Im from Tucson,am 70 years old and in excellent physical health(No Im not looking for a date)Divorced retired LEO looking to relocate to somewhere north of Phoenix.I like Phoenix but its just to hot in summer.Looking to buy a house in next 3 to 4 months,Probably a 2 bedroom.Im not looking for a retirement community but a quiet low crime area with affordable housing.Any suggestions would be worth looking into.Housing areas ,realestate area etc.Shooter friendly of course.

What is your version of affordable?  

Housing in Flagstaff can get pricey since it's a college town.  Prescott/Prescott Valley/Chino has a VA hospital, if you need that.  Cottonwood still gets hot in the summer, so does Kingman. Payson gets warm, but as with all the northern cities, it cools of at night...unlike Phoenix.

At the present time the terms affordable housing and Arizona in general are mutually exclusive terms from what I see.
I am in Prescott valley and the house next door to me just went on the market. Modest but well maintained 2 bedroom around 1300 SF.
300k!

Around the corner from me is a townhouse a bit larger reduced to 295.

I say the same thing every time these threads pop up while you might be in good shape now, realize once past 65 health issues pop up unexpectedly and being in a town with a decent health care infrastructure becomes very important

Many of the smaller towns with somewhat lower real estate costs have very limited health care and sooner or later you will need it.

Everyone’s definition of “affordable” differs. One remnant of my upbringing in a midsize northeast town is that in my old area housing was very inexpensive and seeing a house that would sell for 175 back east go for 400 or more here is still hard for me to swallow. Still very happy I moved, but you have to move the goal posts sometimes

I'm about the same age and have been interested in the Showlow area.  I'm in the east valley currently due to the preferences of my wife but have been looking into a move to a cooler climate.  Showlow has a regional hospital system in place which is important for oldsters and those nice cool summers.  However, its about as expensive as the Phoenix area for housing although I doubt there's any cheaper areas that have as many medical, shopping and outdoor amenities as that area.

I would say Alpine but given your age, the Lakeside/Pinetop area would probably be better so you would have easier access to healthcare in Show Low.

The Verde Valley probably has as good a mix between cost/quality of life/climate as anywhere in Arizona.  Crime is generally of the property variety and there is a pretty wide range of neighborhood types to choose from.  This would include Camp Verde, Cottonwood, Cornville, Clarkdale and the unincorporated areas between.  Rimrock has some sketchy areas IMO and Jerome is okay if you don't mind close quarters, tourists and hippies.

I'm in Yarnell, it's a nice little town.

Your in for a shock when home shopping.
We have been in a small unincorporated town in Gila County for 11 years.
When we moved in 1/2 the houses on our street were for sale and they were still for sale until the Chinese Flu hit.
They have all sold for stupid money.

But IMO you first need to decide what kind of weather you want to live in and then consider how far in the sticks you want to be.

It's only 70 miles to Lakeside.  But, certain times of the year, that could take a couple of hours.

Dumb question, but where do you all shop for groceries or hardware/furniture at?

There's no affordable housing in AZ.

I imagine Wickenburg or Prescott.

This, except hardware, we have the world's coolest hardware store!

I take it coolers and access to ice is part of the planning along with good tunes for that schlepping.

So very true.