Best Places86005, AZ Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 86005, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

86005 ranks 16,425th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.

#16,425
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
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The best neighborhoods in 86005

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 86005 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.

86005's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Heat safety
Top 3%Population health
Top 10%An educated workforce
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 86005 with other zip codes.

Where 86005 ranks high

  • Heat safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than 90% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 90% of zip codes

Where 86005 ranks low

  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 4% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of zip codes
  • School gradeD+, better than only 16% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 86005

A household needs to earn about $159,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 86005 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,160, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$159,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,705
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $640,609 home
Median rent
$1,407
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$3,266
Property tax$225
Homeowners insurance$214

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 86005's effective rate of 0.42%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. 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 86005

86005 runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
35
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
14%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3431%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6415%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 86005.


Who works in 86005, and how

Work in 86005 centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
18%
above the national average
Unemployment
4.3%
about the national average
Job growth
+2.1%
/y 2019-2023, near the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social15%
Education13%
Manufacturing11%
Retail trade9%
Hospitality & food7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 76%
  • Work from home 18%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 7%

Life in 86005

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 86005.


What the weather is like in 86005, month by month

86005 sees roughly 135 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January45°30°16°
April63°46°27°
July85°68°52°
October67°49°31°

Flying in and out of 86005

The nearest airport, Flagstaff Pulliam, is about 0 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 120 miles away.

Nearest airport
FLG
Flagstaff Pulliam, about 0 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
248th-busiest in the US, 3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 86005

Schools across 86005 average a D+, better than 16% 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 86005 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


86005 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 86005 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 86005

Is 86005 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 86005 ranks 16,425th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on heat safety, population health, and an educated workforce, and lowest on an overheated housing market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 86005 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $640,609. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $99,160 median income, cost of living beats 58% of zip codes.

Is 86005 safe?

86005 is safer than 32% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $398 per resident a year.


Compare 86005 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 86005. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 86005 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.

86005 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 86005: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 86005: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 86005: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 86005: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

86005 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.