Best PlacesStoneman Lake, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stoneman Lake, 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.
Stoneman Lake ranks 34,645th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stoneman Lake
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.
Stoneman Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stoneman Lake ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 209 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 87% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
Where Stoneman Lake ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stoneman Lake
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stoneman Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,012, 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 Stoneman Lake's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Stoneman Lake
Stoneman Lake 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 Stoneman Lake.
Who works in Stoneman Lake, and how
Work in Stoneman Lake centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Stoneman Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stoneman Lake.
What the weather is like in Stoneman Lake, month by month
Stoneman Lake sees roughly 209 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 41° | 33° |
| April | 70° | 57° | 45° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 66° |
| October | 74° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Stoneman Lake
The nearest airport, Flagstaff Pulliam, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stoneman Lake
Schools across Stoneman Lake average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine Strawberry Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Weitzel's Puente De Hozho Bilingual Magnet SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mogollon Jr High SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Mount Elden Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Sinagua Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Payson High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Summit High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Mogollon High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stoneman Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stoneman Lake 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 Stoneman Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stoneman Lake
Is Stoneman Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stoneman Lake ranks 34,645th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and population health, 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 Stoneman Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $512,755. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $78,012 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Stoneman Lake safe?
Stoneman Lake is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $372 per resident a year.
Compare Stoneman Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stoneman Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stoneman Lake 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.
Stoneman Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stoneman Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stoneman Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stoneman Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stoneman Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stoneman Lake 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.