Three suburban Phoenix cities made Money magazine’s list of the 100 best place in America to live: Scottsdale got in, of course. In high school, Scottsdale was voted ‘most likely to be picked first for everything.’ And bucolic Gilbert made the list: Good schools and white-fenced horse properties — like catnip to big-city alley-cats who want desperately to be Connecticut fat-cats instead. But, perhaps as a surprise to some, Mesa also made the cut — and it came in third among cities over 300,000 in population.
From the East Valley Tribune:
Clear skies, plenty of recreational opportunities and rising home values were common attributes for all of the Valley cities on this year’s list, yet each of them had a unique personality that helped it stand out.
Mesa, for instance, was favored because it’s a relatively affordable place to live.
Scottsdale has a lot of golf courses and other recreational opportunities.
Gilbert has seen exceptional job growth, and its residents are among the highest earners in the Valley.
But wait. There’s more good news for Mesans. From the Business Journal:
Quick, what do Mesa and Milwaukee have in common?
The two tied as the least vulnerable to natural disaster among the nation’s 50 largest cities. But Mesa wasn’t the only Arizona city to land near the top of the list created by SustainLane.com. Phoenix and Tucson tied for the No. 3 spot along with Cleveland and El Paso, Texas.
We’ve said all along that the Phoenix metropolitan area is the most disaster-proof region in America.
Here’s an interesting question, though: Given that Mesa and Phoenix are essentially the same place, two huge cities separated only by svelte Tempe, why would Phoenix rank third and Mesa first?
Here’s a theory: At the same time that Phoenix was voting to raise property taxes, Mesa was cutting its taxes to the quick. Could it be that property taxes are the most perilous disaster of all?
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