Moving to a new city can bring many new challenges, stresses, and obstacles. It can be nearly overwhelming when faced with all of the pressure and changes, and the overall importance of the decision itself, especially when deciding where to move to!
It can be rather simple to find positive aspects of living in nearly any city. It is more difficult, however, to be educated on the negative parts of living somewhere. This article explains 17 reasons why moving to Douglas, Arizona may not be the best fit for you and your family.
1. High Poverty Rate
The poverty line is placed to help in the identification of a population’s income levels, and how well they are able to attend to their basic needs based on that rate of pay. In Douglas, Arizona, the poverty rate
is within the top 10th percentile at a rate of 31.9%. This means that nearly 32% of residents in the town live at or below the poverty line in terms of annual income. Residents are not overly wealthy by any means, and most are barely getting by on what money they are making. Half of the households in the area earn less than $31,000 in a full year of working. This is a rather poor city and area in general.
2. High Crime Rate
Crime rates in Douglas, Arizona are alarmingly high. It is not a very safe city when viewed alongside the crime statistics of the area. In fact, Douglas is only considered to be safer than 20% of US cities. In property crime rates, Douglas ranks higher than the national average of 19, with a rate of 23,89 property crimes per 1,000 residents. This means that when in Douglas, you have a 1 in 42 chance of becoming a victim of a property crime.
The area is also concerning when it comes to the number of crimes performed per square mile at a rate of 41. The national average of crimes per square mile is nearly half the amount that Douglas shows, at 26.9 crimes per square mile. These are important statistics to keep in mind when deciding to move yourself or your family into the city. Crime rates provide excellent clarity on the safety of an area.
3. Unemployment
Jobs in the city of Douglas have been disappearing quickly. Between the years of 2012 and 2017, the city’s employment rate by 37.5%. Currently, the city has an unemployment rate of 5.9%. Douglas has experienced a -0.9% decrease in the job market over the course of the last year. Unfortunately, the predicted growth rate of jobs in the area over the next decade is predicted to be 13% lower than the national average.
In short, be sure to find a good job before making the move to Douglas blindly, or you may be forced to move out quickly so you can search for work elsewhere!
4. Not Much to Do
On the subject of boredom, this is not only limited to the historical sites in town. In fact, nearly the entire city is a boring place to be. There are not many exciting activities or pastimes in Douglas. Some of the few entertainment options in the city are listed below.
- Douglas Art Gallery
- 15th Street Park
- Slaughter Ranch Museum
- Douglas Golf and RV Park
- Airport Park
- The Douglas- Williams House
- The Gadsden Hotel
- Border Air Museum
- The San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge
The majority of activities in Douglas are museums or historical sites. The area is not very kid-friendly and doesn’t provide much for teenagers to do either. This can cause children to get into and cause a lot of trouble because they are bored, which isn’t good in the long run.
5. Super Small Town
Douglas is extremely small for a city. In fact, it only covers an area of 9.981 square miles! There isn’t much space for entertainment options, restaurants, shopping, or other diversity in businesses. There aren’t many people in the city to meet or with whom to grow relationships.
With a population of only 16,292, you may even begin to recognize many other residents in town with only a short time living in Douglas. On the bright side, you are able to walk nearly everywhere! Small towns don’t usually require cars to travel from place to place, though the air conditioning may be a lifesaver in the summer.
6. Lots of Historical Sites
To some people, this may not only be a positive aspect of life in Douglas, but it could be a selling point in moving there! The majority of people, however, won’t find these sites to be all that thrilling. The Slaughter Ranch Museum is one example of these locations, but there are also statues in the town as well. In short, Douglas has a lot of places that most people visit only once or less than that even before growing bored of them.
7. Poorly Rated Schools
Several parents and students online complain that the local schools do not prepare children for further education. Douglas High School is placed in the bottom 50% of all Arizona schools for test scores. They placed in the bottom 50% for both math and reading proficiency scores. Under 20% of students are achieving proficiency in math, and less than 30% are successful in reaching proficiency in language arts and reading.
This is incredibly worrying for parents, so if you have children and want them to get a good education, you shouldn’t move to Douglas.
8. Middle of Nowhere
There are not many cities near Douglas, Arizona. In fact, many of those that are located nearby have smaller populations than Douglas itself, which only has approximately 16,292 residents! Here are some of the neighboring cities, their distance from Douglas, and their population.
| City | Distance from Douglas | Population |
| Bisbee | 27 miles | 5,199 |
| Sierra Vista | 51 miles | 43,756 |
| Tombstone | 49 miles | 1,205 |
| Benson | 73 miles | 4,857 |
| Green Valley | 145 miles | 20,857 |
| Nogales, Arizona | 112 miles | 20,182 |
| Rio Rio | 116 miles | 19,948 |
With vast desert extending for miles separating them, these towns and cities are a considerable distance from Douglas. The majority of these cities are nearly the same size or smaller than the city itself as well, meaning that there won’t be any short commutes to experience real nightlife or big city lights and entertainment for Douglas residents. This kind of trip would require more planning, money, distance, and time.
