Best PlacesMount Lemmon, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Lemmon, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mount Lemmon ranks 9,084th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Lemmon
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.
Mount Lemmon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Lemmon ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 182 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Mount Lemmon ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Lemmon
A household needs to earn about $152,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Lemmon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $121,195, 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 Mount Lemmon's effective rate of 0.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Mount Lemmon
Mount Lemmon 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 Mount Lemmon.
Who works in Mount Lemmon, and how
Work in Mount Lemmon centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 57%
- Work from home 40%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mount Lemmon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mount Lemmon.
What the weather is like in Mount Lemmon, month by month
Mount Lemmon sees roughly 182 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 103 degrees. January highs sit near 68, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through April, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 68° | 51° | 38° |
| April | 86° | 69° | 51° |
| July | 103° | 88° | 76° |
| October | 89° | 73° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Mount Lemmon
The nearest airport, Tucson International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Lemmon
Schools across Mount Lemmon average a B−, better than 66% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Canyon View Elementary SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Agua Caliente SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Collier Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Esperero Canyon Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ida Flood Dodge Traditional Middle Magnet SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- San Manuel Jr. High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- University High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Tanque Verde High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Ironwood Ridge High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Lemmon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Lemmon 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 Mount Lemmon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Lemmon
Is Mount Lemmon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Lemmon ranks 9,084th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, the weather, and quiet, and lowest on summer heat and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Lemmon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $589,050. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $121,195 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Mount Lemmon safe?
Mount Lemmon is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Lemmon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Lemmon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Lemmon 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.
Mount Lemmon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Lemmon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Lemmon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Lemmon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Lemmon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Lemmon 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.