Tucson Rated 20th Best City to Live In America

Well, look what we have here! Yet another accolade and feather in Tucson’s cap. According to Resonance Consultancy Tucson is the 20th best city to live in America! That’s no small feat, there are a lot of other cities from sea to shining sea in the USA. And just so you know, that’s up 21 spots from where we ranked last year. Let’s take a look at what made Tucson 20th best city to live in.

Tucson Was Rated Using These Categories
Tucson Was Rated Using These Categories

The 20th Best City

Resonance Consultancy used 6 major categories to grade upon: People, Place, Product, Programming, Promotion, and Prosperity. 

Notably, we ranked #14 in Place,

“Fast-growing Tucson is buoyed by its sense of place, ranking #10 in both our Weather and our Parks & Outdoors subcategories. The city is poised to ascend up future national rankings, due to a torrent of new investment in all manner of green and common space,” said Resonance.

The company also rightfully credits the University of Arizona for our cities “youthful bounce” considering that almost 25% of our fair city are between the ages of 20-35 years old. We’ve all seen the construction blowing up around the UA and downtown. Growth is coming ready or not. And honestly, we think Tucson is ready for it. You can’t stop the march of progress.

We also ranked #10 nationally on Prosperity if you can believe it. We can. Housing prices are steadily climbing as more and more people take notice of our little jewel in the desert. And, despite the pandemics brutal economic impact on Tucson, we still ranked an impressive #17 in shopping!

What’s Next?

We have no doubt that by 2022 Tucson will continue to scale the Best City list from the 20th best city until we break into the top 10! Where do you think we will rank next year? What about 5 years from now? Well, no matter where we land, we here at See Tucson Homes are ready and excited for it.

The 10 Cheapest Places for Millennials to Live

The Hub - Downtown Hot Spot for Millenials, Cheapest Places for Millennials to Live
The Hub - Downtown Hot Spot for Millenials

10 Cheapest Places for Millennials to Live

Housely.com published an article, The 10 Cheapest Places for Millennials to Live in the U.S. where they considered data about cheap housing, availability of jobs, and social + cultural advantages.

In the past, New York City and Silicon Valley were enticing millennials in groves with fast paced tech jobs and other business opportunities; unfortunately, housing prices were so high (and they still are!) that millennials had trouble finding affordable housing and those with dreams of home ownership had a difficult decision to make and the opportunity cost was high. But now people are saying that Tucson may be the next Silcon Valley.

On the flip side, Florida is known to have an abundant affordable rental housing market, but the retiree demographic and job availability makes it a less desirable long-term destination for millennials.

Young people today are being challenged to think-outside-the-box and find destinations that will offer a more complete package and Tucson definitely does.

Without further ado, The Cheapest Places for Millennials to Live:

10. Austin, TX

9. Dallas, TX

8. Louisville, KY

7. Columbus, OH

6. Dayton, OH

5. Wichita, KS

4. TUCSON, ARIZONA

3. New Bedford, MA

2. Sioux Falls, SD

1. Cape Canaveral, FL

“With a median one bedroom apartment price of $540, it’s no wonder that Money rated Tucson number 4 of their best places for millennials. The article credits the city’s revitalized downtown area and ethnic restaurants as a draw for young renters. Tucson’s job growth is expected to rise 11% over the next five years.”
We’ve done the research and this isn’t an all-encompassing description of why Tucson is one the cheapest places for millennials to live. Did you know we have one the lowest point of entry housing markets in the country? Boasting many programs to help first time home buyers and some the lowest homeowners insurance prices making Tucson a great place for someone just starting out to start their life.
Tucson also has an abundance of art, culture, and a very fun and hip downtown. There’s an abundance of nature– to hike, climb, ski and explore and there are a lot of other amazing places that are a short road trip away like: Las Vegas — 4 hours, Phoenix– 1.5 hours, Rocky Point, Mexico (Where you can rent entire beach front houses for the weekend for a couple hundred dollars)– 4 hours, San Diego, CA– 6 hours, and Showlow, AZ (home of Arizona’s biggest ski & snowboard mountain)– 4 hours.
This is only the tip of the iceberg… If you have questions about art, culture, or housing in Tucson please contact me– I’d be happy to help you however I can.

