10 Reasons Why You Should Move to Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix has recently taken the ranking of the 5th largest city in the United States, and is the capital of Arizona. With Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Denver, Albuquerque, and Hermosillo, Mexico, within 500 miles, Phoenix is often called the “Hub of the Southwest.” With great weather, affordable housing, a growing job market, good schools, professional sports, expanding arts and culture, and ample recreational opportunities, many visitors fall in love with Phoenix and decide to move here. Of the many reasons people relocate to Phoenix, here are 10 of the top!

1. Climate
An obvious choice for many relocation to Phoenix, AZ, weather is often the main attraction. With over 300 days of sunshine per year and an average of 73 degrees, Phoenix is a premier destination for relocating from colder cities.

2. Real Estate
Though Phoenix real estater prices have risen in the past few years, Phoenix is still one of the most affordable housing markets in the nation with a wide variety of homes and apartments to choose from to fit every lifestyle. 

3. Crime
Phoenix is a safe city by large city standards. If you take the city’s growing population into account, the crime rate per 100,000 people actually decreased between in the last 10 years by 31%.

4. Job Market
For the past several years, Phoenix has been the fastest growing job market in the country as well. Phoenix is creating more jobs than Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, and boasts of a young, educated and growing workforce.

5. Business/Economy
Business leaders, investors and bankers from all over the country and the world are coming to Phoenix to invest their capital. In the last 2 years, over 9 billion dollars in public and private dollars have been invested in Phoenix. Standard & Poor’s recently described Phoenix as having a broad, diverse and expanding economy with strong employment indicators.

6. Education
New Phoenix residents will find a wide variety of public, private and charter schools. Test scores are improving throughout the state, schools are safe, and computers are highly available. The Metro Phoenix area is also home to Arizona State University, community colleges, and private colleges such as the University of Phoenix and Grand Canyon University.

7. Outdoor Recreation
To accompany the more than 300 days of sunshine per year in Phoenix, there is an abundance of recreational opportunities, including hiking, biking, and water sports at nearby lakes. The National Golf Foundation named Phoenix the “Golf Capital of the World.” In addition, Phoenix has the largest mountain park preserves in the U.S., including South Mountain’s 17,000 acres, the largest municipal park in the world. Other outdoor educational opportunities include the Desert Botanical Gardens, the Phoenix Zoo, and the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park.

8. Arts & Culture
Phoenix has an exciting, growing arts and culture scene including the Phoenix Museum of History, Arizona Science Center, Phoenix Symphony Hall, Herberger Theater, Dodge Theater, and the historic Orpheum Theater. In addition, art lovers can enjoy the Arizona Opera, Actors Theatre of Phoenix, Ballet Arizona, Phoenix Art Museum, Heard Museum, and Valley Youth Theatre.

9. Sports
Professional and collegiate sports thrive in the Valley of the Sun! The Metro Phoenix area is home to the Arizona Cardinals (with a brand new stadium in Glendale), Phoenix Coyotes (with a matching new arena also in Glendale), the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Rattlers and Phoenix Mercury. On any given day (and especially during baseball’s spring training!), Phoenix attracts more than 5 million sports fans and will be home to the 2008 Super Bowl.

10. Light Rail
Phoenix’s new light rail system will begin limited operations in 2008 (with construction continuing for several years), and will run through the heart of downtown, providing convenient transportation for Phoenix’s workers, residents and visitors.