Best PlacesFlagstaff, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Flagstaff metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by SearchNet Media from Tucson, Arizona, USA, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Flagstaff ranks 338th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on internet speeds and the cost of living against local pay. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Flagstaff metro
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 Flagstaff
The towns and districts of the Flagstaff metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Doney Park
Incomes run higher, crime runs lower, and local pay stretches further.
Page
Prices have run up less and homes cost less.
Downtown Flagstaff
Biking is better and more adults hold degrees.
Williams
More homes sit empty and disaster risk is higher.
Tuba City & Kaibito
It is quieter and more households have young kids.
Scores across Flagstaff run from about the 1st to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Flagstaff's strengths and weaknesses
Flagstaff ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Population health and short commutes follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: internet speeds, the cost of living against local pay, and the schools all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Flagstaff ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 87% of metro areas
Where Flagstaff ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- School gradeD+, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 7% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Flagstaff
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Flagstaff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,891, 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 Flagstaff's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 Flagstaff
Flagstaff runs younger 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 Flagstaff.
Who works in Flagstaff, and how
Work in Flagstaff centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Flagstaff
Flagstaff has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Flagstaff and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Flagstaff growing, and who is moving in?
Flagstaff has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Phoenix, AZ.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Flagstaff go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Flagstaff, month by month
Flagstaff sees roughly 141 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 30° | 16° |
| April | 63° | 46° | 27° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 52° |
| October | 67° | 49° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Flagstaff
The nearest airport, Flagstaff Pulliam, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Flagstaff
Schools across Flagstaff average a D+, better than 4% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Haven Montessori Charter SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Charles W Sechrist Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Manuel Demiguel Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Elden Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Sinagua Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Northland Preparatory AcademyB · 48% proficient
- Flagstaff Arts And Leadership AcademyC− · 28% proficient
- Northern Arizona Distance LearningC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Flagstaff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Flagstaff 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 Flagstaff against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Flagstaff suits
Common questions about living in Flagstaff
Is Flagstaff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Flagstaff ranks 338th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, population health, and short commutes, and lowest on internet speeds and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Flagstaff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $461,906. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $75,891 median income, cost of living beats 2% of metro areas.
Is Flagstaff safe?
Flagstaff is safer than 6% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $565 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Flagstaff?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 16. That works out to about 141 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Flagstaff?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Doney Park, Page, and Downtown Flagstaff. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Flagstaff good for families?
Schools beat 4% of metro areas, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $924 a month.
Is Flagstaff good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 2% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 0% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Flagstaff with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Flagstaff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Flagstaff 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.
Flagstaff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Flagstaff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Flagstaff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Flagstaff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Flagstaff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Flagstaff 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.