A business-friendly environment, abundant job opportunities, and an affordable cost of living have made Phoenix one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. If you're planning to move to Phoenix or just want to learn more about what makes this sunny spot so special, here are 15 things you need to know. First, it's important to note that Phoenix is located in the Sonoran Desert, a piece of land that covers approximately 100,000 square miles and includes most of the southern half of Arizona, southeastern California, most of the Baja California Peninsula, the Gulf of California and a significant part of Sonora, Mexico. This means that if you're looking for a white Christmas, this may not be the place for you.
It saw no snow until 1898, and accumulations of 0.1 inch or more have only occurred a total of eight times. As you can imagine, in a city as big as Phoenix, there are several options for your children to go to school. Maricopa County has nearly 1,000 schools in its districts, so consult a real estate agent or conduct an independent investigation to find the best option for your situation. For those who like to be closer to nature, Phoenix has more than 180 urban parks and more than 33,000 acres of desert reserves. There are several hiking trails in the Phoenix Mountain Reserve, or you can kayak on Tempe Town Lake. To see wildlife in their natural habitat, visit the Desert Botanical Garden. Phoenix is now the fifth largest by population in the United States.
Its land area exceeds New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. The number of people living here lags behind in those cities, and in Houston, but it exceeds all the others. But those looking for a big city don't refer to a place with more residents or square miles. People associate them with skyscrapers and trains and more than one street musician playing the electric guitar downtown on a Friday night. The downtown PHX Arena (formerly the Talking Stick Resort Arena) is home to the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the Arizona Rattlers of the Futsal League, and the Phoenix Rising FC of the United Soccer League. The Phoenix metropolitan area continued to expand into the desert, with outlying suburbs such as Buckeye growing nearly 80 percent over the past 10 years.
And while Phoenix has parts of a real city, they are “hidden in all that expansion” said Jon Talton, a former columnist for The Arizona Republic. Geographically speaking, there is the city of Phoenix and downtown Phoenix, then there are the surrounding valleys. If you want to see Phoenix's wildlife in a more controlled environment, make sure to visit the Phoenix Zoo, where you can visit some of the city's unique inhabitants from the safety of their enclosure. In addition to the mountains in and around the city, Phoenix's topography is generally flat, allowing the city's main streets to run in a precise grid with wide and spaced roads. In an online survey that measures the cost of living in cities in the U. S., Phoenix scores significantly lower compared with other major cities.
With lots of sun, incredible entertainment and outdoor options, the best cuisine and nightlife destinations around town, you can't go wrong choosing to live in Phoenix. After their move to Phoenix, the Cardinals played their home games at Sun Devil Stadium on the Arizona State University campus in nearby Tempe. Prices rose 30% in Phoenix and Scottsdale but experts say prices are expected to drop this fall. With the creation of the Phoenix Sister Cities (PSC) organization in 1972, Phoenix became a member of the international sister cities movement.
A new location was chosen three miles west of the original settlement which contained several parcels of farmland and lots officially began selling under the Phoenix name in December of that year. Play Frisbee and picnic at South Mountain Park and Preserve -the country's largest municipal park-, drive through Phoenix Mountains Preserve on State Route 51; climb Camelback Mountain; watch sunrise at Hole-in-the-Rock in Papago Park; People love to talk about whether Phoenix should exist (who can forget that they call it least sustainable city in world). The arrival of railroad valley 1880s was first several events that turned Phoenix into shopping center whose products reached Eastern Western markets.