Mesa is one of the best places to live, according to Money magazine

There are bigger cities in Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson) and bigger golf meccas too (Scottsdale). Mesa can hold its own in both categories, and it beats them all in one key way—it’s a great, affordable city for raising a family. One prime reason: education. Of the 51 schools that earned the Arizona Educational Foundation’s A+ designation this year, nine were in Mesa. “That’s more than any other district in the state,” says Bobbie O’Boyle, the foundation’s executive director. When it comes to college, Arizona State is just next door in Tempe, while ASU’s Polytechnic campus, which focuses on engineering and aviation, was built on a former Air Force base in town. Housing is another family draw. Word is spreading about Mesa—home prices are up 5.1% in the past year, compared with 3.9% for Arizona as a whole, according to Zillow. But the city remains affordable: The median home price of $172,500 is less than half of ritzy Scottsdale’s, and property taxes are among the lowest in the state. Even tony neighborhoods like the mountainside Las Sendas, 20 minutes from downtown Phoenix on the new Highway 202, are in reach for middle-class families. While palatial Las Sendas homes overlooking the city can hit $2 mil­lion, 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom homes go for $325,000. A new, five-bedroom spread with a pool fetches the same price in the Eastmark development

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