Best PlacesWilliams, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Williams, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Williams ranks 37,169th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Williams
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.
Williams' strengths and weaknesses
Where Williams ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
Where Williams ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Williams
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Williams home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $75,742, 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 Williams' 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 Williams
Williams 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 Williams.
Who works in Williams, and how
Work in Williams centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Williams
Williams has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Williams and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Williams, month by month
Williams sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 64° | 49° | 34° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 56° |
| October | 68° | 52° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Williams
The nearest airport, Flagstaff Pulliam, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Williams
Schools across Williams average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ash Fork Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Maine Consolidated SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Heritage Elementary - WilliamsC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ash Fork Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Mount Elden Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Ash Fork High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Summit High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Williams High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Williams school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Williams 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 Williams against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Williams
Is Williams a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Williams ranks 37,169th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, low property taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Williams expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $402,180. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $75,742 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Williams safe?
Williams is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $539 per resident a year.
Compare Williams with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Williams. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Williams 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.
Williams detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Williams: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Williams: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Williams: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Williams: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Williams 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.