What is it like to live in Gilbert or Chandler AZ?
If you have a family with children ages 0 – 18, and you live in Gilbert or Chandler, can you tell me what it is like to live there? What kinds of things are there to do? How are the schools? How safe is it? How "family-friendly" is it? Is it like a smaller community, or bigger-city feel? Are there plenty of things to do in the area? What do you and your children do for fun in the summer when it is so hot? Do you love living there, or would you prefer to live somewhere else in the area? What would you say are the differences between Gilbert and Chandler?
i’m amazed at how much negativity you’re receiving about this!!!
i’ve lived in az for about 16 years now and i currently live in chandler and i LOVE it.
i’ve lived in glendale,scottsdale,mesa, and tempe and i can tell you out of all those cities-i would still choose chandler…..
i have 3 children ages 7,5,and 4 and my boyfriend also has two nieces ages 7 and 4 that live in chandler as well.
there are tons of kid oriented things to do very close by. chandler mall is a great place to take the kids to unwind and do a little shopping. there is always a walmart or target nearby as well. we have a local park down the street from our home with a huge lake, free water park for the kids to splash around in, and a train to ride-we love it. the area is safe-i know all of my neighbors and i have yet to see a cop car in the four years we have lived there. we are members of an awesome church and the people are great. there are several community pools too with water slides,and a kiddie area for toddlers and an ice skating rink that my girls just love. the city of awahtuhkee is close by and has a few kid things i like to take my girls to as well.
gilbert isn’t much different from chandler other than it does have more room to grow so expect more people and businesses to pop up.
the schools in my area are great-i’ve had no problems with my oldest who is going into second grade and my middle child will be starting kindergarten this year.
here are some links of kid oriented things that might prove helpful along with some other links to tell you about the cities…good luck to you
http://www.chandleraz.gov/
http://www.ci.gilbert.az.us/
aztoytown.com
http://www.desertbreezerr.com/start.html
June 1st, 2010 at 12:48 am
its hot, and thats a very big problem. the winters are nice. depends where you live, thats the feeling you get. there are things to do in AZ, depending on what do you need. Swimming is big.. indoor activites are more preffered. both places are equal.
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June 1st, 2010 at 1:22 am
UGHHH more people moving here????????
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(Phoenix native)
June 1st, 2010 at 1:52 am
It’s total suburbia.You are far away from everything, there is little to no culture, and it’s miserably hot (that’s all of Phoenix metro) It’s very family friendly because there are a ton of mormons and not much else. The schools are alright, but if you do your researh you will find the AZ schools are some of the worst in the country in comparison. Might want to make sure that’s where you want to raise your children. I used to live in Mesa (next to Gilbert) and couldn’t stand it so I moved to downtown Phoenix.
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June 1st, 2010 at 2:34 am
Gilbert and Chandler have had huge growth spurts in the last few years and have become humongous suburbs. These former small towns are now miles and miles of tract homes and shopping centers. A friend of mine who lives in Gilbert says there are now three Walmarts within a few miles of her home! There is one large shopping mall, where you cannot find a parking space on evenings and weekends. Another mall is planned.
The schools have been unable to keep up with the growth and are very crowded. They stagger school start and end times for different grade levels to help with the overcrowding. There is a shortage of school bus drivers, so many students have to get the bus very early and get home very late in the afternoon. However, there are some very good charter schools in the area as well as private schools.
The area is very family oriented. They have very nice public swimming pools and many places for your kids to take part in dance, gymnastics, karate, sports, etc. There are a lot of parks and bicycle trails. It is a very safe area.
People who live out there and work in central Phoenix have a very long commute. If you want to go to the airport or to any professional sports it will also be a very long drive. I really like the area we live in, which is called Ahwatukee. It is a part of the city of Phoenix but is kind of a "nook" tucked behind South Mountain Park, west of I-10. It is also very safe and famly oriented, with plenty to do. My children attend a wonderful charter school here. It is a very desirable area. The only down side it that they are thinking of building a freeway to the south where it is now Indian reservation, but that is many years away if it happens at all.
P.S. I believe the reason Arizona public schools overall get bad reports is because we are educating illegal immigrants who do not speak English and also kids from the Indian reservations. These poor children who have had a bad start have a difficult time and bring down the overall state scores. The Chandler and Gilbert schools are full of children from middle and upper class families, and they do quite well.
