Best Places86401, AZ Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 86401, 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

86401 ranks 18,456th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.

#18,456
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 86401

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 86401 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.

86401's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Low property taxes
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 86401 with other zip codes.

Where 86401 ranks high

  • Low property taxBetter than 93% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 165 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 84% of zip codes
  • Short commute21.1 minutes each way, better than 80% of zip codes

Where 86401 ranks low

  • Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 13% of zip codes
  • School gradeD+, better than only 13% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 30% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 86401

A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 86401 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,556, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$68,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,576
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $274,969 home
Median rent
$1,172
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,402
Property tax$82
Homeowners insurance$92

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 86401's effective rate of 0.36%, 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 86401

86401 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
26%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3418%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6418%
65 and older26%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 86401.


Who works in 86401, and how

Work in 86401 centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
9%
below the national average
Unemployment
4.1%
below the national average
Job growth
+0.7%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Retail trade14%
Health care & social13%
Public administration12%
Education8%
Manufacturing8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 9%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 86401

86401 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 97% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 86401 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
131
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 46.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 66% of zip codes
Coffee shops
15
about 5.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 69% of zip codes
Parkland
655 acres
about 23.4 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 97% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 86401, month by month

86401 sees roughly 165 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January58°43°30°
April79°62°44°
July102°87°70°
October83°65°48°

Flying in and out of 86401

The nearest airport, Grand Canyon West, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Harry Reid International, about 89 miles away.

Nearest airport
1G4
Grand Canyon West, about 54 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
389th-busiest in the US, 1 nonstop destinations
Average drive
77 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 86401

Schools across 86401 average a D+, better than 13% 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 86401 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


86401 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 86401 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 86401 suits

Families

Schools land around the 13th percentile and crime safety beats 66%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

9% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 93% of zip codes.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 86401

Is 86401 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 86401 ranks 18,456th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low property taxes, the weather, and cell coverage, and lowest on summer heat and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 86401 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $274,969. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $68,556 median income, cost of living beats 31% of zip codes.

Is 86401 safe?

Yes, 86401 is safer than 66% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 86401?

July highs average about 102 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 30. That works out to about 165 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of zip codes.

Is 86401 good for families?

Schools beat 13% of zip codes, crime safety beats 66%, and childcare runs $800 a month.


Compare 86401 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 86401. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 86401 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.

86401 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 86401: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 86401: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 86401: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 86401: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

86401 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.