Tucson is like that. A lot of smart people working in low end jobs because the town has had Leftist clowns from the University dominating the city government, retarding development.
So you have convenience stores being staffed by people with Bachelors degrees.
Phoenix, by contrast, started a bold business development group in 1960 called the Phoenix 40, a group of men who not only invested themselves but brought in enormous investment to Maricopa county over the next 30 years.
The results are staggering. From a couple hundred thousand people in the late 50's, Phoenix is now a massive center of industry with a population of 2.8 million or so.
Tucson, of course, is still a bit of Democratic party stronghold. People are poorer there, and the Dims keep them that way.
To paraphrase Mark Twain slightly:
“Tucson for weather, Phoenix for society.”
(A one-time Phx immigrant here.)