Best PlacesGlendale, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Glendale, 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.
Glendale ranks 211th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low disaster risk and low property taxes. The weaker spots are tree cover, summer heat, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Glendale
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 Glendale
The parts of Glendale, 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.
Lexington Place
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and local pay stretches further.
Deer Valley
More residents vote and incomes run higher.
Windsor Square, Estrella & Pioneer Neighborhood Association
Heat risk is higher and fewer households have young kids.
North Mountain, Cactus Gale & Greenbriar
Prices have run up less.
Maryvale & Ironwood Terrace
Health care is harder to reach.
Alahambra & Downtown Glendale
Streets are more walkable, though crime runs higher.
Glendale shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Glendale's strengths and weaknesses
Glendale lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Low property taxes and cell coverage follow.
The one real hole is tree cover, near the bottom of the country. Summer heat and air quality also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Glendale ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 185 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 75% of cities
Where Glendale ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 23% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Glendale
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glendale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,990, 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 Glendale's effective rate of 0.44%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Glendale
Glendale 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 Glendale.
Who works in Glendale, and how
Work in Glendale centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Glendale
Glendale has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Glendale and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Glendale, month by month
Glendale sees roughly 185 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 108 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 57° | 43° |
| April | 87° | 77° | 60° |
| July | 108° | 99° | 87° |
| October | 89° | 79° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Glendale
Phoenix Sky Harbor International sits about 15 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 Glendale
Schools across Glendale average a C, better than 37% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Peoria Traditional SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Sierra Verde Steam AcademyA · 69% proficient
- Stetson Hills SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hillcrest Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Desert Sky Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- L. Thomas Heck Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- University High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Mountain Ridge High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Millennium High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glendale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glendale 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 Glendale against the other 444 cities.
Who Glendale suits
Common questions about living in Glendale
Is Glendale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glendale ranks 211th of 445 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low property taxes, and cell coverage, 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 Glendale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $393,533. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $84,990 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Glendale safe?
Glendale is safer than 51% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $402 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Glendale?
July highs average about 108 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 43. That works out to about 185 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Glendale?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lexington Place, Deer Valley, and Windsor Square, Estrella & Pioneer Neighborhood Association. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Glendale good for families?
Schools beat 37% of cities, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $1,109 a month.
Is Glendale good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 44% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 23% of cities. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Glendale with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glendale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glendale 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.
Glendale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glendale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glendale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glendale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glendale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glendale 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.