Tucson Makes the Top 10 Hidden Gems Market

Hidden gem in a pile of rocksWe all know that Tucson is amazing but it’s always great to hear it mentioned by outside sources. This time Tucson made the top 10 list of hidden gems by the National Association of Realtors for 2022. Let’s look at what qualifies as a hidden gem market.

What is a Hidden Gems Market?

According to the NAR a hidden gem market has “strong underlying housing market fundamentals but where home prices are undervalue and relatively affordable. As such, these hidden gem markets are expected to experience stronger price appreciation in 2022.” There’s a more technical definition with numbers, income indicators, technical jargon, etc. But the basics are Tucson is undervalued and still relatively affordable. Now some might argue that locals are getting priced out by cash buyers. Usually from other states looking for “investment properties.” That is indeed happening. But, the fact that Tucson is still a hidden gem is the important part for locals.

What They Said

“Tucson is very affordable in comparison to Phoenix. As of 2021 Q2, the median property value was $261,046. This is equivalent to 3 times the median family income in comparison to the median property value in Phoenix, $364,186, which is 4.3 times the median family income. Among the top 10 undervalued markets, Tucson had the third-largest net domestic migration in 2020, at 10,778 (next to Dallas and San Antonio). Due to strong population growth and net domestic migration, home prices rose at a 3-year cumulative rate from 2018 Q2—2021 Q2 of 23.6%, outpacing wage gains of 15.6%.” What we heard was, Tucson is better than Phoenix! Tucson is more affordable than Phoenix. And Tucson is up and coming and ready for a population boom! Now is the time to think about your current home and what your needs might be in the future. Is it time to upgrade? If the answer is yes, or even a maybe, I can help make those dreams a reality. Download a PDF of the Top 10 Hidden Gems of the Housing Market in 2022! Have a great day! Darren & Tony Ray 😎 🌵🏠☀️  

Tucson Ranked in Top 10 Cities Best Positioned for Pandemic Recovery

According to Forbes magazine, Tucson is one of the top 10 cities in the best position for a post pandemic recovery. Using data collected from Moody’s Analytics they predict the top 10 and the 10 worst cities. “Note that they are sorted alphabetically in order to avoid assigning false precision to our calculations,” Kamins tells Forbes Women.

Tucson is a Top City That Will Recover From Coronavirus
Tucson is a Top City That Will Recover From Coronavirus

Pandemic Recovery Ranking Method

Moodys examines the density of population and compares it against the number of jobs that require a higher degree. They also take into consideration the density of cases across different counties. Those 2 factors alone could indicate why Tucson makes it into the top 10. Because it’s a college town Tucson is overflowing with smart people and has an abundance of open spaces

Some of the other top contenders are Denver (CO), San Jose (CA), and Washington DC. Noticeably these places are also university towns and have beautiful natural resources. Surprisingly Austin, TX did not make this list. Austin is frequently set side by side to Tucson as another blue city in a red state.

Now that the gloating is over we will look at a few of the cities that did not make it. Some of the results may surprise you.

The Have-nots

What do Honolulu (HI), Los Angeles (CA), New York City (NY), and Tampa (FL) all have in common? Aside from being on the top 10 worst recovery cities list? High density, overcrowding tourist traps. Yup, the higher your tourism the more likely you’re in an area heavily afflicted with Coronavirus. They predict that there will be mass out-migration from these densely populous areas towards more sprawling towns. 

Covid 19 is going to loom large in the public consciousness for years to come. For the very young and impressionistic pandemic recovery may always haunt them, much like children of the Great Depression often stockpile non-perishables or hideaway cash money. 

We are certainly fortunate to be in a position where, not only are we poised to recover well, but it’s such a beautiful, and delicious, place to be till then. But, for the foreseeable future, we still have to be vigilant. We have to be willing to do our parts for the greater good. Yes, we are all sick of wearing masks, but for a better future, we must do better now.