Best PlacesAsh Fork, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ash Fork, 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.
Ash Fork ranks 46,516th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ash Fork
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.
Ash Fork's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ash Fork ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 154 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 76% of towns
Where Ash Fork ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$41,324 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ash Fork
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ash Fork home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $41,324; 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 Ash Fork's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ash Fork
Ash Fork 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 Ash Fork.
Who works in Ash Fork, and how
Work in Ash Fork centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Ash Fork
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ash Fork.
What the weather is like in Ash Fork, month by month
Ash Fork sees roughly 154 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 64° | 49° | 34° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 56° |
| October | 68° | 52° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Ash Fork
The nearest airport, Prescott Regional/Ernest A Love Field, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ash Fork
Schools across Ash Fork average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ash Fork Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Seligman Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Williams Elementary/middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ash Fork Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Ash Fork High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Williams High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ash Fork school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ash Fork 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 Ash Fork against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ash Fork
Is Ash Fork a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ash Fork ranks 46,516th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ash Fork expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $181,492. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $41,324 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Ash Fork safe?
Ash Fork is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $564 per resident a year.
Compare Ash Fork with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ash Fork. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ash Fork 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.
Ash Fork detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ash Fork: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ash Fork: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ash Fork: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ash Fork: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ash Fork 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.