Best PlacesTempe, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tempe, 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.
Tempe ranks 128th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on tree cover and internet speeds. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Tempe
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 Tempe
The parts of Tempe, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Kiwanis Park, Bell de Mar Crossing & Raintree
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Optimist Park Sw, Alta Mira & Optimist Park Nw
Prices have run up less and more adults hold degrees.
Meyer Park, Evergreen-Tempe & Shalimar
Health care is easier to reach and fewer homes sit empty.
Tempe Royal Estates & Pepperwood
Heat risk is lower, though streets are more car-dependent.
Peterson, Hughes Acres & Cyprus Southwest
Scores close to Tempe Royal Estates & Pepperwood, except that crime runs higher here.
Riverside, Sunset & Tempe Junction
Downtown Tempe, Ntna-College & Jen Tilly Terrace
Fewer households have young kids.
Baseline-Hardy, Wood Park & South Phoenix
Homes cost less, though it is noisier.
Escalante, Alegre Community & Tempe Cascade
Scores close to Baseline-Hardy, Wood Park & South Phoenix, except that health outcomes score higher here.
Scores across Tempe run from about the 23rd to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Tempe's strengths and weaknesses
Tempe lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Biking and low disaster risk follow.
The one real hole is tree cover, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and summer heat also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Tempe ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of cities
Where Tempe ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Tempe
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tempe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,430, 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 Tempe's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tempe
Tempe runs younger 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 Tempe.
Who works in Tempe, and how
Work in Tempe centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Tempe
Tempe has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of cities and more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Tempe and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tempe, month by month
Tempe sees roughly 207 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 110 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 56° | 44° |
| April | 90° | 76° | 61° |
| July | 110° | 98° | 85° |
| October | 92° | 78° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Tempe
Phoenix Sky Harbor International sits about 6 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.2 million passengers in 2025, with 177 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Tempe
Schools across Tempe average a C, better than 34% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Franklin At Brimhall ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- The French American Academy Of ArizonaA+ · 75% proficient
- Center For Educational ExcellenceA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Franklin Junior High SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Kyrene Aprende Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Kyrene Del Pueblo Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Tempe Preparatory AcademyB+ · 56% proficient
- Corona Del Sol High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- TapbiC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tempe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tempe 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 Tempe against the other 444 cities.
Who Tempe suits
Common questions about living in Tempe
Is Tempe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tempe ranks 128th of 445 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, biking, and low disaster risk, and lowest on tree cover and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tempe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $462,511. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $90,430 median income, cost of living beats 55% of cities.
Is Tempe safe?
Tempe is safer than 14% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $590 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Tempe?
July highs average about 110 degrees, and January highs near 69 with lows near 44. That works out to about 207 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Tempe?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Kiwanis Park, Bell de Mar Crossing & Raintree, Optimist Park Sw, Alta Mira & Optimist Park Nw, and Meyer Park, Evergreen-Tempe & Shalimar. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Tempe good for families?
Schools beat 34% of cities, crime safety beats 14%, and childcare runs $1,109 a month.
Is Tempe good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 55% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 8% of cities. About 21% of workers already work from home.
Compare Tempe with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tempe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tempe 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.
Tempe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tempe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tempe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tempe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tempe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tempe 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.