Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
With 548,371 people, Tucson can't be summed up by one letter: its C− averages neighborhoods that are worlds apart. Within Arizona, that puts it 108th of 139. It is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. What weighs on its grade: its police reported 1,976 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, and FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 78% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. 57% of working residents work locally in Tucson, above both the Arizona town median (10%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Its National Register listings include Desert Laboratory and San Xavier del Bac.
Where Tucson beats most towns.
Desert Laboratory| College | Students |
|---|---|
| University of Arizona | 42,066 |
| Pima Community College | 10,836 |
| Pima Medical Institute-Tucson | 850 |
Desert Laboratory is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier. Its founding year, 1775, is the earliest of any Arizona town we grade.
Census counts: 400 in 1850, 542,629 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1873 and 5 maps from 1948 on.
139 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Arizona), ordered by how far Tucson is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Tucson. Close and well known come first.
in town Stadium & arenaArizona Stadium
in town MuseumPima Air & Space Museum
8 mi National ParkSaguaro National Park848K visitors a year
21 mi MountainMount Lemmon
19 mi MuseumTitan Missile Museum
in town Stadium & arenaVeterans Memorial StadiumArizona Stadium: Wcarlisle4, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pima Air & Space Museum: The original uploader was MCB at English Wikipedia. Later versions were uploade, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Saguaro National Park: Luke Jones from Yucca Valley, CC BY 2.0 · Mount Lemmon: Debby Kriegel, Public domain · Titan Missile Museum: Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0 · Veterans Memorial Stadium: No machine-readable author provided. Friejose assumed (based on copyright claims, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Tucson, 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 Tucson.
Tucson is healthier than towns with similar incomes, has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns and has seen reported crime fall by a fifth or more.
Santa Cruz River Park, at 1,070 acres with 5.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Trails total 363 miles in 177 parks and preserves. For Tucson, the concentration of trails is 1.5 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fantasy Island Trails Park | 13.3 mi | 358 |
| 2. Lincoln Regional Park | 10.5 mi | 415 |
| 3. Sentinel Peak Park | 7.8 mi | 385 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Below: Three of its 278 schools, each with why it was picked. The 6 public schools in Tucson teach 5,438 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leman Academy of Excellence East TucsonLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 1,157 | A− |
| Tucson Magnet High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | 2,938 | C |
| University High SchoolTop results in townGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | 982 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AZ on state tests and graduation
Reported crimes fell from 17,761 to 13,295 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
In Tucson, the property offense rate is 20.3 per 1,000 residents. The town’s level of violent crime comes in at 3.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Tucson | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 20.3 per 1,000 residents | 11 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.5 per 1,000 residents | 2.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
120 flood insurance claims have been paid in Tucson since 1978. Expected losses in Tucson break down as 66% from inland flooding and 30% from heat waves. Federal aid has come to Tucson households in 2 declared disasters; the latest was in 2006.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
52% of households are owner-occupiers in Tucson. Values fell 1.9% in the year to September 2026. Homes sold in Tucson spent a median 62 days on the market.
| Tucson | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 52% | 76% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 55% | 46% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
July afternoons average 99.7°, hotter than in 99% of U.S. towns; January nights average 38.2°.
The town’s peak summer temperature stands at 100°F. Snow is a rarity.
| Tucson | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 100°F | 100°F | 85°F |
| January low | 38°F | 36°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
For residents in Tucson, the share who are under 18 is 19%. Adults 18 to 34 are 31% of residents (23% statewide). In Tucson, the median age is 34.6 years. 31% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 33% across Arizona.
| Tucson | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 34.6 years | 41.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 16% | 22% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 21% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 24% | 29% |
50.4% women, 49.6% men
About 98 men for every 100 women. Across Arizona, 50.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 35.9, men 33.5.
| Tucson | AZ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.7% | 11.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.6% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 15.3% | 9.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.9% | 13.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.1% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.3% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.7% | 12% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.2% | 10.8% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.8% | 10.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.2% | 23.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 24.8% | 23.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.1% | 9.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.2% | 20.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.9% | 13% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Half of commuters travel less than 8 miles. The middle household income in Tucson is $57,000. Since 2013, Tucson has added 23,045 jobs, to 236,222 in 2023. The top destinations are Phoenix (9%), Casas Adobes (3%) and Catalina Foothills (2%).
| Tucson | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 19% | 12% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $69,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 14% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 8,057 U.S. towns with household incomes like Tucson’s, it is healthier than 79%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
In Tucson, 18% of adults report frequent mental distress, and 20% worry about having enough food. CDC measures, 32 in all: Tucson beats Arizona on 1 and trails on 14. Among adults 18 to 64 in the town, 16% have no health insurance.
| Tucson | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 12% | 8.1% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 35% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Tucson | AZ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.5% | 8.8% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.5% | 7.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
6 within 15 miles of the center of Tucson
About 11 of every 100 Tucson residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Arizona.
6 colleges in town.
139 places in Tucson on the National Register of Historic Places.
36 notable people were born in Tucson.
City in Arizona, United States
Tucson (; O'odham: Cuk Ṣon; Spanish: Tucsón, also Spanish: Tucson) is the county seat of and the most populated city in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona with a population of 542,630 at the 2020 census, behind the capital city, Phoenix, while the Tucson metropolitan statistical area has an estimated 1.08 million residents and is the 52nd-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Tucson and Phoenix anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city is 108 mi (174 km) southeast of Phoenix and 60 mi (97 km) north of the United States–Mexico border. It is home to the University of Arizona. Major incorporated suburbs of Tucson include Oro Valley and…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Tucson.
Summit next door grades lower for schools (C to Tucson’s B) and higher for cost of living (A+ to C).
| Town | AZ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tucson | #108 | C− | C | D | B | B− |
| Catalina Foothills | #31 | B | D | — | B | A+ |
| Casas Adobes | #28 | B | D | — | B+ | A |
| Tanque Verde | #48 | B− | C− | — | B− | A |
| Tucson Mountains | #52 | B− | D | — | B | A |
| Flowing Wells | #66 | C+ | B+ | — | B | C− |
| Drexel Heights | #77 | C | C+ | — | B− | B− |
| Summit | #116 | C− | A+ | — | C | D |
Catalina Foothills, Casas Adobes, Tanque Verde, Tucson Mountains, Flowing Wells, Drexel Heights and Summit report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Tucson with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Tucson grades C− overall, better than 20% of U.S. towns and #108 of 139 in Arizona. It grades B− for health, D for safety and B for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
Tucson reports more crime per resident than 88% of U.S. towns, a D Safety Grade: 1,976 violent and 11,319 property crimes in 2025.
That is 4.5 years of the area's median household income ($70,315 across the Tucson, AZ metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
36 notable people were born here, including Linda Ronstadt and Gabby Giffords.
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