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Place dossier plate
SheetAZ-TEMPE-AZ · Tempe, AZ 186,419 pop · income 59th pct
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 Tempe
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Tempe on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Shreveport · lowest
48,465
Shreveport · lowest
48,465 median HH income
45.1% of the leader · rank #1
Boronda · near
77,639
Boronda · near
77,639 median HH income
72.3% of the leader · rank #2
Lower Grand L… · near
77,639
Lower Grand L… · near
77,639 median HH income
72.3% of the leader · rank #3
Tempe · this city
77,643
Tempe · this city
77,643 median HH income
72.3% of the leader · rank #4
Lake Shastina · near
77,645
Lake Shastina · near
77,645 median HH income
72.3% of the leader · rank #5
Finesville · near
77,647
Finesville · near
77,647 median HH income
72.3% of the leader · rank #6
Scottsdale · highest
107,372
Scottsdale · highest
107,372 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 Tempe 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: 186,419.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Tempe - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Tempe lands in the 59th percentile for household income and the 12th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
59th
percentile, household income
79th
percentile, home value
64th
percentile, median rent
12th
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: Tempe, AZ
Arizona's Tempe is a mid-sized U.S. city, with 186,419 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $77,643 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.0%. Typical homes in Tempe are valued around $421,900, and the median resident age is 29.9 years. Educational attainment runs 49.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 67.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1,075 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 23% from five years earlier. Tempe's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3364.1 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Arizona tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Arizona at 100.7 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,419 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Arizona's average monthly utility costs around $215 (state average). Workers in Tempe report an average commute of 17.2 minutes, with 60.6% driving alone and 19.4% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 84.5 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Tempe'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 work and mobility to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Tempe, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Tempe?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 60.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.2 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +5,273 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1,075 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.
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 3 public schools within the city match. 49.5% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Tempe?
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 Peoria (194,338 residents, $93,403 income); Surprise (149,519 residents, $93,371 income); Scottsdale (242,169 residents, $107,372 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Paradise, NV (186,178 residents); Mobile, AL (185,097 residents); Brownsville, TX (188,023 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Tempe?
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 5.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
5.4×
Home value
$421,900
Household income
$77,643
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Tempe?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3364.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 48% 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.
Total reported rate
3364.1
Violent rate
470.3
Property rate
2893.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above median income · poverty 8.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
100.7 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Arizona average
D
City profile score · Tempe, AZ
47/100
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 A-
49.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C
$77,643
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.0%
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
470 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Tempe profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 49.5%
Household income: 57/100 (C) · $77,643
Poverty rate: 48/100 (D) · 8.0%
Cost of living: 37/100 (F) · 100.7 index
Violent crime: 18/100 (F) · 470 /100k
Where Tempe sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Tempe'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 - Tempe highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Tempe, AZ (this city): home $421,900, crime 3,364/100k
Mobile, AL : home $170,300, crime 2,427/100k
Brownsville, TX : home $122,400, crime 2,398/100k
Newport News, VA : home $243,300, crime 3,152/100k
Shreveport, LA : home $178,100, crime 5,219/100k
Akron, OH : home $111,200, crime 3,775/100k
Peoria, AZ : home $429,400, crime 1,460/100k
Surprise, AZ : home $396,000, crime 985/100k
Scottsdale, AZ : home $709,900, crime 2,028/100k
Glendale, AZ : home $347,000, crime 3,159/100k
Goodyear, AZ : home $441,900, crime 1,645/100k
How does Tempe compare to other US cities?
Here's how Tempe stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income59% higher than other cities
Home value79% pricier than other cities
Median rent64% pricier than other cities
Safety12% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Arizona and the picture shifts: Tempe ranks #52 of 61 Arizona cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Tempe 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 Tempe near the bottom of Arizona's cities
Among the 394 Arizona cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Tempe ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Tempe only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#73 of 333
78th percentile in Arizona
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 394
0th percentile in Arizona
Median Home Value
#45 of 327
86th percentile in Arizona
Poverty Rate
#209 of 393
46th percentile in Arizona
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#30 of 394
92nd 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
59th percentile nationally for median household income · 12th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Tempe's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Tempe'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 Tempe's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$421,90021st percentilemore affordable than 21% 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
Tempe's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,490 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#510 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 5.4×, Tempe sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,490 of 15,516 and #510 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$77,643Tempe, AZ median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Tempe, 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 Tempe, AZ.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)49.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
186,419
Median Income
$77,643
Median Home Value
$421,900
Median Age
29.9
Poverty Rate
8.0%
Labor force participation
67.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
49.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3364.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
470.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2893.8
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.
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Tempe's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
185,298 residents
2021
184,597 residents
2022
189,535 residents
2023
190,194 residents
2024
189,376 residents
2025
190,571 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
1,075
housing units authorized
Single-Family
99
detached homes
Multifamily
976
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1,401
102
1,299
$246.8M
2020
1,339
118
1,221
$237.5M
2021
1,758
123
1,635
$310.4M
2022
1,745
102
1,643
$307.7M
2023
1,496
91
1,405
$263.9M
2024
1,075
99
976
$190.6M
Permit volume decreased 23% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.2 minutes
Drive Alone
60.6%
Carpool
8.1%
Public Transit
3.3%
Walk
3.9%
Work from Home
19.4%
Other
4.7%
Based on 107,109 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 Tempe. 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 Tempe 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 Tempe sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Tempe 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, 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.