9. Unbearable Heat
Summers in Douglas can become incredibly hot. The average high temperatures even during winter months are in the mid-60s, and during the summer, the temperature can get up to triple digits. The low temperatures during summer months are only about 67 degrees Fahrenheit. This kind of heat really sucks the energy out of people, and most definitely drives a large portion of people indoors so they can enjoy the air conditioning! Arizona really is a desert, and the heat there shows this clearly!
10. Quiet Place, Quiet Pace
Being such a small town, and nowhere near any larger cities, Douglas has a quiet feel to it. The pace within the town is rather slow and relaxed, especially in the summer heat when the high temperatures keep people moving very slowly. Not many big, loud, or exciting events take place in the city. It really does provide a good small-town feel.
For anyone looking for some peace and a relaxed feel, Douglas is the place! This can become boring and slow, however, for young single adults or young families.
11. Border Town
To be clear, this is NOT an innately bad thing. In fact, there are many incredible opportunities and benefits to living on the border of another country. For some people, however, this can be seen as a negative factor. Some people complain about the learning of English, thick Mexican accents, and the number of people that come to the city from Mexico throughout the year. Again, this is all based on the opinion of some residents that have complained. If you don’t know Spanish, you may not want to move to this city.
12. Conservative
While Arizona is considered a swing state, Douglas is most definitely a conservative city. In the 2020 presidential election, a 58.6% majority of participating voters in the city voted for the Republican party candidate. Only 39.1% supported the Democratic party candidate. So, when moving to Douglas, be prepared for views such as strong support for gun rights, pro-life abortion views, and other Republican party efforts.
13. Desert
Southern Arizona is literally a desert. In fact, it is known as the Sonoran Desert Region and spans all of the way up to the Mogollon Rim. Desert animals such as javelina, coyote, bighorn sheep, bobcat, cottontail, Mexican wolf, bats, and jackrabbits all live in this area. Southern Arizona is also home to rattlesnakes and scorpions, both of which are among some of the most well-known desert animals.
Being located in a desert, the Douglas city area is also very susceptible to droughts. More than half of the state of Arizona entered a severe drought status in 2020. Wells used for water pumping in Cochise County are coming up dry after years of use. Dry wells are leaving residents in desperate need of water.
14. Insects and Pests
There are many types of insects and pests that infest homes and businesses in Douglas. Some of these include bark beetles, black widows, sun spiders or wind scorpions, palo verde beetle, centipedes, ants, conenose bugs, blister beetles, scorpions, false chinch bugs, and drain flies.
Other frustrating critters found in the area are rattlesnakes, coral snakes, Gila monsters, roof rats, cicadas, tarantulas, pinacate beetles, and bees.
Each of these different species has specific traits and dangers that make them especially beneficial to avoid. Investing in quality pest control is an excellent idea when living in Southern Arizona. This may save you from some frightening and even dangerous encounters that could even occur in your own home without offensive protection efforts!
15. Wildfire Risk
While Douglas may be safe from some types of natural disasters, it is not completely safe from all nature-related tragedies that can occur. In specific, Douglas is particularly susceptible to wildfires. Future disaster analysis research believes that approximately 5,941 properties in Douglas face some level of risk from wildfire damage over the next 30-year period. And yes, this does include 100% of properties in the city.
This is an alarming prospect. 100% of residential homes, commercial properties, social facilities, and commercial properties face a major risk of being destroyed or severely damaged by wildfires in the area. For anyone who finds this too concerning, or too high of a risk, Douglas may not be the best place for you to settle down.
16. Far from an Airport
Living the perfect distance from an airport can be a tricky thing to accomplish. Having your home too closely positioned to an airport leads to incredible traffic, big lights flashing and moving around all night, and loud noises for every take-off and landing, at all hours of the day. It can also be dangerous if something goes wrong with the plane or if landing or take-off goes poorly.
Douglas, however, has an opposing issue. The city is too far away from a decent airport. This means that the residents who wish to travel larger distances will need to drive about 114 miles before you arrive. They will be forced to repeat this journey upon arrival as well! After a long vacation and hours of travel in airplanes, the last thing anyone needs to do is spend 2 hours in a hot car just so they can get home.
17. Imbalance of Gender Ratio
In the city of Douglas, there is a significant gender ratio imbalance among residents. The male population in Douglas accounts for a total of 62.4% of the city’s population. This may not seem like a largely impactful fact to be aware of when looking at moving to a city, but keep in mind that gender gap studies have proven increased rates of aggressive and antisocial behavior in this type of situation.
