Best PlacesJoseph City, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Joseph City, 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.
Joseph City ranks 33,305th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Joseph City
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.
Joseph City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Joseph City ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 157 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 81% of towns
Where Joseph City ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Joseph City
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Joseph City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,635, 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 Joseph City's effective rate of 0.47%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Joseph City
Joseph City 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 Joseph City.
Who works in Joseph City, and how
Work in Joseph City centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Joseph City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Joseph City.
What the weather is like in Joseph City, month by month
Joseph City sees roughly 157 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 99 degrees. January highs sit near 53, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 53° | 35° | 19° |
| April | 77° | 57° | 36° |
| July | 99° | 81° | 63° |
| October | 78° | 57° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Joseph City
The nearest airport, Show Low Regional, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Joseph City
Schools across Joseph City average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Highland Primary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mountain Meadows PrimaryB · 50% proficient
- Joseph City Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Snowflake Intermediate SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Mogollon Jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Joseph City Junior High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Snowflake High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Joseph City High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Mogollon High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Joseph City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Joseph City 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 Joseph City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Joseph City
Is Joseph City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Joseph City ranks 33,305th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low disaster risk, and a stable housing market, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Joseph City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,014. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $70,635 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Joseph City safe?
Joseph City is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $596 per resident a year.
Compare Joseph City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Joseph City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Joseph City 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.
Joseph City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Joseph City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Joseph City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Joseph City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Joseph City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Joseph City 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.