Best Places85629, AZ Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 85629, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

85629 ranks 6,784th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.

#6,784
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 85629

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 85629 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

85629's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%The weather
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 85629 with other zip codes.

Where 85629 ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 175 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of zip codes
  • Household income$112,217 median, better than 87% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 80% of zip codes

Where 85629 ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 32% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 85629

A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 85629 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $112,217, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$86,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,003
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $332,626 home
Median rent
$1,987
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,696
Property tax$196
Homeowners insurance$111

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 85629's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 85629

85629 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.

Median age
35
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
13%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
3.3
above the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1831%
18 to 3422%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6417%
65 and older13%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 85629.


Who works in 85629, and how

Work in 85629 centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
17%
above the national average
Unemployment
5.5%
above the national average
Job growth
+0.1%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Education10%
Manufacturing10%
Retail trade10%
Public administration10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 80%
  • Work from home 17%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in 85629

85629 has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most zip codes and more parkland per resident than 78% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 85629 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
36
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 12.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 21% of zip codes
Parkland
162 acres
about 5.6 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 78% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 85629, month by month

85629 sees roughly 175 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 104 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January69°52°38°
April88°71°53°
July104°89°77°
October91°74°59°

Flying in and out of 85629

The nearest airport, Tucson International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 118 miles away.

Nearest airport
TUS
Tucson International, about 11 miles
Airport size
Small hub
76th-busiest in the US, 42 nonstop destinations
Average drive
16 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 85629

Schools across 85629 average a C+, better than 42% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 85629 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


85629 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 85629 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 85629 suits

Families

Schools land around the 42nd percentile and crime safety beats 68%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of zip codes and 17% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 95% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 85629

Is 85629 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 85629 ranks 6,784th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 85629 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $332,626. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $112,217 median income, cost of living beats 90% of zip codes.

Is 85629 safe?

Yes, 85629 is safer than 68% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 85629?

July highs average about 104 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 38. That works out to about 175 pleasant days a year, more than 95% of zip codes.

Is 85629 good for families?

Schools beat 42% of zip codes, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $989 a month.


Compare 85629 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 85629. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 85629 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

85629 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 85629: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 85629: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 85629: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 85629: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

85629 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.