Best PlacesYavapai County, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Yavapai County, 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.
Yavapai County ranks 1,321st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on the weather and low property taxes. The weaker spots are air quality, the cost of living against local pay, and an overheated housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Yavapai County
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 Yavapai County
The parts of Yavapai County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Williamson & Bagdad
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Prescott Valley & Prescott
Fewer homes sit empty and more households have young kids.
Congress
Tree cover is thicker, though heat risk is higher.
Cottonwood, Sedona & Big Park
Biking is better, though prices have run up more.
Verde Village, Camp Verde & Lake Montezuma
Homes cost less.
Chino Valley
Commutes are longer.
Dewey, Black Canyon City & Cordes Lakes
Disaster risk is higher and health outcomes score lower.
Yavapai County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Yavapai County's strengths and weaknesses
Yavapai County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather, low property taxes, and a strong job market carry most of that.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. The cost of living against local pay and an overheated housing market also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Yavapai County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of counties
- Local economyBetter than 86% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of counties
- TransitBetter than 80% of counties
Where Yavapai County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 19% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 22% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Yavapai County
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yavapai County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,350, 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 Yavapai County'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 Yavapai County
Yavapai County 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 Yavapai County.
Who works in Yavapai County, and how
Work in Yavapai County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Yavapai County
Yavapai County has less parkland per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Yavapai County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Yavapai County growing, and who is moving in?
Yavapai County has grown about 16% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Phoenix, AZ.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Yavapai County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Yavapai County, month by month
Yavapai County sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 38° | 24° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 38° |
| July | 93° | 78° | 63° |
| October | 76° | 58° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Yavapai County
The nearest airport, Prescott Regional/Ernest A Love Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yavapai County
Schools across Yavapai County average a C−, better than 25% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Liberty Traditional SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Abia Judd Elementary SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Sedona Charter SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ash Fork Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Prescott Mile High Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Bradshaw Mountain Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Arizona Agribusiness & Equine Center Inc. - Prescott ValleyB+ · 53% proficient
- Tri-city College PrepB · 50% proficient
- Boulder Creek High SchoolB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yavapai County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yavapai County 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 Yavapai County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Yavapai County suits
Families
Schools land around the 25th percentile and crime safety beats 83%.
Retirees
The weather beats 94% of counties and health care access beats 64%.
Common questions about living in Yavapai County
Is Yavapai County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yavapai County ranks 1,321st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and a strong job market, and lowest on air quality and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Yavapai County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $443,547. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $73,350 median income, cost of living beats 19% of counties.
Is Yavapai County safe?
Yes, Yavapai County is safer than 83% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Yavapai County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 55 with lows near 24. That works out to about 158 pleasant days a year, more than 94% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Yavapai County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Williamson & Bagdad, Prescott Valley & Prescott, and Congress. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Yavapai County good for families?
Schools beat 25% of counties, crime safety beats 83%, and childcare runs $924 a month.
Is Yavapai County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 19% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 24% of counties. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Yavapai County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yavapai County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yavapai County 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.
Yavapai County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yavapai County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yavapai County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yavapai County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yavapai County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yavapai County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.