Best PlacesAnthem, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Anthem, 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.
Anthem ranks 460th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Anthem
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.
The best areas in Anthem
The parts of Anthem, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Desert Hills
North Gateway
New Village
Scores across Anthem run from about the 59th to the 93rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Anthem's strengths and weaknesses
Where Anthem ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 197 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 82% of cities
Where Anthem ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Anthem
A household needs to earn about $141,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Anthem home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $126,711; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Anthem'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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Anthem
Anthem runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Anthem.
Who works in Anthem, and how
Work in Anthem centers on finance & insurance and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Anthem
Anthem has more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Anthem and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Anthem, month by month
Anthem sees roughly 197 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 107 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| April | 86° | 72° | 55° |
| July | 107° | 95° | 81° |
| October | 89° | 75° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Anthem
Phoenix Sky Harbor International sits about 29 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.2 million passengers in 2025, with 177 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Anthem
Schools across Anthem average an A−, better than 80% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sonoran Foothills SchoolA · 71% proficient
- Stetson Hills SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Diamond Canyon SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vulture Peak Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Boulder Creek High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Sandra Day O'connor High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Wickenburg High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Anthem school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Anthem 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 Anthem against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Anthem suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of cities and 33% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 91% of cities and health care access beats 80%.
Common questions about living in Anthem
Is Anthem a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Anthem ranks 460th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Anthem expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $557,388. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $126,711 median income, cost of living beats 82% of cities.
Is Anthem safe?
Yes, Anthem is safer than 58% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $302 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Anthem?
July highs average about 107 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 41. That works out to about 197 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Anthem?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Desert Hills, North Gateway, and New Village. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Anthem with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Anthem. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Anthem 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.
Anthem detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Anthem: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Anthem: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Anthem: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Anthem: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Anthem detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.