Scottsdale Arizona Real Estate Blog

3,872 hours of sun a year: With its scenic Sonoran Desert location, Phoenix enjoys sunshine for nearly 85 percent of the year, making it one of the sunniest places in America.

Arizona’s capital city is a magnet for travelers escaping northern winters, and there’s plenty to do and see here: Watch the Phoenix Suns play basketball, visit the Heard Museum or the Desert Botanical Garden, or do what thousands of visitors do: play golf.

More than 200 public, private and resort courses are in the greater Phoenix area, so you can hardly swing your nine-iron without hitting a green.

Scottsdale has outranked Chandler as the eighth best-run city in the nation, according to an analysis by 24/7 Wall St.

The financial news and opinion company said it chose Scottsdale for its healthy employment, low poverty and stable Aaa rating.

Among the largest cities, Scottsdale has the seventh-highest median income in the nation, the highest percentage of high school graduates at 95.9 percent, and is in the top 10 for unemployment and health insurance, according to the online article.

Chandler, which came in ninth, has a Aaa stable rating, and in 2010 had the ninth-lowest unemployment rate among the largest cities and the sixth-lowest poverty rate, 24/7 Wall St. said.

The Delaware-based company reviewed the economies, standard of living and fiscal discipline of the 100 largest cities by population.

Virginia Beach, Va., ranked first, followed by Irvine, Calif., Madison, Wis., Fremont, Calif., Lincoln, Neb., Chesapeake, Va., Seattle, Wash., Scottsdale, Chandler and Plano, Texas.

Miami, Fla., was labeled the worst-run city. The full analysis is available at 247wallst.com/category/2012.