You’d be wise to avoid moving here.
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6/17/2018
I moved from a large city to Phoenix and lived in various areas of the Valley for over 10 years. Moving to Arizona is something I’ll regret for the rest of my life. Life in AZ never felt “normal” to me. Please do your homework and see what this place is about before moving.
I felt so unsafe even living in what was considered a very “safe” and highly rated suburban community. In the Phoenix area we had our car vandalized several times and many things stolen from us. Also in Phoenix we had a guy clearly high on something attempting to enter our condo. It’s scary when you witness a murder sitting at a traffic light and see crime scenes regularly commuting to/from work. I have way more stories of things happening personally or to to someone I know. Much of the Valley in general is overrun with crime and criminals.
Education is of zero importance in Arizona. The recent teacher walkouts are the latest evidence of a broken education system. Arizona ranks very low in K-12 education. The majority of the people that live there are very unintelligent and the young people are not able to hold a conversation or make eye contact for long. It’s very sad. Most young people have no ambition and are content working dead-end jobs.
Speaking of jobs, Arizona is the epicenter of low paying service jobs. Walmart is the number 2 employer in the state. Just know that whether you move on a job transfer or find work after you relocate to AZ you have an extremely high probability of being laid off. This happened to us and more people than I can count. This seems to be the order of the day in this place and I know many, many who fell on hard times moving here and/or were blindsided by a layoff. Pay is a joke and much lower than in many other places.
The people here are some of the rudest you will ever have the misfortune of dealing with. From driving to grocery shopping, expect to have your patience tested daily. Most of my neighbors ignored me when I waved or attempted to speak. Don’t expect many friendly smiles or greetings here. People seem to be angry, bitter, and hateful. Many crabs in a barrel who cannot stand to see someone do better than them. The people and their nasty attitudes was one of the worst parts of living there for me.
I got out of Arizona. My last month living there was nearly unbearable. I was terrified of driving on the freeway due to the almost daily wrong way driving incidents. In fact, some days there were multiple wrong way highway driving occurrences and accidents. I was scared to go for a walk because pedestrians were (and still are as of this writing ) being run over and killed in alarming numbers there. Arizona has the dubious distinction of being #1 in the US for pedestrian deaths.
The Valley is truly a fool’s paradise. I have been mentally scarred living there. I find it hard to trust people because so many there are users. I found many to only play nice when they wanted something or stood to gain something. I finally had enough of the sky high water and electric bills, crime, heat, etc. I’m living in a city now where there’s water, trees, green grass, and clear skies/clean air. The people here smile, wave, and genuinely want to help you and make you feel welcomed. I can spend summer outdoors again instead of dodging 100+ degree heat from April through the end of November—spending months indoors with the curtains and blinds closed.
If you are being lured to the AZ Valley with the promise of “dry heat”, mild winters, 300+ days of sunshine, I’d urge you to do your due diligence: visit during summer, drive around several areas, go around and try to interact with the locals, and read up on living there. You’ve been warned. Many people are leaving and many more would move if they could—it’s very easy to get stuck there and to be miserable. I’m still working on putting such a horrible experience behind me. I have a hard time digesting what passes as regular and normal life in the Valley. I assure you most parts of the country do not live like that. I wish I’d never moved there and I never wish to even visit Arizona again.
Ann | Phoenix, AZ