Best PlacesAhwatukee, Phoenix, AZ Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Ahwatukee, Phoenix, 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

Ahwatukee, Phoenix ranks 950th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.

#950
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Ahwatukee, Phoenix

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Ahwatukee, Phoenix 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.

Ahwatukee, Phoenix's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Low disaster risk
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Ahwatukee, Phoenix with other neighborhoods.

Where Ahwatukee, Phoenix ranks high

  • Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
  • Low property taxBetter than 89% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 205 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of neighborhoods
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of neighborhoods

Where Ahwatukee, Phoenix ranks low

  • Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
  • Air qualityBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
  • Internet speedBetter than only 15% of neighborhoods
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Ahwatukee, Phoenix

A household needs to earn about $141,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ahwatukee, Phoenix home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $126,577; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$141,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,287
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $558,036 home
Median rent
$2,121
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,845
Property tax$256
Homeowners insurance$186

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 Ahwatukee, Phoenix's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 9 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 Ahwatukee, Phoenix

Ahwatukee, Phoenix runs older than the country.

Median age
44
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4921%
50 to 6422%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ahwatukee, Phoenix.


Who works in Ahwatukee, Phoenix, and how

Work in Ahwatukee, Phoenix centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
28%
above the national average
Unemployment
3.3%
below the national average
Job growth
+4.7%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical12%
Manufacturing12%
Health care & social12%
Retail trade11%
Education10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 68%
  • Work from home 28%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in Ahwatukee, Phoenix

Ahwatukee, Phoenix has more parkland per resident than 73% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Ahwatukee, Phoenix and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
294
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 36.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 57% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
35
about 4.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 67% of neighborhoods
Parkland
310 acres
about 3.8 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 73% of neighborhoods
Open past 10pm
~56
food and drink venues open late, about 6.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 35% of neighborhoods

What the weather is like in Ahwatukee, Phoenix, month by month

Ahwatukee, Phoenix sees roughly 205 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 110 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January69°56°44°
April90°76°61°
July110°98°85°
October92°78°65°

Flying in and out of Ahwatukee, Phoenix

Phoenix Sky Harbor International sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.2 million passengers in 2025, with 177 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
PHX
Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 8 miles
Airport size
Large hub
13th-busiest in the US, 177 nonstop destinations
Average drive
12 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Ahwatukee, Phoenix

Schools across Ahwatukee, Phoenix average a C, better than 36% of neighborhoods.

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 Ahwatukee, Phoenix school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Ahwatukee, Phoenix 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 Ahwatukee, Phoenix against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Who Ahwatukee, Phoenix suits

Families

Schools land around the 36th percentile and crime safety beats 81%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 89% of neighborhoods and 28% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 88% of neighborhoods and health care access beats 84%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Ahwatukee, Phoenix

Is Ahwatukee, Phoenix a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ahwatukee, Phoenix ranks 950th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on low disaster risk, what local pay buys, and low property taxes, 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 Ahwatukee, Phoenix expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $558,036. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $126,577 median income, cost of living beats 89% of neighborhoods.

Is Ahwatukee, Phoenix safe?

Yes, Ahwatukee, Phoenix is safer than 81% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $306 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Ahwatukee, Phoenix?

July highs average about 110 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 44. That works out to about 205 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of neighborhoods.

Is Ahwatukee, Phoenix good for families?

Schools beat 36% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 81%, and childcare runs $1,109 a month.


Compare Ahwatukee, Phoenix with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

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

Ahwatukee, Phoenix detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

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

Ahwatukee, Phoenix 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.