The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In Arizona For 2022


Using science and data, we can tell you which places in Arizona have seen home prices rising and people flocking over the past year.

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Editor’s note: This is not investment advice and we are not financial advisers. Article updated for 2022.

There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in Arizona:

Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in Arizona, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Grand Canyon State.

To do that we are going to look at places in Arizona that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in Arizona at the moment? That would be Holbrook according to our analysis.

Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in Arizona for 2022.

The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In Arizona For 2022

  1. Holbrook
  2. Thatcher
  3. Bisbee
  4. South Tucson
  5. Snowflake
  6. Litchfield Park
  7. Guadalupe
  8. Youn
  9. Tolleson
  10. Globe

What's the best place to buy a home in Arizona for 2022? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.

The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in Arizona and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in Arizona.

For more Arizona reading, check out:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In Arizona For 2022

1. Holbrook

Holbrook, AZ

Source: Wikipedia User Shereth | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,073
Median Home Price: $102,200
Population Change: 0.7%
Home Price Change: 3.9%
More on Holbrook: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

2. Thatcher

Thatcher, AZ

Source: Flickr User ossguy | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 5,122
Median Home Price: $180,700
Population Change: 1.5%
Home Price Change: 4.0%
More on Thatcher: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

3. Bisbee

Bisbee, AZ

Source: Wikipedia User The original uploader was | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,199
Median Home Price: $143,500
Population Change: -0.1%
Home Price Change: 8.3%
More on Bisbee: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

4. South Tucson

South Tucson, AZ

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,692
Median Home Price: $86,900
Population Change: 0.4%
Home Price Change: 3.2%
More on South Tucson: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

5. Snowflake

Snowflake, AZ

Source: Wikipedia User w:en:User:Mikejames | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,873
Median Home Price: $167,300
Population Change: 1.1%
Home Price Change: 2.0%
More on Snowflake: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

6. Litchfield Park

Litchfield Park, AZ

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,228
Median Home Price: $351,200
Population Change: 2.6%
Home Price Change: 10.4%
More on Litchfield Park: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

7. Guadalupe

Guadalupe, AZ

Source: Wikipedia User Logan Antill/Original upl | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,572
Median Home Price: $139,200
Population Change: 1.4%
Home Price Change: 39.1%
More on Guadalupe: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

8. Youn

Youn, AZ

Source: Wikipedia User Marine 69-71 | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,837
Median Home Price: $169,300
Population Change: 0.5%
Home Price Change: 8.9%
More on Youn: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

9. Tolleson

Tolleson, AZ

Source: Wikipedia User Angelica Phoenix from Pho | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 7,340
Median Home Price: $199,000
Population Change: 1.3%
Home Price Change: 13.8%
More on Tolleson: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

10. Globe

Globe, AZ

Source: Wikipedia User Steven C. Price | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 7,351
Median Home Price: $135,300
Population Change: 0.0%
Home Price Change: 7.6%
More on Globe: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in Arizona for 2022?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in Arizona. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in Arizona with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.

Richest Cities In Arizona

To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2016-2020 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for Arizona with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in Arizona, only 56 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 56 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.

Turns out that Holbrook is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Grand Canyon State.

Read on for more on these places.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In Arizona for 2022

There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in Arizona. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.

For more Arizona reading, check out:

Home Prices By City In Arizona

City Rank Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
Holbrook 1 $102,200 0.7% 3.9%
Thatcher 2 $180,700 1.5% 4.0%
Bisbee 3 $143,500 -0.1% 8.3%
South Tucson 4 $86,900 0.4% 3.2%
Snowflake 5 $167,300 1.1% 2.0%
Litchfield Park 6 $351,200 2.6% 10.4%
Guadalupe 7 $139,200 1.4% 39.1%
Youn 8 $169,300 0.5% 8.9%
Tolleson 9 $199,000 1.3% 13.8%
Globe 10 $135,300 0.0% 7.6%
Wickenburg 11 $241,000 2.8% 7.5%
Winslow 12 $97,200 0.3% 5.2%
Safford 13 $148,200 -0.4% -1.7%
Sedona 14 $510,800 0.2% 0.7%
Camp Verde 15 $214,500 0.4% 11.1%
Show Low 16 $170,000 1.3% -0.5%
Chino Valley 17 $261,800 -2.6% 14.3%
Cottonwood 18 $195,200 2.2% 3.1%
Coolidge 19 $122,400 2.6% 8.2%
Paradise Valley 20 $1,663,200 1.0% 9.7%
Payson 21 $252,700 1.0% 6.9%
Douglas 22 $104,100 -0.1% 3.8%
Somerton 23 $150,100 1.0% 18.2%
Eloy 24 $108,700 -1.9% 8.6%
Nogales 25 $124,300 -0.1% 3.8%
Fountain Hills 26 $408,600 1.8% 1.6%
Florence 27 $188,000 1.4% 22.5%
Kingman 28 $162,200 2.4% 6.1%
Sahuarita 29 $237,300 2.6% 10.8%
San Luis 30 $128,500 2.7% 9.5%
El Mirage 31 $177,200 1.0% 10.2%
Bullhead City 32 $152,100 1.4% 8.4%
Apache Junction 33 $122,000 3.1% 15.5%
Prescott 34 $362,300 1.6% 4.2%
Sierra Vista 35 $174,100 0.8% 0.9%
Oro Valley 36 $330,400 1.5% 6.0%
Prescott Valley 37 $260,400 2.9% 13.9%
Marana 38 $271,200 4.2% 7.6%
Maricopa 39 $217,400 3.6% 7.6%
Queen Creek 40 $363,800 20.9% 4.4%
Lake Havasu City 41 $267,500 1.8% 7.8%
Casa Grande 42 $162,000 3.0% 7.7%
Flagstaff 43 $362,700 1.3% 3.2%
Goodyear 44 $310,500 3.9% 6.8%
Avondale 45 $232,500 1.6% 8.1%
Yuma 46 $152,300 1.1% 6.2%
Surprise 47 $258,700 2.6% 8.0%
Peoria 48 $282,200 2.3% 6.7%
Tempe 49 $287,600 2.2% 5.4%
Gilbert 50 $348,000 2.1% 5.9%
Glendale 51 $231,200 1.0% 7.7%
Scottsdale 52 $493,200 1.8% 3.8%
Chandler 53 $324,500 1.7% 7.9%
Mesa 54 $245,500 1.8% 8.4%
Tucson 55 $165,900 0.7% 6.8%
Phoenix 56 $250,800 1.6% 6.5%
Download The Entire Arizona Ranking Data

How Is The Area In ?

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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