Louise Lincoln Kerr House and Studio · Photo: Tony the Marine · CC BY-SA 3.0Paradise Valley ranks among the highest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Poverty touches 5.5% of residents, against 12.5% across Arizona. Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Jobs and income earn Paradise Valley A+; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Paradise Valley at work: what stands out
Much of Paradise Valley works one town over
63% of working residents work in a town that borders Paradise Valley: Phoenix (41%) and Scottsdale (22%). Next door ↓
Paradise Valley has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Paradise Valley went from 3,598 in 2014 to 6,714 in 2024, +87%. The jobs ↓
Nearly all the work in Paradise Valley is services
96% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Paradise Valley is where the jobs are
Paradise Valley has 6,714 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Paradise Valley’s workforce skews older
41% of Paradise Valley’s working residents are 55 or older. That’s about two in five. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Paradise Valley earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Paradise Valley is better than 98% of U.S. towns, #1 of 140 in Arizona. Household income is its strongest input ($247,159, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Paradise Valley could be anywhere from A to A+.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Paradise Valley
6,714 jobs are based in Paradise Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Paradise Valley, 2014 → 2024: 3,598 → 6,714. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Paradise Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Paradise Valley by day and by night
On a workday 4,076 residents head out to work, 267 work right here, and 6,447 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Paradise Valley on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Paradise Valley’s workforce comes from
Where Paradise Valley clocks in
41% of workers
22% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 21 minutes each way for Paradise Valley’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Paradise Valley workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,924 commuters (the 26% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Half of Paradise Valley commutes less than 8 miles
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Paradise Valley is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Paradise Valley is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #97 of 140 in Arizona. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.9% across Arizona.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,270 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.7% of Paradise Valley households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Paradise Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Paradise Valley is 78th among 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Verona WI | 16,821 | $120K | 1.4% | 1.6% | 22% | A+ |
| 77 | Pine Township PA | 15,475 | $185K | 4.4% | 1.7% | 8% | A+ |
| 78 | Paradise Valley AZ | 12,251 | $247K | 5.5% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 79 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| 80 | Plymouth MI | 9,164 | $112K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 381 | Vail AZ | 16,315 | $131K | 4.3% | 1.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 637 | Tanque Verde AZ | 15,866 | $122K | 2.3% | 4.4% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 713 | Tucson Mountains AZ | 11,353 | $134K | 8.9% | 3.0% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Paradise Valley, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
Next door is work for 63% of Paradise Valley
The biggest share goes to Phoenix (41%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Paradise Valley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradise Valley | – | A+ | C | 21 min | $247,159 |
| Phoenix | 41% | B | A | 26 min | $81,332 |
| Scottsdale | 22% | A | A− | 22 min | $110,886 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Paradise Valley’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Paradise Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Paradise Valley?
$247,159 (±$31,482) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Paradise Valley?
5.5%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Paradise Valley?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Paradise Valley work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (41%, 8 mi), Scottsdale (22%, 11 mi), Tempe (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Paradise Valley walkable?
Paradise Valley is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Paradise Valley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Paradise Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Paradise Valley
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.