I moved away from MA when I was 15 and hated Florida the whole time I lived there (almost 5 years). The cultural differences were too much for me, especially in the context of the time period, 1969-1974. When I moved to AZ, my parents had already moved there a few years before me. I considered it home, though I was "from" MA. I never considered moving back east. I had lots of friends, a good job, etc. However, after I had been married a few years, we took a vacation to the Cape. My DH is from Philadelphia and had never been here, but his growing up years were very similar to mine. AZ was getting crowded, polluted, and we kind of saw the political writing on the wall, although nothing like what is going today. I realized I really missed the seasons; when some of my friends started flying to LA to buy gold jewelry, I said "that's it." There's more to life than the newest shopping mall. And endless summer. I hated the heat and at that point, I couldn't afford a condo in San Diego for the summer, or even a cabin in Pinetop. It all came down to values and what we wanted for our kids. It was a huge sacrifice in terms of what we could afford here compared to Tempe, at that point.
Almost 21 years later, I have never regretted this decision. However, I am very glad I have lived in other places. New Englanders are often insular and complain about the weather constantly... what I love and appreciate, a lot of people deal with by going to Florida; ugh. There's a skewed perception about the worth of a private college education here and living in a place where about 75% of the people are college educated (the town where I live) makes people here unable to understand demographics in most parts of the country. The pressures to "achieve" are relentless. I swore I would never do to my kids what I experienced in the city I grew up in, but I did it, and they are better off. DS#2 never really warmed to MA, even though he was 5 when we moved here. He swore he would go back to AZ, which he did for a year, and then he joined the military. When someone asks him where he is from, he says Tempe... on the other hand, my older son is a total city person, the consummate Bostonian.
I do have "warm feelings" for Tempe and we have considered maybe spending a few weeks in AZ a year when we are no longer working. I would not move there, though. We fell in love with Carefree/Cave Creek on our trip last month, as they are still the way AZ was when I first moved there. I would not be able to live in Tempe or Scottsdale again. Too crowded, too many malls, and no place to ride with a stop light every mile or less.