Worst Places to Live in Arizona 2024

foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] what's going on everybody this is living in Arizona now and today we're going to talk about the worst places to live in Arizona let's do it [Music] [Applause] [Music] as always there will be time stamps Below in the description so you guys can bounce around from location to location to see exactly what places there are on this list the way this list was put together was based off of crime statistics and opinions based off of locals here in Arizona first place to talk about is going to be South Phoenix now South Phoenix is one of the oldest areas in Phoenix but when it comes to Crime it is up there among the most dangerous areas to be the real area to avoid is going to be just north of South Mountain and south of the Salt River this is the area where it's a little bit more industrial and higher crime rates also if you go around the area of Madison towards the southwest side of downtown you will see a lot of homeless encampments there are some nice neighborhoods around South Mountain just because of the fact the mountains are so beautiful and it is a preserve but once you start heading towards the Salt River that's where it really starts to get a bit fuzzy and it's got some of the highest crime rates in all of Metro Phoenix because of gang culture and all that the average median home price around here is around 350 000 so it does have a lower income housing area right here also if you go a little bit further west you'll be in Tolleson the main thing that goes on out here is industry and because there's so much industry and lacking in residential it does tend to attract a little bit more of a rough crowd and it's right along the railroad tracks out here but as you can see there is some new construction going on out here in South Mountain so there is gentrification taking place so to speak where they are trying to urbanize and modernize the area kind of taking it out of that rough rugged kind of feel next up is another area in Phoenix this here is known as Sunny Slope now it is up against the Phoenix mountains preserve this is actually around the place known as piazzwa Peak also you have Cave Creek Road comes right through here the funny thing about this area is right down the road is the Arizona Biltmore Estate so it's kind of a rough area right up against Sunnyslope and then you're in one of the best areas in the Biltmore in Phoenix so it's kind of a weird dynamic I know but Central Avenue essentially starts right up here in Sunnyslope but as you go around Sunny Slope you'll be like yeah I don't really know if I want to be here nothing really against Sunny Slope I like all these areas in Arizona by the way it's just I'm letting you know that if you talk to some locals they'll tell you South Mountain and Sunny Slope are places that you probably don't want to live and as with South Mountain there is a problem with drugs and some gangs it's more the drug situation that's going on out here around Cave Creek Road in the Sunny Slope area the interesting thing is there are some nice homes here it's just right there along Cave Creek Road Dunlap Northern that area is a bit rough but as you start proceeding down uh Central Avenue you'll see some really beautiful homes Sunny slopes also a very old area of Phoenix there isn't any new construction projects really going on around here you can find some cheap apartments and some mobile homes around here also some smaller homes my mom used to live in this area for a little while that's how I know that she didn't really recommend it to too many people after living there by the way you'll know you're in Sunnyslope because you'll see a big S on the mountain the average median home price around here is about three hundred and seventy thousand dollars next up we're moving down south of Phoenix this is about an hour away from Phoenix it's called Coolidge now Coolidge has been getting a lot of attention because they're building factories down here because of the cheap land but if you take a drive down the main drag here in Coolidge you'll see why this is not such an amazing place to live currently but the interesting thing is there is a lot of new housing developments being built or proposed to be built here in Coolidge so it could go from a place you don't want to be to a place you might want to be within the next 20 years or so that main drag is known as Highway 287 by the way now here they do have the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument which is just south of the Gila River so that's basically what this area is known for although it doesn't quite have the same crime rates as Sunny Slope and South Phoenix the thing that makes this place so undesirable is the way it looks really I mean I had a friend come in from Massachusetts and they love Arizona and they said you know I finally went to the first place in Arizona I didn't like and they were referring to Coolidge they said they drove down the road in Coolidge and was like no I would not like to live in this place so just keep that in mind Coolidge doesn't really look that good but it could change really quickly in the next 20 years Coolidge is also another place where they don't have the best school so the literacy rates do suffer for that and there's not much opportunity for intellectual and economic growth here and as far as what does a night out on the town look like well there's not too much going on unless you're going over to your friend's house as far as food goes they have a couple fast food joints right along the main drag and not very much else so eating out going out not something really do out here and that's what puts Coolidge on this list [Music] and what we're going to do now is we're going to head just down the road a bit 30 minutes and end up in Casa Grande Right Here along the I-10 now Casa Grande is sought after by retirement people so if you're a retiree Casa Grande might pull up on your list but everyone else probably doesn't really want to end up in Casa Grande because it's really not the place to be it doesn't have a lot going on it's very hot in the summertime in between Phoenix and Tucson really it's kind of been