Best PlacesLake Havasu City, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Lake Havasu City metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by S. Winkvist, CC0, via commons
Lake Havasu City ranks 337th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the cost of living against local pay and summer heat. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Lake Havasu City metro
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 Lake Havasu City
The towns and districts of the Lake Havasu City metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Yucca
Schools score higher, crime runs lower, and disaster risk is lower.
Downtown Lake Havasu City
More homes sit empty and prices have run up more.
Kingman & New Kingman-Butler
More households have young kids, though it is noisier.
Colorado City
Incomes run higher and local pay stretches further.
Bullhead City
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Golden Valley
Fewer adults hold degrees.
Scores across Lake Havasu City run from about the 1st to the 75th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lake Havasu City's strengths and weaknesses
Lake Havasu City ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. The weather, low property taxes, and cell coverage carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the cost of living against local pay, summer heat, and tree cover all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Lake Havasu City ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 189 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Short commute19.9 minutes each way, better than 87% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 82% of metro areas
Where Lake Havasu City ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- School gradeD+, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Household income$61,928 median, better than only 5% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Havasu City
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Havasu City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,928, 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 Lake Havasu City'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 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 Lake Havasu City
Lake Havasu City 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 Lake Havasu City.
Who works in Lake Havasu City, and how
Work in Lake Havasu City centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lake Havasu City
Lake Havasu City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Lake Havasu City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lake Havasu City growing, and who is moving in?
Lake Havasu City has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Phoenix, AZ.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lake Havasu City go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lake Havasu City, month by month
Lake Havasu City sees roughly 189 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 113 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 55° | 43° |
| April | 91° | 76° | 60° |
| July | 113° | 101° | 86° |
| October | 91° | 77° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Lake Havasu City
The nearest airport, Boulder City Municipal, is about 105 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Harry Reid International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake Havasu City
Schools across Lake Havasu City average a D+, better than 4% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Jamaica Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Starline Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Nautilus Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Thunderbolt Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake Havasu High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Telesis Preparatory AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
- Lee Williams High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Havasu City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Havasu 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 Lake Havasu City against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Lake Havasu City suits
Families
Schools land around the 4th percentile and crime safety beats 56%.
Retirees
The weather beats 96% of metro areas and it is quieter than 82%.
Common questions about living in Lake Havasu City
Is Lake Havasu City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Havasu City ranks 337th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and cell coverage, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Havasu City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $302,322. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $61,928 median income, cost of living beats 1% of metro areas.
Is Lake Havasu City safe?
Yes, Lake Havasu City is safer than 56% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lake Havasu City?
July highs average about 113 degrees, and January highs near 67 with lows near 43. That works out to about 189 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lake Havasu City?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Yucca, Downtown Lake Havasu City, and Kingman & New Kingman-Butler. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lake Havasu City good for families?
Schools beat 4% of metro areas, crime safety beats 56%, and childcare runs $800 a month.
Is Lake Havasu City good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 1% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 14% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lake Havasu City with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Havasu City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Havasu 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.
Lake Havasu City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Havasu City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Havasu City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Havasu City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Havasu City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Havasu 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.