh, PA | Report Abuse
Agree 27   Disagree 48
Ira,you should look at yourself in the mirror for the coward. Tucson is heaven.We need more people to leave.
cloudweller | Pittsburgh, PA | Report Abuse
Agree 146   Disagree 59
hMr New York... The population of Tucson has increased from 212,000 in 1960 to 980,000 in 2010. The growth is not from high birthrate, so where did they come from... People like you... from New York, and other places north. So why are they so impolite and dumb. The answer is obvious.
Charles | Ogden, UT | Report Abuse
Agree 40   Disagree 40
I completely agree with you I started a blogsite to tell people what is going on down here I will continue to update it until I leave this godforsaken place next year. tucsonazsucks.blogspot
Eric | Tucson, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 53   Disagree 47
You are right Ira about Tucson and it's pretty much all of Arizona , I have lived in az for 50 yrs so I know how it's changed and I'm finally moving this spring, I'm in flagstaff now and can't wait to leave, when you see the animals all lining up two by two then the boat is getting ready to sail, I sugest people do the same, Phoenix is now number one with the highest year round particulate pollution in the nation we beat bakersfield ca that's pretty bad, look up American lung association. So those on here defending Tucson are probably the rude ones you speak of, and it's just going to get worse, The Safeway shooting is proof of how dangerous it's getting, Noah warned people and they didn't listen and they all drowned in this case they all burn. Anyone who disses this is proving my point. Worse than new yorkers, I'd say ten times worse. Most of The true arizonians are gone :(
Kat | Flagstaff, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 52   Disagree 21
There are at least two cities worse than Tucson - Phoenix and Detroit!
Anonymous | Chandler, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 32   Disagree 51
Oh, I sooo agree with you! It's such a really hard place to be!!! The driving that you mentioned is absolutely 100% accurate!!! People DO drive as if their catatonic and they would be run over in New York, New England, Florida, Texas or anywhere else. They do drive, sometimes 30 miles, below the speed limit and they'll stop in the middle of the street for no reason in the flow of traffic. It's like they become confused or afraid and just stop. I've never seen anything like it.
Mary Ann | Tucson, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 5   Disagree 2
I agree Ira, I’ve lived here my whole life and people are very rude. Also its hot here and the job market is terrible. I would move if I could afford it.
Nicole | Tanque Verde, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 11   Disagree 11
wow!, and you've been living in Tucson for 20 years?, feeling that way, from The big apple, cultured and extravagant?, I smell poverty and wannabe.., in addition to old age. Tucson is the best place to live for world loving people who love the outdoors not an opera. You moved to the wrong place, no doubt about it, but see, miserable people who move here from other places are the ones that are making Tucson Sour, not the illegals, or rednecks or a growing african american community, is white conservative, hard ass old white people like you.
DAVID I | Tucson, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 58   Disagree 48
Please, do yourself a favor and DO NOT move to Tucson. The heat is abnormal and getting worse each year. The town is full of grifters. There is NO culture here but the natives seem to think there is. The people born here have never lived in a better area so they think this god forsaken place is great. Most are ignorant as the blowing hot sand and cactus crap everywhere. Nothing changes in this forsaken place. It is NOT life to live in a/c for 6 months. After that people seem to think it’s ok. Well it isn’t ok 24/7. It’s abject ignorance from day until night. They are clueless to any type of culture or diversity. They tell you they welcome diversity. Don’t fall for that line of crap. Driving is about the worst in the U.S. lack of sidewalks so pedestrians are killed at alarming rate. This is not a place to live by any means. I think the people are backwards because nothing changes here. Really?? How many cactus can a person be in awe of? And for how long? A15 minute pass through and what you see is what you get forever. It’s dead, dull and dirty. It bothers me that anyone has a pet here. HEAT KILLS!!! I always thought NE was a horrible place. It is but compared to this grifter state, I would even choose NE over this crap. I think people in NE might be nicer. I have NOT met one nice person here. Maybe a snowbird that feels entitled, but that’s because they don’t live in this horror hell all year. The population is the most superficial gathered in one place that I have ever met. Once you are TRAPPED here, good luck getting out. Please read these posts and take them for real. This is NOT diversity, not pleasant, is ignorant and filled with grifter real estate and lenders that are greedy. Only visit this forsaken place for a short time and leave. The reason people in Tucson think this is diversity is because they never lived in a cultural and diversified place. I have lived all over the world and in several states. I was a fool to move here. People in Phoenix even make fun of this hell!! Make sure the people who lived here and left because they hate it, spread the truth about this inbreed hell hole. They should set up a fund to help the grifted people get out. There really are pleasant places with pleasant people to live around. And NO killer heat. Places with real sidewalks and changing scenery. Save your money and only visit briefly. Let them keep inbreeding until they have no IQ left and they will all die of heatstroke. Then build a big fence around this forsaken place that says keep out, danger to your health. Yup, look up the air particulate levels!!! Crap please folks!!
Outta | Catalina Foothills, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 3   Disagree 4
I really disagree. It makes sense, you're from New York. I think East Coasters are 1000 times worse than the people here. I moved here last year from Virginia, and can I just say the East Coast is full of rich, snotty people who only care for themselves. The only reason you call them unfriendly is because they aren't exactly like you. On the East Coast you have to be a certain way or society will hate you. The heat is a lot better than humidity that makes you wet all over 24/7. You're exactly like all the others, making $100,000 a year by typing on a computer screen. The East Coast is a horrible place. The only reason the schools are " Horrible " is because, again, they aren't following the East Coasts ways. HA. You know what I say, GET OUT AND MAKE ROOM FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE IT. You're a racist bastard who is as American as any everyone else in this country. These are the most down to earth people in the US. Hope you have fun judging people and making a lot of money. Have a good life, hope youre arrogance is worth it when youre in the grave.
Robert | Tucson, AZ | Report Abuse
Agree 56   Disagree 53
I was seriously planning on moving to Arizona based on a (albeit shallow) friends recommendation and realized from comments like yours that Arizona seems to be the worst American region. Exhaustive research has failed to find a single cluster of accolades or even "so-so" or "kinda OK" opinions about the place. The few recommendations to live there only come from the people do directly benefit such as realtors and mortgage lenders, but every other opinion is anchored in regret, warnings and a buyers remorse about moving there. The lack of opportunities except for those with Masters in Engineering who have better choices than working for Intel in the desert seems the common theme, a cultural toilet with a population that measures eachother by the quality of beer you drink, the height of your bumper off the ground and the stamina of your liver is the top differentiators. Thanks for saving me from a terrible relocation mistake.
Eagle | Beverly Hills, CA | Report Abuse
Agree 38   Disagree 45
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