Best PlacesYuma, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Yuma metro, 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.
Photo by Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via wiki
Yuma ranks 357th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on tree cover and a weak job market. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Yuma metro
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 Yuma
The towns and districts of the Yuma metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Fortuna Foothills
Health care is easier to reach, more residents vote, and crime runs lower.
Downtown Yuma
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
San Luis & Somerton
Fewer homes sit empty, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Avenue B and C
More households have young kids, though incomes run lower.
Scores across Yuma run from about the 2nd to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Yuma's strengths and weaknesses
Yuma ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. The weather is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Cell coverage and biking follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: tree cover, a weak job market, and summer heat all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Yuma ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 212 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 75% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of metro areas
- Short commute21.3 minutes each way, better than 73% of metro areas
Where Yuma ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- School gradeD+, better than only 3% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Yuma
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yuma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,482, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Yuma's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Yuma
Yuma's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Yuma.
Who works in Yuma, and how
Work in Yuma centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Yuma
Yuma has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Yuma and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Yuma growing, and who is moving in?
Yuma has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Phoenix, AZ.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Yuma go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Yuma, month by month
Yuma sees roughly 212 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 109 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 58° | 45° |
| April | 90° | 74° | 59° |
| July | 109° | 96° | 83° |
| October | 93° | 78° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Yuma
The nearest airport, Yuma MCAS/Yuma International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Diego International, about 150 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yuma
Schools across Yuma average a D+, better than 3% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Desert View AcademyB+ · 51% proficient
- Yuma District One Digital Learning AcademyB · 50% proficient
- Gowan Science AcademyB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crane Middle SchoolD · 24% proficient
- Ron Watson Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Centennial Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- San Pasqual Valley HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Desert View Middle & High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Cibola High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yuma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yuma 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 Yuma against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Yuma suits
Common questions about living in Yuma
Is Yuma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yuma ranks 357th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on tree cover and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Yuma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $230,680. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $70,482 median income, cost of living beats 13% of metro areas.
Is Yuma safe?
Yuma is safer than 15% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $482 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Yuma?
July highs average about 109 degrees, and January highs near 71 with lows near 45. That works out to about 212 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Yuma?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fortuna Foothills, Downtown Yuma, and San Luis & Somerton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Yuma good for families?
Schools beat 3% of metro areas, crime safety beats 15%, and childcare runs $800 a month.
Is Yuma good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 13% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 20% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Yuma with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yuma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yuma 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.
Yuma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yuma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yuma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yuma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yuma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yuma 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.