Best PlacesHappy Jack, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Happy Jack, 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.
Happy Jack ranks 33,912th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Happy Jack
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.
Happy Jack's strengths and weaknesses
Where Happy Jack ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 212 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Happy Jack ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Happy Jack
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Happy Jack home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,550, 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 Happy Jack's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Happy Jack
Happy Jack runs older 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 Happy Jack.
Who works in Happy Jack, and how
Work in Happy Jack centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Happy Jack
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Happy Jack.
What the weather is like in Happy Jack, month by month
Happy Jack sees roughly 212 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 66° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Happy Jack
The nearest airport, Flagstaff Pulliam, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Happy Jack
Schools across Happy Jack average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine Strawberry Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Weitzel's Puente De Hozho Bilingual Magnet SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Beaver Creek SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Capps Elementary SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Mogollon Jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Mount Elden Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Payson High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Summit High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Mogollon High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Happy Jack school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Happy Jack 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 Happy Jack against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Happy Jack
Is Happy Jack a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Happy Jack ranks 33,912th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and population health, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Happy Jack expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $502,103. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $77,550 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Happy Jack safe?
Happy Jack is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $383 per resident a year.
Compare Happy Jack with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Happy Jack. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Happy Jack 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.
Happy Jack detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Happy Jack: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Happy Jack: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Happy Jack: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Happy Jack: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Happy Jack 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.