a pit stop along the way where you get gas maybe a bite to eat they used to have the outlet mall but the outlet mall went out of business out here the average median home price around Casa Grande is anywhere between 340 to 375 for your average home out here they do have some new builds and they have cheaper uh homes in these mobile home parks that people buy but you got to pay the fees for a living in there one thing I will say about Casa Grande is it keeps coming up on the list of places to build big theme parks or build big entertainment centers but the deal always falls through they actually had a deal to bring dreamport Village to Casa Grande and that's because the Interstate 8 and I-10 interchange is right there which would have made it a perfect place for a large amusement park which would have basically changed the whole dynamic for Casa Grande but it didn't happen and that's kind of been the story of Casa Grande's life it always kind of comes up on the radar as the next big place to go and then it just Fizzles out and dies off the downtown area actually looks pretty good but it's completely sleepy and dead there's nothing going on down there any time of the day maybe an occasional event on the 4th of July or on New Year's you'll have something going on occasionally but for the most part when you're in the downtown area it's completely dead lots of empty structures no businesses the lights are off so downtown Casa Grande needs a facelift hopefully it comes soon but as of right now stay away you can still get cheap land out here in Casa Grande that could eventually be worth a lot of money but you'd have to sit on it for a few decades all right from Casa Grande we're gonna head down south to Ajo now Ajo actually ended up on a list of best small towns and the reason we put it on there for the best small towns is because people are looking to be in a real small town are going to like Ajo but the thing about Ajo it's very hot also cold Winters especially at night but it's right there on the border so they get a lot of border patrol activity and the problems that go along with living along the border and then it's just very arid and dry not too much going on they do get occasional monsoons which can be fun that's the usual excitement it used to be a boom town because there was a big mining industry going on there and that's kind of fizzled down and right now you're going to get a Family Dollar and a weekend out in Ajo pretty much you got to go down to Rocky Point Mexico to get any sort of action or go up to Phoenix some people would say oh well why don't you go to Oregon pipe National Park well I would say how many times you're going to go to Oregon pipe National Monument before that gets old so living in Ajo I would say not exactly the best place to be they don't really have any chain restaurants and the small mom-and-pop restaurants are very limited and here is a look at those large mines right next to the city center just below Ajo is another town called why and it's also right next to the Tohono o'odham Native American reservation so keep that in mind but like I said they do get border patrol activity over here which makes it kind of a dangerous place because we've heard stories about illegal migrants crossing the border and then becoming hostile because they're interacting with the cartels down here so something to keep in mind but you can have a peaceful lifestyle if you really want to live off the grid you might encounter a couple situations with the migrants over time but if you can stomach that then you should be good out here in Ajo but the good news is in Ajo the average median home price is around 132 thousand dollars and there's good reason for that whereas the other places on the list they had really high average median home prices and high crime aho has the opposite problem low activity and very cheap and because of the old mining boom those homes there are at least 40 to 50 years old you're not going to find any new builds here in Ajo okay now from Southern Arizona we're actually going to head to the north this time we're headed to Winslow Arizona that's right standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona such a Mighty Fine Place to be or something like that I don't know the exact words but that's old Winslow well guess what it's got high crime you can look it up online if you look up the crime statistics Winslow always comes up in the top 10 for most dangerous places to be in Arizona but another thing that makes this place really not very nice is the fact that the surrounding environment is Barren it's cold cold Winters with a lot of wind and then the summers are scorching hot so not too much grows out here because the vegetation lilies are either freeze or it will cook and Winslow's barely hanging on as a Route 66 main stop that's kind of hanging on to its Old Glory from that song but as far as Economic Opportunity goes around Winslow the closest place you're going to find any sort of economic or intellectual activity is going to be out there in Flagstaff I know it sounds a bit harsh that I'm talking like this but I'm giving you guys the cold hard facts there is Sunset Crater and meteor crater even closer where you can work at the national parks or the regular private park at the meteor crater up to you but that's about it that's going on out here it's mostly tourists related a little bit of local economy some restaurants but not too much going on it is nearby the little Colorado River and the Native American reservation the thing about being close to a Native American reservation is they really don't want you guys on that territory or on that land unless you are Native American so that's something to keep in mind being out there it's kind of place where it's like what are you doing out here if you're not really from here you don't probably want to settle in Winslow because I don't think they're going to really look upon you as welcome now the BNSF Railway does go through here it connects all the way to Flagstaff and Beyond but that railroad can be a bit loud also some people like to settle here because it is so sleepy and Way Off the Grid it's kind of a place to be out of the beaten path up here