Most Expensive Places To Live In Arizona For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Arizona For 2020

1. Sedona

Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031.

The median income in Sedona comes in at $60,015 and the median home value is $461,900 for 2020.

2. Flagstaff

Flagstaff is a city in and the county seat of Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2015, the city's estimated population was 70,320. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has an estimated population of 139,097. The city is named after a ponderosa pine flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston to celebrate the United States Centennial on July 4, 1876.

The median income in Flagstaff comes in at $56,015 and the median home value is $323,200 for 2020.

3. Tempe

Tempe, also known as Hayden's Ferry during the territorial times of Arizona, is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale on the north, Chandler on the south, and Mesa on the east. Tempe is also the location of the main campus of Arizona State University.

The median income in Tempe comes in at $54,210 and the median home value is $255,800 for 2020.

4. Cottonwood

The median income in Cottonwood comes in at $34,209 and the median home value is $159,600 for 2020.

5. Prescott

Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 39,843. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County. In 1864 Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, replacing the temporary capital at Fort Whipple. The Territorial Capital was moved to Tucson in 1867. Prescott again became the Territorial Capital in 1877, until Phoenix became the capital in 1889.

The median income in Prescott comes in at $54,037 and the median home value is $328,000 for 2020.

6. Payson

Payson is a town in northern Gila County, Arizona, United States. Its location puts it very near to the geographic center of Arizona. Payson has been called "The Heart of Arizona". The town is surrounded by the Tonto National Forest and has many outdoor activities year round. As of the 2010 census, the population of Payson was 15,301.

The median income in Payson comes in at $50,049 and the median home value is $221,700 for 2020.

7. Prescott Valley

Prescott Valley is a town with a current population of about 45,500 residents located in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb of Prescott. Prescott Valley was the seventh fastest-growing place among all cities and towns in Arizona between 1990 and 2000.

The median income in Prescott Valley comes in at $48,375 and the median home value is $210,500 for 2020.

Cave Creek is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is 27mi northeast of Phoenix. According to the 2010 census, the population of the town was 5,015.

The median income in Cave Creek comes in at $85,529 and the median home value is $485,400 for 2020.

9. Surprise

Surprise is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona. The population was 30,848 at the 2000 census; however, rapid expansion has boosted the city's population to 117,517 at the 2010 census, an increase of 281%. As such, it is the second fastest-expanding municipality in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area and, between 1990 and 2000, it was the sixth fastest-expanding place among all cities and towns in Arizona.

The median income in Surprise comes in at $65,160 and the median home value is $225,200 for 2020.

10. Tolleson

Tolleson is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 6,545.

The median income in Tolleson comes in at $42,935 and the median home value is $162,400 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Grand Canyon State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Arizona to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 57 places in Arizona that have more than 5,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in Arizona according to the data is Sedona. You can download the data here.