If you live in a Chandler zip code, you know that our city is not always favorably looked upon by those looking for excitement. In fact, Forbes magazine once rated us as one of the most boring cities in the entire United States of America, if you can believe that! One of the reasons for this is the location of our city so close to the big tourist Meccas of the continent. We just don't have the food and beverage marketing, the resorts, the attractions that Phoenix and Scottsdale can offer.

Of course, we think there is something to be said for that, particularly if you are planning on using your family's traditional packaging systems to move down to Chandler permanently or over the winter. Those of us living here enjoy all the environmental benefits of the larger cities, but here's what we lack: A huge number of seasonal tourists each year, at least when the economy is good.

That last little part is very important when you consider a home in the Chandler area. Sure, we don't boast that multi million dollar tourist industry, but if nothing else this recession has demonstrated to everyone how fickle tourists can really be. The big cities have dried up economically because no one is travelling anymore. Chandler, on the other hand, still has a very robust economy, although we are located in one of the states hardest hit by the crash in the housing market.

The reason for that is while other locations in Arizona were working on trapping as many visitors as possible, Chandler was building the foundation of a stable economy. Instead of putting up golf resorts, we were planning out industrial parks. And has that planning ever paid off! Today, we are one of the hottest high tech cities in the United States, with everything from Intel CPUs to calibration management software being built here.

And of course, technology is one of the most stable industries in an ever changing world. While current gold and silver prices and other stock measures go up and down by the hour, you can bet that technology is a market that is here to stay. Those with their feet in the door already have the future set, not only for themselves but for their children as well. So it's a good time to be working in the biggest industry (outside of government) in the Chandler area!

And of course, where there is a powerful business sector there are side benefits and spin off jobs too. As we mentioned, government is still the biggest employer in the city, with high paying jobs in utility locating and other services. Retail and tertiary jobs are also widely available.