in the northern Arizona High Country average median home price out here in Winslow is 168 thousand dollars so that's affordable next up we're headed to Globe now Globe is another town that made the best Arizona small towns because it is a great small town but if you're not the type looking for a small town you probably don't want to end up in Globe Miami area because it is super sleepy super boring there's Roosevelt Lake nearby that's about the only activity and some hiking I've met people who moved to Globe from other countries and I was like how did you end up there and they told me they don't really like it there's also a casino kind of nearby but for the most part Globe has a very small mining community that still exists there with Freeport McMoRan so that's something that's kind of keeping Globe Miami alive the old downtown area for globe and even Miami it does look nice it's like a historical area the thing is it's completely sleepy like nothing is going on down there if you go to either one of those two towns downtown areas very sleepy by the way it is called Globe Miami because they're very close to each other it's like sister cities average median home price out here is just under two hundred thousand dollars but the thing is there hasn't been any new construction really in Globe for the last 20 30 40 years even there might be a little bit of new construction here and there but nothing really on a large scale so everything's really old infrastructure the homes are old they might get mold you know the crime is fairly High Globe does rank as one of the highest rated crime destinations in Arizona Globe is about an hour east of Phoenix now we're actually headed back out to Phoenix Metro this is West Phoenix this is Buckeye now Buckeye is an interesting place because it sits at the base of the White Tank Mountains which are fairly beautiful and they have built a very nice resort and Community out there called verado but aside from verado there's nothing really going on out here in Buckeye the thing that makes Buckeye cool is the fact that the Gila River the Salt River and the Agua Fria all converge right here in Buckeye making it a very fertile area for farming but because of the farming it smells out here there's not a lot going on people moved to Arizona because they're noticing that Verrado popped up on the map and Buckeye was considered one of the fastest growing communities but the truth is if you move out to Buckeye you're going to be bored I mean you're going to have to go so far to get to any sort of entertainment of value it's really not too much going on out here in Buckeye even though they tried to Market Buckeye as the next Master playing Community the truth is you don't really want to end up in Buckeye down the road a little bit is Goodyear which is nice if you go up into Estrella Mountain Ranch but really I hate to say it but Buckeye on the way to San Diego or Los Angeles not too much out here so I would say skip now I will say this Verrado here does show a glimmer of hope for what could be possible in Buckeye but it's taken forever to really kind of establish itself it's nice for the people who live in Verrado but outside of Verrado Buckeye is very boring and just down the road from Buckeye is Glendale so West Phoenix really isn't considered the best place to be as you can see you've seen now Southwest Phoenix on the list Tolleson is another place that you could add to that list and there's Glendale now the interesting thing about Glendale is this is where they moved the Arizona Cardinals they tried to move the Coyotes out here but the thing is the truth is the coyotes they had to leave because there's no economic value out here for them there was no fan base people come from far and wide to watch the Cardinals and they go to State Farm stadium and if it wasn't for State Farm stadium and the Cardinals out here in Glendale Glendale would probably be even worse off than it really is but they do have Westgate and they have a nice entertainment area around this area of the U.S 101 or The Loop 101 I should say but really I hate to say it but Glendale is not the place to be unless you're looking for cheap homes you can find homes around 320 to 340 but but Scott high crime drivers out here are not very patient so if you're out here in Glendale hope you understand it's just not the place to be most people who moved to Glendale from out of state they live here and they say why would anyone live in Phoenix well it's because you live in Glendale there you go next up we're headed down to Tucson the only part of Tucson that really kind of makes this list is going to be south Tucson down there by the airport and a little bit further south within a 15 no maybe a 10 mile radius south Tucson has high crime if you look at the list of top five uh most dangerous places in Arizona south Tucson typically makes that list along with Tolleson and South Phoenix so add Tucson south Tucson I should say to the list of places you should avoid now I want to say final thoughts on this whole list I know some of you guys who live in Arizona might end up living here and saying hey bad list why did you say such a negative thing about these places for some people this is good places to be I mean if if you're looking for some peace and quiet some of these towns might be for you or if you're looking for more of that cheap affordable lifestyle some of these places might be for you it's just I'm making this list as a general consensus of what people would say are the least favorable places to live I could have added Bullhead City to the list and I could have added a couple other places but this is the list hope you guys enjoyed this video if you did consider subscribing and liking the video also watch some more of these other videos I'll put a small town video and I'll also put a travel guide [Music] foreign

Channel: Living in Arizona Now

Views: 445,694

Keywords: Arizona, Phoenix, moving to Arizona, live in Arizona, worst places to live in Arizona, places to live in Arizona, dangerous Arizona, South Phoenix, South Tucson, Arizonas most dangerous

Id: cP4ZwkCrqGY

Length: 18min 40sec (1120 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 04 2023