Best Places86322, AZ Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 86322, 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

86322 ranks 25,578th 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.

#25,578
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
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of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
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The best neighborhoods in 86322

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 86322 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.

86322's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%The weather
Top 10%Low property taxes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 86322 with other zip codes.

Where 86322 ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 173 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 93% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 75% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than 72% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 68% of zip codes

Where 86322 ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • School gradeD, better than only 7% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 13% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than only 17% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 86322

A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 86322 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,175, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$83,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,931
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $336,082 home
Median rent
$992
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,714
Property tax$106
Homeowners insurance$112

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 86322's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 86322

86322 runs older than the country.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
28%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4917%
50 to 6416%
65 and older28%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 86322.


Who works in 86322, and how

Work in 86322 centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
10%
below the national average
Unemployment
5.4%
above the national average
Job growth
+3.9%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Retail trade18%
Health care & social16%
Hospitality & food14%
Construction12%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 82%
  • Work from home 10%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 8%

Life in 86322

86322 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 86322 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
63
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 49.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 68% of zip codes
Coffee shops
8
about 6.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 73% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 86322, month by month

86322 sees roughly 173 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January54°44°37°
April74°61°50°
July96°82°71°
October78°65°55°

Flying in and out of 86322

The nearest airport, Prescott Regional/Ernest A Love Field, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 79 miles away.

Nearest airport
PRC
Prescott Regional/Ernest A Love Field, about 33 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
321st-busiest in the US, 2 nonstop destinations
Average drive
47 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 86322

Schools across 86322 average a D, better than 7% 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 86322 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


86322 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 86322 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 86322

Is 86322 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 86322 ranks 25,578th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and low taxes, and lowest on air quality and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 86322 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $336,082. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $68,175 median income, cost of living beats 13% of zip codes.

Is 86322 safe?

86322 is safer than 30% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $434 per resident a year.


Compare 86322 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 86322. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 86322 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.

86322 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 86322: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 86322: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 86322: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 86322: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

86322 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.