Photo: Mark Wagner · CC BY 2.5Households in Sun City West earn less than those in 68% of U.S. towns
Sun City West grades B for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 7.6% of residents are in poverty (Arizona 12.5%). About one in ten stay in Sun City West for work; outside it, Phoenix is the main destination (32%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Sun City West
Sun City West trades workers with the towns around it
Sun City West has about as many jobs (5,553) as working residents (4,837), but they are mostly different people: 4,449 residents leave for work each day while 5,165 people come in. Only 7% of the jobs in Sun City West are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Sun City West’s workforce skews older
54% of Sun City West’s working residents are 55 or older. That’s about two in five. The jobs ↓
Sun City West and Phoenix trade workers both ways
Phoenix is the top workplace for Sun City West residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Sun City West come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Sun City West is services
88% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
What’s behind Sun City West’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sun City West is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #43 of 140 in Arizona. The poverty rate holds Sun City West’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($63,685, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sun City West could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
A workday in Sun City West: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,449 residents head out to work, 388 work right here, and 5,165 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.15 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Sun City West
5,553 jobs are based in Sun City West.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sun City West, 2014 → 2024: 4,682 → 5,553. 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 Sun City West’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Sun City West goes to work
Where Sun City West clocks in
32% of workers
7% 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.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Sun City West
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sun City West workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,692 commuters (the 22% 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.
Where in the region Sun City West works
About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
In Sun City West, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sun City West is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #87 of 140 in Arizona. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,469 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 42% 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). 4.2% of Sun City West households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sun City West’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Sun City West ranks: 933rd of 1,509 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 37,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Anthem AZ | 22,584 | $121K | 4.1% | 4.4% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 668 | Fountain Hills AZ | 23,625 | $113K | 6.2% | 5.3% | 14% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 931 | New Milford CT | 28,941 | $106K | 7.1% | 8.6% | 21% | B |
| 932 | Westchester Township IN | 21,022 | $83K | 9.7% | 5.8% | 18% | B |
| 933 | Sun City West AZ | 27,425 | $64K | 7.6% | 3.8% | 8% | B |
| 934 | Greenfield CA | 21,138 | $85K | 11.4% | 2.6% | 14% | B |
| 935 | Kent OH | 27,737 | $43K | 27.1% | 11.2% | 14% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 939 | Green Valley AZ | 22,114 | $62K | 7.7% | 2.4% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,509 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 35% | 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 Sun City West, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
Next door to Sun City West
The biggest share goes to Surprise (5%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sun City West workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun City West | – | B | C+ | 22 min | $63,685 |
| Surprise | 5% | B+ | C+ | 30 min | $96,711 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sun City West’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 Sun City West: questions
What is the median household income in Sun City West?
$63,685 (±$3,260) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sun City West?
7.6%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sun City West?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sun City West work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (32%, 17 mi), Tempe (7%, 31 mi), Scottsdale (6%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sun City West walkable?
Sun City West is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sun City West without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sun City West, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sun City West
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.