Best PlacesChandler, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chandler, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chandler ranks 14th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $120,616, everyday costs sit below the national average, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are tree cover, summer heat, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Chandler
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.
The best areas in Chandler
The parts of Chandler, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Sun Groves
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Northeastern Chandler
Schools score higher and transit reaches more jobs.
Tempe Cascade & Ahwatukee
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Downtown Chandler & Clemente Ranch
More households have young kids, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Southwest Mesa
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Chandler run from about the 32nd to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Chandler's strengths and weaknesses
Chandler ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Good schools is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Low disaster risk and low property taxes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Tree cover, summer heat, and air quality hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Chandler ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 98% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of cities
Where Chandler ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 37% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Chandler
A household needs to earn about $136,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chandler home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $120,616, 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 Chandler's effective rate of 0.46%, 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 Chandler
Chandler's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chandler.
Who works in Chandler, and how
Work in Chandler centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chandler
Chandler has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chandler and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chandler, month by month
Chandler sees roughly 203 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 107 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 56° | 42° |
| April | 87° | 76° | 58° |
| July | 107° | 98° | 84° |
| October | 89° | 79° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Chandler
The nearest airport, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 14 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chandler
Schools across Chandler average an A−, better than 98% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Knox Gifted AcademyA+ · 94% proficient
- Basis Chandler Primary- South CampusA+ · 88% proficient
- Chandler Traditional Academy - IndependenceA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Arizona College Prep Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Franklin Junior High SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Santan Junior High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Arizona College Prep High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Basis ChandlerA+ · 86% proficient
- Gilbert Classical Academy 7-12A+ · 81% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chandler school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chandler 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 Chandler against the other 444 cities.
Who Chandler suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of cities and 25% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 87% of cities and health care access beats 74%.
Common questions about living in Chandler
Is Chandler a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chandler ranks 14th of 445 cities. It scores highest on good schools, low disaster risk, and low property taxes, and lowest on tree cover and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chandler expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $544,426. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $120,616 median income, cost of living beats 90% of cities.
Is Chandler safe?
Yes, Chandler is safer than 74% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $314 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chandler?
July highs average about 107 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 42. That works out to about 203 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chandler?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sun Groves, Northeastern Chandler, and Tempe Cascade & Ahwatukee. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Chandler good for families?
Schools beat 98% of cities, crime safety beats 74%, and childcare runs $1,109 a month.
Is Chandler good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 24% of cities. About 25% of workers already work from home.
Compare Chandler with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chandler. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chandler 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.
Chandler detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chandler: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chandler: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chandler: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chandler: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chandler 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.