Best PlacesBenson, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Benson, 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.
Benson ranks 32,959th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Benson
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.
Benson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Benson ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 163 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 84% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
Where Benson ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Benson
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Benson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,805, 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 Benson's effective rate of 0.63%, 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.
Who lives in Benson
Benson 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 Benson.
Who works in Benson, and how
Work in Benson centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Benson
Benson has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Benson and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Benson, month by month
Benson sees roughly 163 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 47° | 33° |
| April | 79° | 63° | 45° |
| July | 93° | 79° | 66° |
| October | 82° | 66° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Benson
The nearest airport, Tucson International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Benson
Schools across Benson average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tanque Verde Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Acacia Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Pomerene Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Old Vail Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Emily Gray Junior High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Benson Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Tanque Verde High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- St David High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Andrada Polytechnic High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Benson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Benson 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 Benson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Benson
Is Benson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Benson ranks 32,959th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and cell coverage, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Benson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,444. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $57,805 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Benson safe?
Yes, Benson is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
Compare Benson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Benson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Benson 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.
Benson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Benson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Benson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Benson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Benson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Benson 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.