Best Places86335, AZ Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 86335, 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

86335 ranks 22,586th 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.

#22,586
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 86335

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 86335 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.

86335'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 86335 with other zip codes.

Where 86335 ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 85% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 83% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 75% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 65% of zip codes

Where 86335 ranks low

  • Air qualityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • School gradeD+, better than only 9% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than only 20% of zip codes
  • Short commute31.5 minutes each way, better than only 22% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 86335

A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 86335 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $69,425; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$74,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,722
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $295,838 home
Median rent
$1,260
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,508
Property tax$115
Homeowners insurance$99

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 86335's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 8 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 86335

86335 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
58
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
43%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
1.9
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 188%
18 to 3417%
35 to 4915%
50 to 6417%
65 and older43%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 86335.


Who works in 86335, and how

Work in 86335 centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
12%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.3%
below the national average
Job growth
−8.5%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Construction21%
Health care & social18%
Hospitality & food13%
Retail trade7%
Education7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 86%
  • Work from home 12%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 1%

Life in 86335

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 86335.


What the weather is like in 86335, month by month

86335 sees roughly 154 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 86335

The nearest airport, Flagstaff Pulliam, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 84 miles away.

Nearest airport
FLG
Flagstaff Pulliam, about 35 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
248th-busiest in the US, 3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
50 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 86335

Schools across 86335 average a D+, better than 9% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 86335 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


86335 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 86335 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 86335

Is 86335 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 86335 ranks 22,586th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and low crime, 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 86335 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $295,838. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $69,425 median income, cost of living beats 22% of zip codes.

Is 86335 safe?

Yes, 86335 is safer than 83% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.


Compare 86335 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 86335. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 86335 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.

86335 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 86335: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 86335: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 86335: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 86335: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

86335 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.