Kevin Ruck/Shutterstock
- A Gen Xer moved last year from Overland Park, Kansas, to Phoenix for work.
- He's paying more for his Phoenix home that's half the size of his Kansas house.
- He said that while Phoenix summers are brutal, the weather is overall better than Kansas.
Ty, 59, has lived in Ohio, Florida, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Indiana while working at various insurance companies. He settled in Overland Park, Kansas, a city near Kansas City with about 200,000 residents.
While he enjoyed living in Kansas, he was ready to move on to a new work opportunity that would set him up well for retirement. Ty, who asked to use just his first name for privacy reasons, settled on Phoenix, and moved there in 2023. He said Phoenix met his retirement and professional goals, had a lot more to do, and had better weather for most of the year.
"A lot of people are coming into Phoenix from surrounding states and bringing in various cultures," Ty said. "I like the activities that are available to you here in Phoenix, and if they're not available, you can easily get on the roadway."
Between 2021 and 2022, nearly 283,000 people moved to Arizona — over 74,000 of whom were from California, Census data revealed. In the second quarter of 2023, Phoenix ranked second in a Redfin analysis of the top 10 metro areas homebuyers are moving into. Almost 205,000 left Arizona during the same time period.
BI previously reported that home prices in Phoenix came down fast in mid-2023 after skyrocketing early in the pandemic. Zillow found that the average home value in Phoenix is $414,000, which was down 0.1% over the last year. Last year, the Phoenix housing market experienced the fewest sales since 2008.
Moving around the US
Ty was born and raised in central Ohio, where he found work at a large insurance company. As he built his way up, he accepted a promotion that allowed him to move to Florida with his family, where he lived in the early 2000s. He enjoyed Florida, though he accepted another promotion in Kentucky, then West Virginia, ultimately followed by one in the Indianapolis area — all with the same company.
"When I was younger in my career, I took the positions I needed to take to be somewhere I want to be," Ty said.
In 2014, he moved to Overland Park, Kansas, for another work opportunity. He said the city was a great place to raise a family and was quite diverse. The area was a hub for healthcare, and the cost of living was lower than some other cities he lived in.
As he nears retirement, he said he was presented with a few options for where to move next both for work opportunities and retirement long-term. He decided between Phoenix, Nashville, and Tampa.
Phoenix suited his professional and retirement goals the best. While Kansas has an income tax of 5.7% on income above $30,000, Arizona has an income tax of 2.5%. While Florida has no income tax, he was drawn in more by the Phoenix area.
He knew housing would be more expensive in Phoenix, though. His home in Phoenix is about half the size and slightly more expensive than the $260,000 price tag of his Kansas home. Though he expects there's still plenty of room for home value appreciation, and he said his home still comes in well below comparable prices in major California cities.
He knew it would somewhat balance out over the years though, as most of his daily expenses from food to auto and home insurance are cheaper in Phoenix.
"I was getting the overall reduction in the tax burden, the overall cost of living outside of housing was cheaper, my utilities are cheaper," Ty said. "If you looked at the overall expenditures that I would have, it was 20% to 25% more, but in return, I was getting good year-round weather, ease of travel, looking into the lower future tax burden when I start to get into my 401(k)."
He's seen prices for homes fall over the last year in Phoenix and nearby Scottsdale.
"With some recent stuff we're hearing about the potential for mortgage rates going down, and with people having more confidence in the 401(k) economy, I think we've kind of seen the bottom of that and will start to see that go back up again," Ty said.
Getting acclimated
While summers can get blistering hot in Phoenix — he moved in July 2023 when temperatures were among the highest ever recorded in the city — he views the weather as primarily a positive. He avoids the snowstorms he experienced in the Midwest, and he said temperatures in January are about 70 degrees during the day and in the 40s at night. The lack of humidity also makes the heat bearable, especially compared to Kansas, he said, though it's taken him some time to get used to less frequent rain.
He enjoys how Phoenix is centrally located between California and other major cities in the state, such as Flagstaff. He's noticed many new residents in Phoenix who have moved from neighboring states, which he didn't observe as much in Kansas.
Phoenix is also opening up new technology facilities that will bring in a large influx of tech workers, he said. The city has also become an insurance and financial services hub that's attracting younger professionals from other major cities.
Ty said that Phoenix is where he sees himself staying for the future, as he's not ready to retire yet.
"I'm at a stage in my life where I'm not looking for that next career, but I'm also looking at what can I do to ensure I'm set up for the remainder of my life, and then I have something that I can pass on to generations in the family," Ty said.
Have you recently moved to a new state? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.