Best PlacesPinal County, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pinal County, 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.
Pinal County ranks 1,294th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on a strong job market and the weather. The weaker spots are summer heat, air quality, and the schools.
The best neighborhoods in Pinal 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 Pinal County
The parts of Pinal 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.
San Tan Valley & Apache Junction
More households have young kids, crime runs lower, and incomes run higher.
Casa Grande, Maricopa & Silver Bell
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Gold Canyon
Health care is easier to reach, though more homes sit empty.
Saddlebrooke, Oracle & San Manuel
More adults hold degrees, though disaster risk is higher.
Coolidge
Commutes are shorter, though local pay stretches less far.
Florence
Prices have run up less and homes cost less.
Eloy & Arizona City
Fewer residents vote and health outcomes score lower.
Pinal County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Pinal County's strengths and weaknesses
Pinal County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A strong job market is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. The weather and cell coverage follow.
The one real hole is summer heat, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and the schools also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Pinal County ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 182 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of counties
Where Pinal County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- School gradeD, better than only 7% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of counties
- Short commute31.8 minutes each way, better than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pinal County
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pinal County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $83,371; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Pinal County's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Pinal County
Pinal County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Pinal County.
Who works in Pinal County, and how
Work in Pinal County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Pinal County
Pinal 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 Pinal County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pinal County growing, and who is moving in?
Pinal County has grown about 30% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Phoenix, AZ metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pinal County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pinal County, month by month
Pinal County sees roughly 182 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 107 degrees. January highs sit near 66, 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 | 66° | 52° | 38° |
| April | 88° | 72° | 52° |
| July | 107° | 94° | 80° |
| October | 90° | 74° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Pinal County
The nearest airport, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 35 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pinal County
Schools across Pinal County average a D, better than 7% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mary C O'brien Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Frances Brandon-pickett ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- MeridianA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Newell Barney Junior HighB · 47% proficient
- Villago Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Imagine Superstition MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Dr. Camille Casteel High SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Heritage Academy MaricopaB · 46% proficient
- Queen Creek High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pinal County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pinal 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 Pinal County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Pinal County suits
Families
Schools land around the 7th percentile and crime safety beats 70%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Pinal County
Is Pinal County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pinal County ranks 1,294th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a strong job market, the weather, and cell coverage, and lowest on summer heat and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pinal County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $343,857. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $83,371 median income, cost of living beats 69% of counties.
Is Pinal County safe?
Yes, Pinal County is safer than 70% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $331 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pinal County?
July highs average about 107 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 38. That works out to about 182 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Pinal County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are San Tan Valley & Apache Junction, Casa Grande, Maricopa & Silver Bell, and Gold Canyon. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Pinal County good for families?
Schools beat 7% of counties, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $856 a month.
Is Pinal County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 69% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of counties. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Pinal County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pinal County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pinal 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.
Pinal County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pinal County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pinal County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pinal County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pinal County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pinal 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.