Best PlacesBagdad, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bagdad, 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.
Bagdad ranks 9,872nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bagdad
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.
Bagdad's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bagdad ranks high
- Short commute9.6 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 146 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
Where Bagdad ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bagdad
A household needs to earn about $13,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bagdad home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,381, 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 Bagdad's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bagdad
Bagdad runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bagdad.
Who works in Bagdad, and how
Work in Bagdad centers on mining & oil & gas and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Bagdad
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bagdad.
What the weather is like in Bagdad, month by month
Bagdad sees roughly 146 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 38° | 24° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 38° |
| July | 93° | 78° | 63° |
| October | 76° | 58° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Bagdad
The nearest airport, Prescott Regional/Ernest A Love Field, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bagdad
Schools across Bagdad average a C, better than 33% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bagdad Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Congress Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Owens Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Wickenburg High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Seligman High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Lee Williams High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bagdad school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bagdad 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 Bagdad against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bagdad
Is Bagdad a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bagdad ranks 9,872nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, population health, and heat safety, and lowest on civic engagement and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bagdad expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $51,086. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $94,381 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Bagdad safe?
Bagdad is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Bagdad with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bagdad. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bagdad 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.
Bagdad detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bagdad: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bagdad: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bagdad: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bagdad: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bagdad 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.