The suburbs of Phoenix call to all types of people looking to escape city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Phoenix to avoid all the hustle and bustle.
So the question arises: do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Phoenix ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Phoenix area if you will. Realistically, you can only expect some of the suburbs to live up to Phoenix proper, although Carefree certainly tries.
Of course, not all suburbs of Phoenix are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones.
We examined the 20 biggest suburbs of Phoenix to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Arizona lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Phoenix in terms of quality of life.
Now don’t freak out.
What’s the worst suburb of Phoenix? Guadalupe ranks as the worst suburb of Phoenix for 2023 based on the most recent Census and FBI data.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Phoenix that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.
Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Arizona check out the best places in Arizona overall or the worst.
And remember, there are some good places to live around Phoenix too.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
For more Arizona reading, check out:
The 10 Worst Phoenix Suburbs To Live For 2023
/10
Population: 5,334
Median Income: $45,114 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.4% (8th highest)
Median Home Value: $172,600 (lowest)
More on Guadalupe:
We’ll get the ball rolling with Guadalupe, the absolute worst place to live around Phoenix according to the data.
And in the world of worst rankings, Guadalupe beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the worst in the Phoenix area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks worst when it comes to home values.
But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Guadalupe.
You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area. There aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.
/10
Population: 35,410
Median Income: $65,072 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.9% (5th highest)
Median Home Value: $204,700 (2nd lowest)
More on El Mirage:
Welcome to El Mirage. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.
This city is 13.7 miles to Phoenix. Income levels here are the 5th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $65,072 a year, which only goes so far even on a shoestring budget.
But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.
/10
Population: 7,180
Median Income: $48,002 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 3.7% (15th highest)
Median Home Value: $218,600 (3rd lowest)
More on Tolleson:
Back up the highway we go for the third worst Phoenix suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Tolleson on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.
In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school dropout rate is poor compared to other Phoenix suburbs.
But at least there are lovely parks to bring the kids during the day.
/10
Population: 245,685
Median Income: $60,499 (3rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.8% (6th highest)
Median Home Value: $252,200 (4th lowest)
More on Glendale:
If you live in Glendale, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 3rd lowest Phoenix suburb for median household incomes.
Not only that, but this is the 6th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near Phoenix. Remember, we looked at 20 cities for this study.
Glendale is about 6.3 miles to downtown.
/10
Population: 88,065
Median Income: $69,241 (7th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.8% (7th highest)
Median Home Value: $252,400 (5th lowest)
More on Avondale:
Avondale has the distinction of being a Phoenix suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.
All snarkiness aside, Avondale has the 5th lowest home values in the metro Phoenix area, where the median price is $252,400. The median income is $203,659.
Avondale has an unemployment rate of 5.77% which ranks 7th worst.
/10
Population: 178,862
Median Income: $64,080 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.2% (4th highest)
Median Home Value: $321,300 (9th lowest)
More on Tempe:
Tempe has 178,862 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)
Incomes are towards the bottom, and the poverty rate sits at 18.236549397360548%.
/10
Population: 497,752
Median Income: $65,725 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.8% (10th highest)
Median Home Value: $269,400 (6th lowest)
More on Mesa:
Ah, Mesa. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around Phoenix.
It’s the place with the 10th most out of work residents in the Phoenix metro area (4.83%).
/10
Population: 93,651
Median Income: $91,073 (12th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.2% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $333,900 (10th lowest)
More on Goodyear:
Goodyear is a city about 27.1 miles from Phoenix, but Phoenix probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a worse place to live. Goodyear has the 9th most uninsured people, 11th worst incomes, and has the 2nd highest unemployment rate (6.17%) in the entire Phoenix metro area.
Homes only cost $333,900 for a reason. That’s cheap for Phoenix standards.
/10
Population: 93,651
Median Income: $91,073 (12th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.2% (2nd highest)
Median Home Value: $333,900 (10th lowest)
More on Goodyear:
If you absolutely have to live near Phoenix, then Goodyear might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst Phoenix suburb.
About 6.17% of residents are out of work.
/10
Population: 141,875
Median Income: $76,623 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.7% (11th highest)
Median Home Value: $282,300 (7th lowest)
More on Surprise:
Rounding out the ten worst Phoenix suburbs to call home is Surprise.
Located 21.9 miles outside the city, Surprises is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 11th highest unemployment rate (4.66%), and poverty is far above the area average.
Methodology: Determining The Worst Suburbs Around Phoenix for 2023
To figure out how bad a Phoenix suburb is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what suburbs have the least amount of those things.
It’s Saturday Night Science.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data from 2017-2021, this is the criteria we used:
- High unemployment rate
- Low median household incomes
- Low population density (no things to do)
- Low home values
- A lot of high school dropouts
- High poverty
- High rate of uninsured families
We defined a suburb as any town within 30 miles of Phoenix.
We also limited the analysis to places with over 3,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 20 suburbs to evaluate around Phoenix.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 20 in each category, where 1 was the “worst.”
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index, the “Worst Suburb near Phoenix.” We’re looking at you, Guadalupe.
We updated this article for 2023, which reflects our tenth time ranking the worst suburbs around Phoenix.
Summary: The areas around Phoenix where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2023
Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Phoenix with Guadalupe casting itself ahead of the pack.
As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Phoenix aren’t all bad. Carefree takes the cake as the best place to live around Phoenix.
- Carefree
- Paradise Valley
- Gilbert
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Detailed List Of The Worst Phoenix Suburbs
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guadalupe | 5,334 |
| 2 | El Mirage | 35,410 |
| 3 | Tolleson | 7,180 |
| 4 | Glendale | 245,685 |
| 5 | Avondale | 88,065 |
| 6 | Tempe | 178,862 |
| 7 | Mesa | 497,752 |
| 8 | Goodyear | 93,651 |
| 9 | Goodyear | 93,651 |
| 10 | Surprise | 141,875 |
| 11 | Cave Creek | 4,933 |
| 12 | Peoria | 187,733 |
| 13 | Chandler | 272,439 |
| 14 | Santa Cruz | 62,714 |
| 15 | Fountain Hills | 23,639 |
| 16 | Scottsdale | 238,685 |
| 17 | Litchfield Park | 6,656 |
| 18 | Gilbert | 262,249 |
| 19 | Paradise Valley | 12,666 |
| 20 | Carefree | 3,642 |
Wow. I’m not sure any of your criteria relates to me. Crime stats are really the number one thing to take into account, imo. Poverty levels may have some validity in that it’s hard to keep up your property if you don’t have the money, but the rest… worst area because there’s not enough to do? Really? You can’t drive a couple miles down the road? The personal issues like unemployment or insurance would only be of concern if it was a precursor to crime. Otherwise, that’s really not my business.
I live in Scottsdale, but these rankings are not accurate. Some of these suburbs are nice and have nice areas with multi-million dollar homes, i.e. Cave Creek (!), Mesa, Peoria… I would check with a real estate agent before writing any of these off.