Casa Grande Overall
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1/26/2014
I moved to Casa Grande from Washington state in November 2011. The first thing I realized was that the rent here for a modest but comfortable 3 bed 2 bath house (my home is 750.00 per month and 1440 square feet) is nearly half the cost of what it was in Washington, VERY affordable!
The town in small enough to navigate easily but large enough to have the majority of amenities one could want or need. One small hinderance to those who enjoy the night life is that other than the two clubs/restaurant/bars everything closes around 9pm Mon-Sat and completely closed for business on Sundays, we hate that. If you yearn for more entertainment, eating options and family fun then phoenix or Tucson are 45 to 90 minutes away with lots going on in both areas.
In my opinion, I like that we have the option of travel to either the phx or Tucson metropolitan areas for activities because that way, we get all the opportunities without having to deal with the over inflated population and traffic issues in our own town. I personally HATE when the snowbirds/part time residents are in town because they congest the streets and cause traffic problems! But I am sure the business' love the income...
We have some very good medical and dental providers right here in town and again, if you require a specialist Phoenix has some of the nations best health care providers available.
Utilities are about average compared to most states as well as household supplies and food. The taxes in this state are high though including sales tax, income tax and property taxes.
The price of buying a Home, however; is considerably lower than the majority of comparable cities in the country. The weather is very nice and makes the idea of buying a home here even more enticing. June thru September is quite hot with July and August being the worst, hitting temps of 110 -118 F on a daily basis, the only saving grace is that there is VERY low humidity which makes it livable regardless of degrees. My electric bills are highest in summer with the A.C. working hard to keep the house comfortable, and I set it at 78! We don't get snow or ice and very little rainfall. The monsoons during October and November are where we get most of our rain and those storms are fabulous to watch, although they can cause quite a bit of damage at times.
My youngest son is in high school so I don't really know what the grade schools and middle schools have to offer for academics. I only know that Casa Grande Union High School appears to populated with a lot of gang related activities and teens with a penchant for violence and drugs. My son was not happy in that school, teachers that don't really care about the students and are mostly just fed up with the kids with no drive or intention of being productive law abiding citizens, so the kids that want to learn to grow get lost in the fray.
They are losing budget money all the time to offer programs to inspire the students to succeed and as a result classes and electives are being cut and gang activities continue to rise. My son ended up getting involved with the wrong crowd and eventually ended up in trouble with the law.
Overall, Casa Grande is a nice town, not to big and not to small. The cost of living is great, the weather is wonderful (aside from the dust/dirt storms) the amenities both locally and within driving distance are fabulous and there are jobs available. It was a good move for us financially.
Janet | Casa Grande, AZ