I've been in Tucson now for 26 years
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5/11/2009
I selected the city on purpose after exploring the whole west. Moved here from Santa Barbara and liked it far better here immediately. It was like night and day, even though everybody in Santa Barbara seemed convinced its heaven on earth or something. Nicer people, nicer lifestyle, nicer culture, nicer nature, nicer restaurants. You make some sacrifices to live here, the biggest being lower pay and some pretty bad local employers. You have to like the weather; I do. The heat of the early summer is like a free sauna, then the monsoons hit and its like a free fireworks display. It's a poorly educated place despite hosting a big University. The U is quite shockingly spotty. It has a few great world-class departments, a bunch of very bad ones, and a terrible obsession with team sports. This is mainly because the Arizona state government is quite poor and crooked. And it is also not a good city to be single as others here have pointed out. If you're married or retired, though, it can be pretty nice indeed. Nice big houses santa-fe style houses with lots of land, horses, that kind of thing. If you can get paid at close to a national standard of pay for your profession you may even be able to afford private schools, housekeepers, or other amenities. It has some incredible natural beauty which is the real draw. The Sonora desert is incredibly rich and diverse. Dozens of species of everything. There are mountain ranges in all directions and some of the best hiking I have seen anywhere in the west. I think perhaps maybe it is a town that attracts the outliers of the bell-curve of society - the hermit-types on both ends; There are more used bookstores here in this one little city than in all of southern California combined. More thrift stores than I've ever seen anywhere too.
One thing nobody here has mentioned yet is that Tucson is a great place to live to explore northern Mexico. Most people here do not know this, and they go their whole life without finding out. The easy place to visit is Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco). Its the big spring break destination. The more adventurous can explore deeper: Nogales, Magdalena, Hermosillo, Guaymas, and San Carlos, all within the '21 km' border zone. There is a whole country down there that is full of neat stuff to see and do. Jungles, desert, volcanoes, scuba diving, fishing, you name it. The propaganda about Mexico is utterly overblown, too, but that keeps it peaceful and cheap. I do much more water sports than I ever did in Santa Barbara.
I have on occasion considered moving out of Tucson, but I never do. It's all in all just too nice here. About the only place I might try is the Big Island after this, else a place or two outside the US that I've been. If you are a newcomer to Tucson, I highly recommend that you don't buy a house until you get the lay of the land. All different parts of town have all different advantages and disadvantages. Hey, you gotta live somewhere and so far that's been Tucson for me.
Joe | Tanque Verde, AZ