Photo: Marine 69-71 · CC BY-SA 4.0About two in five of Sun City’s working residents commute to Phoenix
Jobs and income earn Sun City C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. Household incomes here are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns. Only 5% stay in Sun City for work; outside it, Phoenix is the main destination (41%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sun City at work: what stands out
Sun City’s workforce skews older
52% of Sun City’s working residents are 55 or older. That’s about two in five. The jobs ↓
The quickest commute around
Sun City’s 24-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 27 to 30 minutes. Next door ↓
Nearly all the work in Sun City is services
86% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Sun City’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sun City is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #63 of 140 in Arizona. Job access by car holds Sun City’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($54,586, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sun City could be anywhere from C to B−.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Sun City
8,118 jobs are based in Sun City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sun City, 2013 → 2023: 7,421 → 8,118. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sun City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Sun City’s residents
Where Sun City clocks in
41% 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.
How many people are in Sun City by day
On a workday 9,613 residents head out to work, 514 work right here, and 7,604 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 (0.80 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 24 minutes to work from Sun City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sun City workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,460 commuters (the 19% 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.
Sun City’s commute, mile by mile
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Sun City, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sun City is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #62 of 140 in Arizona. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 6,740 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 34% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 11% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 4.9% of Sun City households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sun City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,196 U.S. towns of 26,000 to 51,000, Sun City comes 951st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 426 | Oro Valley AZ | 48,085 | $107K | 6.5% | 2.3% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 761 | Sun City West AZ | 27,425 | $64K | 7.6% | 3.8% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 794 | Sahuarita AZ | 37,694 | $105K | 8.6% | 6.4% | 11% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 949 | South Valley NM | 37,120 | $58K | 18.5% | 4.3% | 7% | C+ |
| 950 | Slidell LA | 28,341 | $70K | 15.7% | 5.8% | 19% | C+ |
| 951 | Sun City AZ | 37,486 | $55K | 11.2% | 6.2% | 5% | C+ |
| 952 | Silver Springs Shores FL | 28,537 | $64K | 14.2% | 3.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 953 | Millville NJ | 28,098 | $70K | 12.5% | 6.1% | 20% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,196 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
Work in the towns next to Sun City
The biggest share goes to Peoria (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Sun City’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 2023, 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: questions
What is the median household income in Sun City?
$54,586 (±$2,548) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sun City?
11.2%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sun City?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sun City work?
5% work in town.
Is Sun City walkable?
Sun City is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sun City without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 11% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sun City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sun City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.