Best PlacesSedona, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sedona, 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.
Sedona ranks 26,367th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sedona
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.
Sedona's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sedona ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 149 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
Where Sedona ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sedona
A household needs to earn about $190,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sedona home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,921, 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 Sedona's effective rate of 0.40%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sedona
Sedona 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 Sedona.
Who works in Sedona, and how
Work in Sedona centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Sedona
Sedona has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sedona and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sedona, month by month
Sedona sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 44° | 37° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 96° | 82° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Sedona
The nearest airport, Flagstaff Pulliam, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sedona
Schools across Sedona average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sedona Charter SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Manuel Demiguel Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Mountain View Preparatory SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Elden Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Summit High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Flagstaff High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Mingus Union High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sedona school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sedona 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 Sedona against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sedona
Is Sedona a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sedona ranks 26,367th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, an educated workforce, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sedona expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $767,362. The overall cost of living runs about 33% above the national average. Set against a $76,921 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Sedona safe?
Sedona is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $442 per resident a year.
Compare Sedona with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sedona. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sedona 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.
Sedona detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sedona: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sedona: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sedona: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sedona: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sedona 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.