Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Douglas gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $172K, 2.9 years of the Sierra Vista metro’s $60K median household income. It grades C− overall, 104th of 139 graded towns in Arizona. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $42K, and 28% of residents live below the poverty line, and CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 88% of the country. 28% of residents live below the poverty line in Douglas, against 12% in Arizona’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Only 7 of Arizona’s 207 towns score higher on history. The biggest park or preserve is Fifth Street Park, at 24 acres.
Where Douglas beats most towns.
Douglas Municipal Airport
Peggy Ahern
Census counts: 6,437 in 1910, 16,534 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1904 and 5 maps from 1914 on.
11 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Arizona), ordered by how far Douglas is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Douglas, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Douglas.
Douglas trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and fares better on crime within Arizona than nationally, but it is a long drive from an emergency room.
Homes are within reach (about $172K for the typical one, B+ for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 45 miles. At 2.9 years of the Sierra Vista metro’s $60K median household income, the typical home (about $172K) costs less against local pay than in 86% of Arizona towns; that ratio is one input to its B+ for cost of living.
The median rent in Douglas is $772 a month. The typical Douglas home is worth about $172,000, about the same as a year ago, 59% below the Arizona typical home. 63% of Douglas households own their home.
| Douglas | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $772 a month | $1,206 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 63% | 76% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Douglas Unified District. Two of its 18 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Carlson Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 410 | C |
| Douglas High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,288 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AZ on state tests and graduation
The nearest emergency room, Copper Queen Community Hospital, is 20.2 miles away in a straight line. Against the 3,050 U.S. towns with household incomes like Douglas’s, it is less healthy than 51%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
39% of adults get no exercise outside work in Douglas. Douglas beats the Arizona average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 23. 17% of adults smoke cigarettes in Douglas.
| Douglas | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 21% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 15% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Douglas | AZ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.3% | 8.8% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 17.7% | 7.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here fell from 4,036 in 2013 to 2,467.
Only 4 of the 140 Arizona towns we compare have a lower median household income than Douglas. Since 2013, Douglas has lost 1,569 jobs, to 2,467 in 2023. About one in 3 of Douglas’s working residents works in town.
| Douglas | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 29% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $42,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 7.7% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
7.5 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. Douglas’ trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Douglas | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.9% | 15% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 1.1 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fifth Street Park | 0.4 mi | 24 |
| 2. Airport Park | — | 13 |
| 3. Raul Castro Park | 0.2 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Mc Neal weather station, 16 miles away, records that about 131 days a year reach 90°, more than in 97% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 94.2°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 30.8°.
Douglas has mild winters and hot summers, with very little rain. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Douglas | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 100°F | 85°F |
| January low | 31°F | 37°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 59% of U.S. communities. Since 2000, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Douglas.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 17.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 72% of Arizona’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 247 to 183 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
None within 15 miles of Douglas; the nearest are
About 7 of every 100 Douglas residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Arizona.
11 places in Douglas on the National Register of Historic Places.
20 notable people were born in Douglas.
City in Cochise County, Arizona
Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, that lies in the north-west to south-east running Sulphur Springs Valley. Douglas has a border crossing with Mexico at Agua Prieta and a history of mining. The population was 16,531 in the 2020 Census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Douglas.
| Town | AZ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Douglas | #104 | C− | B+ | B− | B− | D |
| Pirtleville | — | — | A+ | — | B− | C |
Pirtleville has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Pirtleville reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Douglas with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Douglas grades C− overall, better than 22% of U.S. towns and #104 of 139 in Arizona. It grades D for health, B− for safety and B− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
20 notable people were born here, including Peggy Ahern and Stan Jones.
