Arizona cities don't make 'Best Places' list
Rapid growth put Valley cities among the most-desired places to live in recent years, but it may now have launched them out of contention.
No Arizona cities made this year's list of Best Places to Live, published annually by Money magazine.
The publication weighs economic factors heavily when considering cities for the list, which may have hurt the Valley's chance of being included. But that's not necessarily what people consider when they're thinking of moving to a new city.
"Some people want to be in a place that's constantly changing," said Tom Rex of Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business. "Up to a certain point, the larger you get, the more places you have to shop, be employed. After that, growth doesn't tend to give you more choices, it just gives you more of the same choices."
In recent years, Scottsdale, Chandler, Peoria and Gilbert all made the cut.
The list this year focused on communities with populations under 50,000 and targeted economic issues such as job growth and home prices as well as school test scores and crime statistics.
Intangible factors, such as whether a place has a nice sense of community or whether it's near family, may be the most important for people considering a move, said Ron LaMee, spokesman for the Arizona Association of Realtors.
"It's hard for me to imagine somebody consulting a list in order to determine where the best place to live is," he said. "Places grow because people want to live there."
He cited the relatively easy commute from Valley cities into Phoenix, warm weather and good schools as key drivers in area population growth.
In recent years, rapid growth in some Valley cities caused all kinds of numbers to jump, making them look comparatively better on paper than cities in other states. As more people came to the area, home values jumped and jobs, especially in the construction industry, were created.
Growth itself skewed the numbers, Rex said. And now it's keeping Arizona cities off the list.
"Because you're growing fast, doesn't necessarily mean you're growing more prosperous," he said.
Money looks at different-size cities every two years to better track trends and make analysis easier, said magazine spokeswoman Amy Rosen. It also gives national exposure to some places that don't often appear in the news.
"This is providing information for people who may have lost their jobs or be considering a move," Rosen said. "Something like this could open up their options."
On last year's larger-city list, Chandler, Gilbert, Peoria and Scottsdale all made appearances. That's not likely to happen again if the economy stays down, Rex said.
"We here in Arizona are in a very deep recession, so that's going to just shoot us out of the water in terms of the list," he said.
Still, the cities are putting the best face on not making the list.
Scottsdale will remain a great place to be regardless of its size because it is not just another bedroom community, said spokesman Pat Dodds.
"We've been really successful at creating the whole package," he said. "We are an economically sustainable community that still feels like a resort."
It's nice when Scottsdale is included on lists of best cities, but it's not something the city targets, he said.
"They are more of a confirmation of what we already know," he said.
Gilbert Mayor John Lewis said he believes quality of life and jobs will be the key to maintaining Gilbert's reputation as a great place to be even as the town continues to grow.
He said M.D. Anderson's decision to build a new cancer center in Gilbert was partly based on the town's quality-of-life characteristics. The center is scheduled to open in late 2011.
"It's a safe community, clean community and vibrant community," he said. "They did say that was the reason why Gilbert was so attractive."
Proximity to jobs is the main factor for people moving to Peoria, said Community Development director Glen Van Nimwegen.
"In the future what I see is there will be more of a connection to urban environments."
He said downtown Peoria is linked to downtown Phoenix by Grand Avenue and possible future light rail.
The city is focusing its planning on the downtown and sports complex areas, he said.
Not making the list may not be a deal breaker for potential new residents, either, said LaMee, the Realtors' spokesman.
"There's really no magic to it," he said. "It's just really being a desirable place to live."
- By Katherine Greene and Alia Beard Rau | AZ Central