Camelback Mountain at Dusk

Lets get the weather thing out of the way.  Phoenix is located in the desert. We'll hit 100°(f) or above for about 90 days each summer.  On the other hand, for most of the winter months the temperature will be in the very comfortable 65-75° range. When you live in the Valley of the Sun, you move from one air conditioned place to another during the summer, much like you move from one heated place to another in the midwest and northeast during the winter. Oh, and you don't have to shovel snow during our extremes!

But there's much more...

The Phoenix weather isn't much of a deterrent to most people, since the city is the second fastest growing city in the country, behind Las Vegas.  The latest (2006) updates list us at just over 4 million people in the metro area with an average of nearly 10,000 people moving to the city each year!  

Why are so many people coming to the Phoenix Metropolitan Area? 

We've got a lot of great things happening.  We're growing jobs in almost all areas including technology, healthcare, education, tourism, retail, you name it. 

Our housing market has stumbled with the sub-prime lending problems going on all over the country, but lower prices mean opportunities for buyers to find great deals.

We've got lots of things to do!

If you're a sports fan, there's always a game to catch with all the major sports leagues covered by the Cardinals (NFL), Diamondbacks (MLB), Nets (NBA) and Coyotes (NHL).  For baseball fans, spring training for nearly a dozen teams happens here along with pre-season Cactus League games.  We've also got major college sports and are host to the Fiesta Bowl every year.  Racing fans won't be disappointed, either since we've got everything from sprint cars to Nascar.

Love the outdoors? 

We should mention that the Grand Canyon is only one of the unbelievable outdoor landscapes in this amazing state.  From the "sky-islands" of Southern Arizona to the amazing Red Rocks of Sedona, Arizona is a great place for hiking and camping, bicycling, hunting and fishing, climbing. 

Did we mention golf?  Besides several major tournaments, we have literally hundreds of golf courses in the valley. 

Some unexpected sports might be skiing (snow) and boating.  Much of Arizona is mountains and that brings snow and winter sports to within a couple of hours drive Phoenix.  And since water is highly important in the desert, we've got many large man-made lakes close at hand.

Arts and Culture.

There are numerous performing arts companies in Phoenix as well as a symphony orchestra and dozens of museums, several with world-class reknown.  Art galleries abound as well, especially in old-town Scottsdale.

Parks and Recreation.

There are hundreds of parks throughout the valley, an, depending on the season, they are filled with organized baseball, soccer, football, basketball and other sports programs for kids.  Because of the summer heat, you'll also find hundreds of swimming pools throughout.

There are several large waterparks, a couple of zoos, and several mountains within the city as well.

Getting Around.

Because of it's rapid growth, Phoenix has been forced into traffic planning and is doing a good job in building new roads and freeways.  Freeways provide good traffic routing throughout the Valley, but are often crowded.  Arterial streets are laid out in a grid pattern and and provide excellent alternatives. 

City buses provide a different alternative to driving and a light-rail system is under construction now to help ease traffic even more.

Sky Harbor Airport is the major airport in Phoenix and has direct flights to over 100 cities in the US, Canada, Mexico and beyond.   Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport in the east valley is also evolving into a commercial travel center. 

Some other sources of information about living in Phoenix:

Wikipedia

AZ Central

About.com