Best PlacesEl Mirage, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Mirage, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
El Mirage ranks 1,396th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in El Mirage
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.
El Mirage's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Mirage ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 83% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 137 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of cities
Where El Mirage ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in El Mirage
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Mirage home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,065, 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 El Mirage's effective rate of 0.36%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in El Mirage
El Mirage 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 El Mirage.
Who works in El Mirage, and how
Work in El Mirage 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 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in El Mirage
El Mirage has more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of El Mirage and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in El Mirage, month by month
El Mirage sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 109 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 53° | 40° |
| April | 88° | 73° | 56° |
| July | 109° | 96° | 83° |
| October | 91° | 76° | 61° |
Flying in and out of El Mirage
Phoenix Sky Harbor International sits about 22 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.2 million passengers in 2025, with 177 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around El Mirage
Schools across El Mirage average a C−, better than 15% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Peoria Traditional SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Surprise Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Luke Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dysart Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Raymond S. KellisC · 31% proficient
- Valley Vista High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Dysart High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Mirage school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Mirage 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 El Mirage against the other 2,097 cities.
Who El Mirage suits
Families
Schools land around the 15th percentile and crime safety beats 72%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in El Mirage
Is El Mirage a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Mirage ranks 1,396th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, low property taxes, and low disaster risk, 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 El Mirage expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $327,157. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $82,065 median income, cost of living beats 34% of cities.
Is El Mirage safe?
Yes, El Mirage is safer than 72% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in El Mirage?
July highs average about 109 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 40. That works out to about 137 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of cities.
Is El Mirage good for families?
Schools beat 15% of cities, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $1,109 a month.
Compare El Mirage with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Mirage. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Mirage 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.
El Mirage detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Mirage: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Mirage: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Mirage: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Mirage: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Mirage 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.