Best PlacesNavajo County, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Navajo County, 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.
Navajo County ranks 2,821st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the cost of living against local pay and internet speeds. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Navajo County
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 Navajo County
The parts of Navajo County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Taylor & Linden
Crime runs lower, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Holbrook & Snowflake
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Show Low, Whiteriver & Pinetop-Lakeside
Disaster risk is higher and fewer households have young kids.
Winslow
It is noisier and fewer residents vote.
Heber-Overgaard
Big-city amenities are closer and health care is easier to reach.
Kayenta & Pinon
The air is cleaner and homes cost less.
Scores across Navajo County run from about the 1st to the 76th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Navajo County's strengths and weaknesses
Navajo County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. The weather is the standout, in the top 3% of counties. Low property taxes and transit follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the cost of living against local pay, internet speeds, and thin health care access all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Navajo County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of counties
- TransitBetter than 77% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 73% of counties
- QuietBetter than 68% of counties
Where Navajo County ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 2% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Navajo County
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Navajo County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,750, 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 Navajo County's effective rate of 0.36%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Navajo County
Navajo County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Navajo County.
Who works in Navajo County, and how
Work in Navajo County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Navajo County
Navajo County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Navajo County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Navajo County growing, and who is moving in?
Navajo County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Phoenix, AZ.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Navajo County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Navajo County, month by month
Navajo County sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 33° | 23° |
| April | 67° | 52° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 69° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Navajo County
The nearest airport, Show Low Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 143 miles away.
The best schools in and around Navajo County
Schools across Navajo County average a D+, better than 16% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Highland Primary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mountain Meadows PrimaryB · 50% proficient
- Taylor Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Snowflake Intermediate SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Capps Elementary SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Taylor Intermediate SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Snowflake High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Joseph City High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Blue Ridge High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Navajo County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Navajo County 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 Navajo County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Navajo County suits
Common questions about living in Navajo County
Is Navajo County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Navajo County ranks 2,821st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and transit, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Navajo County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,311. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $57,750 median income, cost of living beats 2% of counties.
Is Navajo County safe?
Navajo County is safer than 16% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $563 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Navajo County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 46 with lows near 23. That works out to about 176 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Navajo County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Taylor & Linden, Holbrook & Snowflake, and Show Low, Whiteriver & Pinetop-Lakeside. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Navajo County good for families?
Schools beat 16% of counties, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $924 a month.
Is Navajo County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 2% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 6% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Navajo County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Navajo County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Navajo County 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.
Navajo County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Navajo County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Navajo County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Navajo County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Navajo County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Navajo County 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.