We spent years looking for the perfect US city to live in. After our dream picks let us down, we chose a spot we never expected.

We began our journey with a week in Austin, as it was one of our top choices.

The music scene there seemed incredible, but despite plenty of creative opportunities and reasonable rent prices, mass relocation to Austin in recent years has driven up the cost of housing. So, our goal of buying a home seemed out of reach there.

Austin almost felt perfect, but we decided to pivot and drive south to San Antonio. Although the city was initially a favorite, we loved visiting but couldn’t quite picture ourselves living there.

As big country-music fans, Nashville was another dream city for us.

The average rent prices were within our budget, but my husband felt that among thousands of Nashville musicians, he would have more of an uphill battle building a career there.

So, we made a note on our pros and cons list and moved on.

After visiting a few cities in the South, we decided to head west to Los Angeles.

LA was fun, but we quickly decided that its main pro (being a great place for creatives) was outweighed by its cons (bad traffic and high costs of living).

Next, we hit places like Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Las Vegas.

Along the way, we researched the affordability of renting or buying, typical gas prices, and other important factors. I even looked up meetups and wondered how I might make friends and connections as a freelance writer in each place.

We mused, deliberated, visualized, and struck up conversations with everyone we met.

Sometimes, strangers in bars told us to avoid their town at all costs. Other times, locals took our phone numbers and excitedly promised to introduce us to every contact they had if we settled there.

While in Arizona during our second road trip, we planned what was supposed to be a brief visit to Tucson to see my husband’s family.

The city had never been on our shortlist, but it grew on us as we spent more time there. We explored, hiked the surrounding mountains, watched live music, and contemplated the reality of living in the desert.

Decision fatigue was setting in, so we headed to California to visit friends, wondering if we would miss Tucson.

Sitting on a beach in San Diego, my husband broached the idea of staying in Tucson permanently. However, it wasn’t exactly a no-brainer for me.

The intensity of desert life had me worried, as every local seemed to have a story about a scorpion encounter, and the temperature was regularly hitting 105 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. But ultimately, we were curious enough to return.

Reflecting on everywhere we’d been over the past two years, we compared other locations to Tucson and decided to give it another month as a trial run.

We quickly fell for the otherworldly hiking trails, stunning sunsets with saguaro silhouettes, and quirky downtown establishments.

There are regular markets and festivals here, delicious Sonoran food on every corner, and fascinating wildlife.

We love that Tucson has a small-town feel while still offering the amenities of a bigger city. Each day has led to a new discovery, and slowly, life here has taken shape without us realizing it.

Regular players in the city’s flourishing music scene welcomed my husband with open arms. He has since secured work as a music teacher in two schools and has a busy gig schedule on weekends, playing everything from blues to show tunes in downtown venues.

We’ve attended art markets, events in independent bookstores, and line dancing classes in local bars. I joined an incredibly friendly book club that’s filled my social calendar, and every week, I find a new favorite café to work in.

It’s been almost six months since we moved to America, and so far, Tucson has our vote for the best US city to live in.