moving to az from chgo - researching

Hi My husband & I are doing research to see when & where to move in Az. We have some family in Peoria. The posts on here are older so it doesn't reflect the current housing market. I have looked in the Peoria, Glendale, Surprise areas & we also like the Northern parts like Prescott, Sedona, love Jerome too, but would like to know where to stay away from. Chgo has its share of bad areas so I welcome any opinions.We are open to all areas right now, we have nothing to narrow down yet. Real estate agents do not give this info because they can get in trouble, so I need your street smarts!!