Best PlacesArizona, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arizona, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arizona ranks 48,811th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Arizona
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.
Arizona's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arizona ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 75% of towns
Where Arizona ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Arizona
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arizona home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,478, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Arizona's effective rate of 0.20%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Arizona
Arizona runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arizona.
Who works in Arizona, and how
Work in Arizona centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Arizona
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Arizona.
What the weather is like in Arizona, month by month
Arizona sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Arizona
The nearest airport, South Arkansas Regional at Goodwin Field, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas Love Field, about 226 miles away.
The best schools in and around Arizona
Schools across Arizona average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Homer Elementary SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top middle schools
- Homer Junior High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Homer High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arizona school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arizona 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 Arizona against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Arizona
Is Arizona a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arizona ranks 48,811th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, civic engagement, and a stable housing market, and lowest on the schools and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arizona expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $153,033. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $47,478 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Arizona safe?
Arizona is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $645 per resident a year.
Compare Arizona with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arizona. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arizona 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.
Arizona detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arizona: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arizona: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arizona: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arizona: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arizona 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.