Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 16,315, settled in 1901.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Vail grades B+ overall, 17th of 139 graded towns in Arizona. It has 74 miles of trail and 39% conserved land. It is healthier than 92% of U.S. towns and the median household earns $131K. What holds it back is price: homes are expensive, about $402K for a typical one and 5.7 times the Tucson metro’s $70K median household income. 39% of the land in Vail is conserved, against 14% in Arizona’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. Vail has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Cienega Bridge and Colossal Cave Preservation Park Historic District.
Where Vail beats most towns.
10,208 counted in 2010 and 13,604 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Arizona), ordered by how far Vail is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1981 and 3 maps from 1957 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Vail. Close and well known come first.
7 mi National ParkSaguaro National Park848K visitors a year
13 mi MuseumPima Air & Space Museum
21 mi Stadium & arenaArizona Stadium
30 mi MountainMount Lemmon
24 mi CaveKartchner Caverns State Park38 mi AttractionThe Thing?Saguaro National Park: Luke Jones from Yucca Valley, CC BY 2.0 · Pima Air & Space Museum: The original uploader was MCB at English Wikipedia. Later versions were uploade, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Arizona Stadium: Wcarlisle4, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Lemmon: Debby Kriegel, Public domain · Kartchner Caverns State Park: Mike Lewis, CC BY-SA 4.0
Vail is unincorporated, so Pima County and regional agencies provide most services.
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 Vail.
Vail has schools in the top 5% of Arizona, keeps more of its land conserved than most of Arizona and has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns.
Its 5,657 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 77% of Arizona towns.
Vail’s trail density stands at 3.3 miles per square mile, where Arizona’s towns sit at 1.1 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Cienega Creek Natural Preserve, at 1,218 acres with 1.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. 3 parks and preserves cover 1,377 acres here.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cienega Creek Natural Preserve | 1.5 mi | 1,218 |
| 2. Colossal Cave Mountain Park | 0.9 mi | 138 |
| 3. Vail Park | 0.1 mi | 21 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A ranks #2 of the 139 Arizona towns we grade for schools. Its A for schools comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $402K.
The largest public high school is Cienega High School, with 1,881 students. The public schools here belong to the Vail Unified District. Of its 7 schools, three are listed below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Vail Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 811 | A− |
| Cienega High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,881 | A− |
| Ocotillo Ridge ElementaryTop results in townGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 723 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within AZ on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Arizona is tooth loss: 7.6% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 14.7% statewide.
Among adults in Vail, 31% have high blood pressure. Only 8 of the 140 Arizona towns we compare have a lower share of adults who have diabetes than Vail. Against the Arizona average, Vail comes out ahead on 17 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 1.
| Vail | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 24% | 25% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.8% | 13% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Vail | AZ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.6% | 14.7% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.8% | 15.8% |
| More adults with depression | 23.1% | 19.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
FEMA puts 71% of Vail’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 20% to heat waves. On expected storm and flood damage, Vail sits above 89% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here grew from 1,968 in 2013 to 2,762.
Employers in Vail added 794 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 2,762. Just 6% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. In Vail, the typical journey to work is 30 minutes. The top destinations are Tucson (44%), Phoenix (9%) and Catalina Foothills (2%).
| Vail | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $131,000 | $68,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 20% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.5% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
July afternoons average 96.6°, hotter than in 98% of U.S. towns; January nights average 35.8°.
It almost never snows. For Vail, the July high is 97°F.
| Vail | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 97°F | 100°F | 85°F |
| January low | 36°F | 37°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median household earns $130,904, against $79,964 across Arizona, one input to its A for jobs and income.
The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 43%, against 33% across Arizona. Adults 18 to 34 are 18% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 41% of residents (36% statewide). Vail: 17% of residents are 65 or older.
| Vail | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 43% | 24% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 17% | 22% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 24% | 21% | 22% |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±7.8 points. Across Arizona, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Vail | AZ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.4% | 11.3% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.4% | 10.3% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.9% | 9.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.3% | 13.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.3% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 17.8% | 11.6% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.9% | 12% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11% | 10.8% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.7% | 10.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 15.5% | 23.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 25.7% | 23.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.1% | 9.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.4% | 20.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.5% | 13% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The median property tax bill is $2,943, against $1,879 across Arizona, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
91% of households live in a home they own in Vail. Among 133 Arizona towns, just 10 have a higher median rent than Vail. The typical Vail home is worth about $402,000, down 1.9% in a year, close to the Arizona typical home. Homes sold in Vail spent a median 82 days on the market.
| Vail | Arizona towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,057 a month | $1,190 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 91% | 76% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
None within 15 miles of Vail; the nearest are
About 7 of every 100 Vail residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Arizona.
39.1% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
CDP in Pima County, Arizona
Vail is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It is 24 miles (39 km) southeast of Tucson. The population was 10,208 at the 2010 census, up from 2484 in the 2000 census. The area is known for the nearby Colossal Cave, a large cave system, and the Rincon Mountains District of Saguaro National Park, a top tourism spot within Arizona. Vail was originally a siding and water stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was located on the last section of flat land before the train tracks followed the old wagon road into the Cienega Creek bed. Vail was named after pioneer ranchers Edward and Walter Vail, who established ranches in the area in the late 19th century. Va…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Vail.
| Town | AZ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vail | #17 | B+ | C− | — | A | A |
| Rincon Valley | #16 | B+ | C− | — | A | A |
| Tucson | #108 | C− | C | D | B | B− |
Vail and Rincon Valley report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Vail with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Vail grades B+ overall, better than 66% of U.S. towns and #17 of 139 in Arizona. It grades A for health and A for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
