Best PlacesGadsden, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gadsden, 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.
Gadsden ranks 49,862nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gadsden
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.
Gadsden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gadsden ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 212 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
Where Gadsden ranks low
- Short commute62.3 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gadsden
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gadsden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,595, 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 Gadsden's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Gadsden
Gadsden runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gadsden.
Who works in Gadsden, and how
Work in Gadsden centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 41%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 58%
Life in Gadsden
Gadsden has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Gadsden and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gadsden, month by month
Gadsden sees roughly 212 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 109 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 58° | 45° |
| April | 90° | 74° | 59° |
| July | 109° | 96° | 83° |
| October | 93° | 78° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Gadsden
The nearest airport, Yuma MCAS/Yuma International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gadsden
Schools across Gadsden average a D, better than 7% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Desert View ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Encanto Learning CenterD+ · 24% proficient
- Gadsden Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southwest Jr. High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Somerton Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Kofa High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- San Luis High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gadsden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gadsden 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 Gadsden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gadsden
Is Gadsden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gadsden ranks 49,862nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and few empty homes, and lowest on long commutes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gadsden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,551. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $44,595 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Gadsden safe?
Gadsden is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $704 per resident a year.
Compare Gadsden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gadsden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gadsden 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.
Gadsden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gadsden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gadsden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gadsden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gadsden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gadsden 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.