Can a Buckeye get some help?

Greetings my Sun Devil friends.  My wife and I are currently considering relocating for a job in Phoenix and I thought that you might be willing to provide some insight as to:

• area crime rates
• taxes
• school systems
• good affordable housing or most livable areas
• etc.

I've vacationed in Phoenix / Scottsdale pretty much every spring for the past 6 years or so, but I've never actually lived there so I thought you might be willing to provide me with some good information.

Also, there's a town out there called "Buckeye Arizona".  I took that as a sign from God, but don't know how far it is outside of Phoenix of how good of a place it would I'd want to raise my daughters in.

Thanks.

BuckeyeDave

Hey Buckeydave,

Stay the hell away from Buckeye. It is in the West Valley and that is not an area to raise a family.

I suggest South Tempe if you like to be closer to ASU and downtown Phx., but still live in the Suburbs. (look in zip code 85284) pricey but good Kyrene School District and close to all the major valley freeways. There are aslo some very nice areas just south of ASU in Northern Tempe Zip (85283 and 85282). The homes are older but the mature trees are amazing as some hang over the whole street and the atmosphere is great.

 If you would like to enjoy the desert mountain scenary(similar to North Scottdale terrain) I suggest Mesa, Az 85207 Las Sendas area. Georgeous city ligh/mountaint views and great elementary school: Las Sendas Elementary. Also easy access to 202 red mtn freeway which takes you right to Scottsdale and Downtown Phx.

South Chandler(newly developed part near Hamilton High School or Basha Highschool). These areas are very family oriented and the Chandler school district is top notch in Sports(dont know about academics).

Gilbert, AZ(make sure not in Higley Zip codes or in the Higley School Distrcit). My top two areas in Gilbert are the 85296 zip code area and South Gilbert 85298(Seville Country Club area) Gilbert and Chandler School districts in these 2 areas are the 2 best in the state IMO and Gilbert has attracted the highest median income in the State. All the development out there is amazing.

Hope this helped

Sorry, I must admit that that post sounded very negative towards the west side. I have lived only on the east side so naturally I have such a bias.

Buckeye...I work in Avondale 4-5x a month, and I must admit it has some very nice areas. I am not sure which city Estrella Mountain is in, either Avondale, Peoria or Tolleson, but that is a very nice spot as well

For starters, the Phoenix metropolitan area is HUGE so one factor should be distance to work.  So it would be helpful for you to specify where you work.  I, personally, like to be fairly centrally located.  With that said, I love the Camelback Corridor (basically the stretch of land a few blocks north and a few blocks south of Camelback running all the way from Central Ave to downtown Scottsdale...ie. Biltmore area, Arcadia, downtown Scottsdale).  You really can't go wrong...nicest shopping, restaurants, housing, etc. etc. etc.  Of course you pay for that too but it's well worth it. 

Tempe is also nice and very centrally located.  If you don't mind a drive then there are a million nice communities in Scottsdale (or around the entire metro area for that matter). 

Stay in the Scottsdale area. I lived in Phoenix most of my life and it has lots of crime and dirty. Certain parts in the west valley are nice 59th union hills area, but the school districts in north scottsdale are really good and the crime is low. Good luck with the housing, unfortunaly if you are not willing to pay an arm and leg then you will be in a so called "tranisition area" be careful.

I love Scottsdale, that's where we vacation (most) every spring.  The job is located somewhere around the 101 and 17 intersection.  It looks like Scottsdale is closest.

Any opinions on Avondale?  I know that's where a guy she used to work with lives.  It looks like Glendale or Peoria would be closer... what about those areas?  How about Sun City West? 

I think that as far as the commute goes, it's going to be worse than it is now wherever we settle out there.  At present she works from home (LOL), so it's already going to suck.  That being said, our average commute from where we live now is probably 22 miles which takes about 30 - 40 minutes.  Traffic isn't an issue at this point because I work in the east side of Cincinnati and when she does have to travel to the office it's in Northern KY where we live.