Typically, you simply gotta deliver the lake to you.
Whenever you hear of a metropolis like Tempe, Arizona — positioned on the northern fringe of the Sonoran Desert about 10 miles east of Phoenix — a waterfront vista stuffed with paddle boarders, kayakers and boaters may not be the primary picture that pops into your thoughts. Downtown Tempe will nonetheless deal with you to these unexpectedly attractive views vis a vis Tempe City Lake.
However it wasn’t at all times that means. Regardless of its title, Tempe City Lake is definitely a two-mile lengthy, 225-acre synthetic reservoir that was created in 1999 by damming the dry Salt River.
Legend has it that the challenge was born within the ‘60s, when an Arizona State University structure professor requested his college students to reimagine the Salt River mattress, which was getting used as a landfill. No matter its origins, the challenge grew to become an enormous success, and the town authorities says that Tempe City Lake is now the second hottest attraction in all of Arizona, ostensibly behind the Grand Canyon.
Past an important lake, what makes Tempe the very best place to stay within the West (and No. 2 on our total Best Places to Live checklist) is an ideal mixture of a robust economic system, range of inhabitants and affordability.
Cash has narrowed down our Finest Locations checklist into four regions, and we targeted on locations with populations of no less than 50,000 that have been positioned within the 13 Western states as outlined by the U.S. Census. These states embrace: Arizona, Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
We additionally restricted the rankings to at least one place per county and two locations per state. As with our core Best Places to Live rating, we collected roughly 350 items of knowledge on every Western place and grouped that data into 9 major rating classes equivalent to facilities, price of dwelling, range, financial alternative and extra. (See our full Best Places methodology for extra particulars.)
Whereas dwelling to Arizona State College, Tempe is way more than a school city. In fact, there are ample alternatives to check and get together, however the mid-sized city of roughly 190,000 residents additionally boasts a thriving arts and music scene whereas offering a number of methods to benefit from the outside with its plentiful trails and parks.
Tempe’s economic system is especially price noting. Its unemployment charge — which has been hovering within the low 3% vary — has been constantly decrease than neighboring Phoenix, the state of Arizona and the nation total. Job development within the space is anticipated to stay robust within the years forward as properly, leaping greater than 9% by means of 2026, in accordance with projections from Moody’s Analytics. And that’s on high of 9% development between 2016 and 2021.
All these elements present what locals already know: You’ll be able to’t discover a higher place than Tempe to work and play within the West. Try our full high 10 checklist under:
The ten greatest locations to stay within the West
- Tempe, Arizona
- Kirkland, Washington
- Boise Metropolis, Idaho
- Irvine, California
- Fremont, California
- Hillsboro, Oregon
- Denver, Colorado
- Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah
- Westminster, Colorado
- Orem, Utah
Extra from Cash:
The 50 Best Places to Live in the U.S.