Best PlacesSun Lakes, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sun Lakes, 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.
Sun Lakes ranks 6,107th 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 Sun Lakes
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.
Sun Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sun Lakes ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 205 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
Where Sun Lakes ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,109 a month, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sun Lakes
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sun Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,467, 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 Sun Lakes' effective rate of 0.61%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sun Lakes
Sun Lakes 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 Sun Lakes.
Who works in Sun Lakes, and how
Work in Sun Lakes centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sun Lakes
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sun Lakes.
What the weather is like in Sun Lakes, month by month
Sun Lakes sees roughly 205 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 107 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 56° | 42° |
| April | 87° | 76° | 58° |
| July | 107° | 98° | 84° |
| October | 89° | 79° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Sun Lakes
The nearest airport, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 17 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sun Lakes
Schools across Sun Lakes average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Anna Marie Jacobson Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- Arizona College Prep Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Top high schools
- Arizona College Prep High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sun Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sun Lakes 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 Sun Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sun Lakes
Is Sun Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sun Lakes ranks 6,107th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, the weather, and good schools, 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 Sun Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $465,258. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $71,467 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Sun Lakes safe?
Yes, Sun Lakes is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $278 per resident a year.
Compare Sun Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sun Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sun Lakes 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.
Sun Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sun Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sun Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sun Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sun Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sun Lakes 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.