Best PlacesGilbert, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gilbert, 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.
Gilbert ranks 15th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $133,278, wages outrun the cost of living, and good schools ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are air quality, tree cover, and walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Gilbert
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 Gilbert
The parts of Gilbert, 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.
Southeast Mesa
More households have young kids, more adults hold degrees, and crime runs lower.
The Islands
Prices have run up less, though heat risk is higher.
Southern Gilbert
Local pay stretches further and incomes run higher.
Power Ranch
Biking is worse and transit reaches fewer jobs.
The Gardens & Copper Ranch
Schools score lower and it is noisier.
Heritage District, Central Mesa & Southwest Mesa
Streets are more walkable, though fewer residents vote.
Scores across Gilbert run from about the 44th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Gilbert's strengths and weaknesses
Gilbert ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Cell coverage and low disaster risk follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Air quality, tree cover, and walkability hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Gilbert ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of cities
Where Gilbert ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 11% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gilbert
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gilbert home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $133,278; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Gilbert's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Gilbert
Gilbert 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 Gilbert.
Who works in Gilbert, and how
Work in Gilbert centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Gilbert
Gilbert has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gilbert and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gilbert, month by month
Gilbert sees roughly 195 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 106 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs February through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 52° | 41° |
| April | 86° | 71° | 56° |
| July | 106° | 94° | 82° |
| October | 89° | 74° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Gilbert
The nearest airport, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 17 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gilbert
Schools across Gilbert average an A−, better than 95% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Weinberg Gifted AcademyA+ · 90% proficient
- Franklin At Brimhall ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Neely Traditional AcademyA+ · 82% proficient
Top middle schools
- Arizona College Prep Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Franklin Junior High SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Sossaman Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Arizona College Prep High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Gilbert Classical Academy 7-12A+ · 81% proficient
- Great Hearts Academies - Arete PrepA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gilbert school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gilbert 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 Gilbert against the other 444 cities.
Who Gilbert suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of cities and 26% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 85% of cities, health care access beats 86%, and it is quieter than 63%.
Common questions about living in Gilbert
Is Gilbert a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gilbert ranks 15th of 445 cities. It scores highest on low property taxes, cell coverage, and low disaster risk, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gilbert expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $594,077. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $133,278 median income, cost of living beats 93% of cities.
Is Gilbert safe?
Yes, Gilbert is safer than 82% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gilbert?
July highs average about 106 degrees, and January highs near 65 with lows near 41. That works out to about 195 pleasant days a year, more than 85% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Gilbert?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Southeast Mesa, The Islands, and Southern Gilbert. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Gilbert good for families?
Schools beat 95% of cities, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $1,109 a month.
Is Gilbert good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 27% of cities. About 26% of workers already work from home.
Compare Gilbert with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gilbert. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gilbert 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.
Gilbert detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gilbert: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gilbert: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gilbert: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gilbert: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gilbert 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.