Best PlacesCatalina Foothills, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Catalina Foothills, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Catalina Foothills ranks 259th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Catalina Foothills
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.
Catalina Foothills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Catalina Foothills ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 174 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of cities
Where Catalina Foothills ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Catalina Foothills
A household needs to earn about $169,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Catalina Foothills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $127,850, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Catalina Foothills' effective rate of 0.67%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Catalina Foothills
Catalina Foothills 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 Catalina Foothills.
Who works in Catalina Foothills, and how
Work in Catalina Foothills centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Catalina Foothills
Catalina Foothills has more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Catalina Foothills and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Catalina Foothills, month by month
Catalina Foothills sees roughly 174 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 103 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 51° | 38° |
| April | 86° | 69° | 51° |
| July | 103° | 88° | 76° |
| October | 89° | 73° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Catalina Foothills
The nearest airport, Tucson International, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Catalina Foothills
Schools across Catalina Foothills average a B, better than 70% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sunrise Drive Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Manzanita SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Ventana Vista Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orange Grove Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Esperero Canyon Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Lawrence W Cross Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- University High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Basis Tucson NorthA · 80% proficient
- Catalina Foothills High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Catalina Foothills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Catalina Foothills 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 Catalina Foothills against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Catalina Foothills suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 88% of cities and 23% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 87% of cities, health care access beats 97%, and it is quieter than 84%.
Common questions about living in Catalina Foothills
Is Catalina Foothills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Catalina Foothills ranks 259th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, health care access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on summer heat and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Catalina Foothills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $658,515. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $127,850 median income, cost of living beats 88% of cities.
Is Catalina Foothills safe?
Yes, Catalina Foothills is safer than 69% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Catalina Foothills?
July highs average about 103 degrees, and January highs near 68 with lows near 38. That works out to about 174 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of cities.
Is Catalina Foothills good for families?
Schools beat 70% of cities, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $989 a month.
Compare Catalina Foothills with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Catalina Foothills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Catalina Foothills 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.
Catalina Foothills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Catalina Foothills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Catalina Foothills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Catalina Foothills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Catalina Foothills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Catalina Foothills 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.