Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetAZ-PHOENIX-AZ · Phoenix, AZ 1,624,832 pop · income 58th pct · 1,009 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Phoenix
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Phoenix on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Tucson · lowest
54,546
Tucson · lowest
54,546 median HH income
38.5% of the leader · rank #1
Lingleville · near
77,031
Lingleville · near
77,031 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #2
Tuscola · near
77,034
Tuscola · near
77,034 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #3
Groveland Sta… · near
77,039
Groveland Sta… · near
77,039 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #4
Phoenix · this city
77,041
Phoenix · this city
77,041 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #5
Coalmont · near
77,054
Coalmont · near
77,054 median HH income
54.4% of the leader · rank #6
San Jose · highest
141,565
San Jose · highest
141,565 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Phoenix on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,624,832.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Phoenix - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Phoenix lands in the 58th percentile for household income and the 14th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
58th
percentile, household income
76th
percentile, home value
64th
percentile, median rent
14th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Phoenix, AZ
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,624,832 residents in Phoenix, a major U.S. city within Arizona. Phoenix households earn a median of $77,041 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.4%. Home values in Phoenix run a median of $381,900, and the median resident age is 34.8 years. About 32.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 64.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 8,997 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 9% from five years earlier. Phoenix's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3125.0 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Phoenix's yearly average temperature at 75.6°F with 7.2 inches of precipitation per year.
Arizona tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Arizona scores 100.7 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,419 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $215 across Arizona, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 21.3 minutes, with 66.1% driving alone and 16.9% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 84.5 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Phoenix's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to reported crime to population change to within-city variation to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Phoenix, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Phoenix?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Arizona, the closest population matches are Tucson (543,348 residents, $54,546 income); Mesa (507,478 residents, $78,779 income); Chandler (278,123 residents, $103,691 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Philadelphia, PA (1,582,432 residents); San Antonio, TX (1,458,954 residents); San Diego, CA (1,385,061 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 75.6°F, with 7.2 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Arizona is 84.5 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Phoenix?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3125.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 37% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
What can 1009 Census tracts reveal inside Phoenix?
PlainCities matches 1009 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Phoenix growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +53,023 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 8,997 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
2020 estimate
1,612,458
2025 estimate
1,665,481
Period change
+3.3%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Phoenix?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.4%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.0×
Home value
$381,900
Household income
$77,041
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Phoenix?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 66.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.3 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
66.1%
Work from home
16.9%
Public transit
2.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 811,897 workers age 16+.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 39 public schools within the city match. 32.3% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
10.4%
Bachelor's degree+
32.3%
Matched public schools
39
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 10.4% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.7 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Arizona average
F
City profile score · Phoenix, AZ
39/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share C+
32.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C
$77,041
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
100.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime F
800 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Phoenix profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 62/100 (C+) · 32.3%
Household income: 56/100 (C) · $77,041
Poverty rate: 38/100 (F) · 10.4%
Cost of living: 37/100 (F) · 100.7 index
Violent crime: 1/100 (F) · 800 /100k
Where Phoenix sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Phoenix's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Phoenix highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Phoenix, AZ (this city): home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Tucson, AZ : home $242,200, crime 3,902/100k
Mesa, AZ : home $364,300, crime 1,947/100k
Chandler, AZ : home $469,800, crime 1,638/100k
Gilbert, AZ : home $518,600, crime 1,100/100k
Glendale, AZ : home $347,000, crime 3,159/100k
Scottsdale, AZ : home $709,900, crime 2,028/100k
How does Phoenix compare to other US cities?
Where Phoenix sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income58% higher than other cities
Home value76% pricier than other cities
Median rent64% pricier than other cities
Safety14% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Arizona alone, Phoenix ranks #49 of 61 Arizona cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Phoenix against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Arizona only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Arizona-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Phoenix near the bottom of Arizona's cities
Among the 394 Arizona cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Phoenix ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Phoenix only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#77 of 333
77th percentile in Arizona
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 394
0th percentile in Arizona
Median Home Value
#56 of 327
83rd percentile in Arizona
Poverty Rate
#183 of 393
53rd percentile in Arizona
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#71 of 394
82nd percentile in Arizona
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Arizona only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
58th percentile nationally for median household income · 14th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Phoenix's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Phoenix's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Phoenix's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$381,90024th percentilemore affordable than 24% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Phoenix's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,808 of 15,516
More affordable than 17% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6 of 9
Major cities (1 million+)
At 5.0×, Phoenix sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,808 of 15,516 and #6 of 9major cities (1 million+).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$77,041Phoenix, AZ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Phoenix, AZ median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Phoenix, AZ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)32.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,624,832
Median Income
$77,041
Median Home Value
$381,900
Median Age
34.8
Poverty Rate
10.4%
Labor force participation
64.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
32.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3125.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
799.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2325.3
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
75.6°F
Annual Precipitation
7.2"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
39
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Phoenix's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,612,458 residents
2021
1,624,582 residents
2022
1,640,910 residents
2023
1,648,671 residents
2024
1,662,324 residents
2025
1,665,481 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
8,997
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4,062
detached homes
Multifamily
4,935
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
9,898
4,175
5,723
$1893.6M
2020
11,647
4,666
6,981
$1974.1M
2021
11,492
4,922
6,570
$2034.6M
2022
14,598
3,982
10,616
$2919.2M
2023
14,468
4,200
10,268
$2632.8M
2024
8,997
4,062
4,935
$1448.0M
Permit volume decreased 9% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.3 minutes
Drive Alone
66.1%
Carpool
10.9%
Public Transit
2.0%
Walk
1.6%
Work from Home
16.9%
Other
2.5%
Based on 811,897 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Arizona statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $215
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Arizona at $215 (electricity about $131 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Arizona statewide averages, not a meter reading for Phoenix. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Arizona's BEA cost-of-living index is 100.7 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Phoenix is $1,419/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Arizona statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 84.5 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Arizona statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Phoenix sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Phoenix compares to similar-size Arizona cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.