arizona: i heard it is fountain hills? i am 18. have my high school diploma and im planning to live on my own by working a full time job. i was wondering what is the cost of rent of a studio apartment. what would be the best place for me to live in arizona? in fact what is the cheapest/lowest cost of living state in america, is it texas?|||Fountain hills is all old people. Look into Chandler, North Phoenix, Surprise, Anthem, Peoria. These are all right near Phoenix. Yuma is cheaper but it's 2.5 hours from Phoenix out in the desert- it is only 2.5 hours to San Diego though so that's fun! Studio apartments in non ghetto areas are on average 550/month. The cheapest states are most likely south- Texas, Miss, Arkansas, or middle states where no one wants to live- Oklahoma, Kansas. East coast and west coast are expensive.|||Forget Fountain Hills and Scottsdale.. I recommend North Phoenix, North Glendale and North Peoria.. Also, Surprise has some really great deals.|||There are so many houses in foreclosure or preforeclosure in Arizona right now that you can buy a house for less than rent in most cases. Even in Phoenix, at the Baseline/I-10 intersection, there are apartments for rent for under $700 for a two bedroom. The biggest problem with Arizona is that there aren't a ton of jobs available right now. It's getting slightly better, and we have a lower unemployment than the national average. At 18, and pretty much unskilled, you'll be competing with other people older than you and with more job experience, even for entry level jobs. Being bi-lingual is a huge plus in this state, for obvious reasons. I am hopeful that things will turn around out here, possibly with an influx of companies working on solar energy or companies relocating from the state of California (Arizona is far more employer friendly than CA), but it may take 2-3 more years.