The 10 Richest Cities In Arizona For 2023


We analyzed 57 places in Arizona to determine where the 1% live.

Money really does grow on cacti in Arizona’s richest places. However, we don’t want you to get ‘stuck’ trying to figure out where Arizona’s wealthiest live on your own, so HomeSnacks’ made a list of the top ten richest places in The Grand Canyon State for 2023 and listed them below.

To help you make sense of our list, here’s a little insight into how we determined Arizona’s most affluent places. This part was easy: we just had to look at things well-to-do people find important: money and jobs. And with fancy, rich city names like Paradise Valley and Fountain Hills, most would think that they would have to earn a cool million/year to make ends meet in the top ten. While that’s not the case, you’re going to have to bring in at least $82,388/year to live in Arizona’s richest places.

We were not surprised, however, to find that Arizona is one of the fastest growing states or one of the best states to retire in the country with the consistent influx of snowbirds and retirees. But, we were surprised that the state is not one of the top ten richest states in America considering you need a high paying job and a bank account to match if you want to live in one of the state’s richest places.

Want to know more? Grab some sunscreen, head to the Salt River in Phoenix, and read on.

To narrow down the top ten richest cities in Arizona we had to determine how many cities should be considered based on population and the latest Census from the American Survey. This left us with 55 Arizona cities with more than 5,000 residents.

So, what is the richest place in Arizona? That would be Paradise Valley based on the most recent data.

To see a list of the other super wealthy Arizona places take a look below. And if you want to know how the bottom one percent in Arizona are managing, click here.

Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Arizona:

The 10 Richest Cities In Arizona For 2023

1. Paradise Valley

Paradise Valley, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10

Population: 12,666
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $203,659
Unemployment Rate: 3.3%
Poverty Rate: 4.1%
More on Paradise Valley: Real Estate | Photos

2. Gilbert

Gilbert, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 262,249
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Income: $105,733
Unemployment Rate: 3.5%
Poverty Rate: 5.4%
More on Gilbert: Real Estate | Photos

3. Scottsdale

Scottsdale, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 238,685
Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)
Median Income: $97,409
Unemployment Rate: 3.6%
Poverty Rate: 6.7%
More on Scottsdale: Real Estate | Photos

4. Litchfield Park

Litchfield Park, AZ

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 6,656
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Median Income: $94,844
Unemployment Rate: 1.9%
Poverty Rate: 7.1%
More on Litchfield Park: Real Estate | Photos

5. Oro Valley

Oro Valley, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

9
/10

Population: 46,515
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 3)
Median Income: $92,548
Unemployment Rate: 3.6%
Poverty Rate: 6.7%
More on Oro Valley: Real Estate | Photos

6. Marana

Marana, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 50,834
Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)
Median Income: $94,983
Unemployment Rate: 4.1%
Poverty Rate: 5.6%
More on Marana: Real Estate | Photos

7. Queen Creek

Queen Creek, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 57,728
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 3)
Median Income: $111,743
Unemployment Rate: 5.4%
Poverty Rate: 4.5%
More on Queen Creek: Real Estate | Photos

8. Maricopa

Maricopa, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 57,075
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 4)
Median Income: $82,388
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%
Poverty Rate: 6.9%
More on Maricopa: Real Estate | Photos

9. Chandler

Chandler, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 272,439
Rank Last Year: 7 (Down 2)
Median Income: $91,299
Unemployment Rate: 4.0%
Poverty Rate: 7.5%
More on Chandler: Real Estate | Photos

10. Fountain Hills

Fountain Hills, AZ

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 23,639
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 5)
Median Income: $90,143
Unemployment Rate: 5.1%
Poverty Rate: 5.6%
More on Fountain Hills: Real Estate | Photos

Methodology: How We Determined The Richest Places In Arizona For 2023

Map Of The Richest Places To Live In Arizona
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.

However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:

  • Poverty Level
  • Median Household Income
  • Unemployment Rate

Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.

After we collected the data for all 55 places with more than 5,000 people in Arizona, we ranked each place from 1 to 55 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.

We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Paradise Valley, crowned the “Richest City In Arizona For 2023”. You can download the data here.

You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 55 places.

Summary: The Wealthiest Places In Arizona For 2023

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Arizona, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Arizona.

When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.

If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Arizona, according to data:

Poorest: Nogales
2nd Poorest: Douglas
3rd Poorest: Winslow

For more Arizona reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Arizona

Rank City RichScore Median Income
1 Paradise Valley 1.67 $203,659
2 Gilbert 3.33 $105,733
3 Scottsdale 6.33 $97,409
4 Litchfield Park 6.33 $94,844
5 Oro Valley 7.33 $92,548
6 Marana 8.33 $94,983
7 Queen Creek 9.67 $111,743
8 Maricopa 10.33 $82,388
9 Chandler 10.67 $91,299
10 Fountain Hills 11.0 $90,143
11 Peoria 13.0 $81,017
12 Surprise 13.67 $76,623
13 Goodyear 16.33 $91,073
14 Mesa 19.33 $65,725
15 Sahuarita 19.67 $91,110
16 Avondale 21.0 $69,241
17 Prescott Valley 22.0 $60,033
18 Prescott 22.33 $61,090
19 Wickenburg 22.33 $57,604
20 Payson 22.67 $58,109
21 Sierra Vista 22.67 $66,129
22 Chino Valley 23.33 $46,893
23 Lake Havasu City 24.33 $59,817
24 Thatcher 24.33 $66,821
25 Florence 24.67 $63,072
26 Phoenix 25.67 $64,927
27 El Mirage 27.0 $65,072
28 Youn 29.0 $44,595
29 Sedona 29.0 $58,901
30 Glendale 30.0 $60,499
31 Tempe 30.33 $64,080
32 Safford 30.67 $53,503
33 Tolleson 31.33 $48,002
34 Globe 32.33 $57,985
35 Casa Grande 33.33 $59,175
36 Kingman 33.33 $52,768
37 Cottonwood 33.33 $39,437
38 Show Low 35.0 $53,569
39 Flagstaff 35.33 $61,026
40 Benson 38.0 $45,972
41 Yuma 38.0 $56,292
42 Apache Junction 39.33 $48,917
43 Snowflake 40.0 $63,458
44 Somerton 40.0 $53,741
45 Tucson 42.67 $48,058
46 Guadalupe 43.0 $45,114
47 Coolidge 44.33 $51,512
48 Camp Verde 44.67 $46,563
49 Eloy 45.0 $49,526
50 Page 46.33 $53,326
51 Bullhead City 47.67 $43,368
52 San Luis 50.33 $43,630
53 Winslow 52.0 $41,926
54 Douglas 52.33 $39,479
55 Nogales 54.0 $31,997

How Is The Area In ?

Editor’s Note: Data has been updated for 2023. This is our tenth time ranking the richest cities in Arizona.

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.