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Old 09-07-2023, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Arizona
3,763 posts, read 6,707,618 times
Reputation: 2397

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As someone who grew up in the Chicago area and moved to AZ and then back to Illinois briefly I can give my two cents. I am bias towards Chicago, it a world class city for a reason. I don't regret moving to AZ at all. The obvious is the weather. As OP stated, AZ weather is better, but this can be subjective. Some people prefer cold weather over hot. The summers in Chicago are absolutely wonderful and the city comes alive with concerts, festivals, etc. I have noticed a lot of cities in the desert have no pride for their town. Plus in Chicago, you are also a short drive to a lot of smaller towns (Springfield), Lake Geneva, Milwaukee, Indy, and Saint Louis.

The thing I hated about AZ is it felt so isolated. One thing that I REALLY hated was driving from Phoenix to say, Las Vegas, there is nothing but dirt. I have gotten a flat at night on these roads, and its a nightmare. Chicago is far more diverse then AZ IMO. The politics are apples and oranges, although AZ was blue at the last election which I question.

In terms of jobs, and good paying ones, Chicago outweighs Phoenix. Phoenix is sprawled out for seemingly no reason, and I have been to almost every part of Phoenix. I find it more ghetto then not. Chicago just has a different feel and vibe to it. If you're looking for your money to go further AZ is better. There are a lot of nice towns in AZ (Prescott, Flagstaff, Havasu), but a lot more nice towns in Illinois.

I found people friendly in both places, but oddly in AZ I got the usual "another one from Chicago" response. It doesn't seem very common to ask people in Illinois where there from nor do we seem to care, at least not in my experience.
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Old 09-08-2023, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Chi 'burbs=>Tucson=>Naperville=>Chicago
2,191 posts, read 1,847,019 times
Reputation: 2978
Weather has driven people to make otherwise irrational or bad decisions.

As in, my life is worse in every way....but I have sun more often and warmer winters. As if that outweighs everything.

It's important, for sure, to enjoy your environment, but sometimes people do this at a very steep price and I don't understand it.
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