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June 1st, 2010 at 2:50 am
i’m amazed at how much negativity you’re receiving about this!!!
i’ve lived in az for about 16 years now and i currently live in chandler and i LOVE it.
i’ve lived in glendale,scottsdale,mesa, and tempe and i can tell you out of all those cities-i would still choose chandler…..
i have 3 children ages 7,5,and 4 and my boyfriend also has two nieces ages 7 and 4 that live in chandler as well.
there are tons of kid oriented things to do very close by. chandler mall is a great place to take the kids to unwind and do a little shopping. there is always a walmart or target nearby as well. we have a local park down the street from our home with a huge lake, free water park for the kids to splash around in, and a train to ride-we love it. the area is safe-i know all of my neighbors and i have yet to see a cop car in the four years we have lived there. we are members of an awesome church and the people are great. there are several community pools too with water slides,and a kiddie area for toddlers and an ice skating rink that my girls just love. the city of awahtuhkee is close by and has a few kid things i like to take my girls to as well.
gilbert isn’t much different from chandler other than it does have more room to grow so expect more people and businesses to pop up.
the schools in my area are great-i’ve had no problems with my oldest who is going into second grade and my middle child will be starting kindergarten this year.
here are some links of kid oriented things that might prove helpful along with some other links to tell you about the cities…good luck to you
http://www.chandleraz.gov/
http://www.ci.gilbert.az.us/
aztoytown.com
http://www.desertbreezerr.com/start.html
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chandler resident
mother of 3
June 1st, 2010 at 3:13 am
Gilbert and Chandler are perfect for families. You are far enough away from ASU and the college kids and far enough away from the drunks in scottsdale, but close enough to get anywhere you need to be. It is super family friendly with lots of activites such as put put golf, and waterparks. In the summer you pretty much live in the swimming pool, i would not recommend living here without a pool in your back yard otherwise your summers would seem extremly long. Gilbert is a little more rural then Chandler. It goes Tempe, with Chandler to the east and Gilbert to the south. Another suburb that i actually like is Awatukee. Its worth checking out, more golf courses are near by.
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Live in Tempe for 6 years.
June 1st, 2010 at 3:42 am
in chandler. there is a school names hanncock and a child was able to runaway from the bus! the students do not have good manners.the playground there is actually no playground. well not that much. onmly a field, slide, amd 6 swings and 4 basketball hoops. but i havent heard anything bad about gilbert. i prefer gilbert not chandler. gilbert has less constuction. gilbert is more beautiful. but chandler has shopping places. a lot of them.
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June 1st, 2010 at 4:03 am
The Valley of the Sun is one very large community that is what you make it. The number one thing you will find here is the sun, lots of it. And the heat. Like they say it is a dry heat, but what we also say is it is still heat just the same. I.e. you go running in the morning in Florida you feel like you will drown. You run in Arizona you feel like you will burn.
If you move to the valley of the sun, you will need to own a car for each adult in the house. If you have children your second car is extremely important as this will probably be the only way you will be able to get everybody where they need to go. There is very little in the way of alternative transportation unless you live near Phoenix and have a banker’s hour type of job, but you will still need your cars.
Houses are very expensive here. I live in a 2 bedroom house built in 1957. I paid $107,000 for it 2 and half years ago. Now it’s worth over $200,000. I am tempted to sell my house here, go back east, and pay cash on the barrel head for a home that is twice as big with twice as much property as my home here. Folks are buy homes here site unseen which is why one out of every two people who come here go back where they came from in just a couple of years. Make sure you come here and spend time in June and August looking at your prospective neighborhood.
The cost of living is high here. I have not seen any other place where gas is more expensive, $3.01 a gallon right now for cheap grade at the cheap places. Again don’t forget you will be using your car more here than anywhere else.
It IS getting crowded here. Check out some of the government web sites that can give you the demographic here. There is a significant part of the population that emigrates here from foreign lands. This will affect you in your community. The entire valley has multiple families living in homes designed for single families. My neighbors have six cars, each driven by a different adult. I have no idea how many children live there. Which brings me to another point?
Back east folks know their neighbors. They grew up with them, lived, schooled and worked together. Here people do not know each other. There is little if any interaction among the neighbors except where organizations intervene. By the time you meet somebody you are only finding out that they are moving away. Most places you go here you see the customary six foot walls dividing neighborhoods and dividing properties.
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