City · Coconino County, Arizona

Flagstaff, Arizona

Flagstaff is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, part of the Flagstaff, AZ metro area. It has 76,445 residents. Flagstaff, Arizona has a quality-of-life score of 35 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,226 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Arizona it ranks #64 of 207 cities and towns. It ranks best on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low), average commute time (low) and public EV charging ports (high). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), job growth (low) and distance to an airport (high).

35Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,226 of 15,651 cities and towns
Arizona: #64 of 207 in AZ
Population: 76,445 (2020-2024)
Land area: 66 mi²
Density: 1,157.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 0423620

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety6#14,716/15,637
Economy25#11,726/15,631
Housing18#12,287/14,977
Health51#7,623/15,609
Healthcare42#9,116/15,650
Environment52#7,399/15,453
Education48#8,126/15,649
Infrastructure54#7,187/15,650
Community54#7,171/15,651
Leisure & amenities73#4,198/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Flagstaff, Arizona ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Coconino County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low4.5 µg/m³
98/100Arizona 6.9 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyCoconino County value
Average commute time · low16.5 min
96/100Arizona 25.4 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Public EV charging ports · high19.3 /10k
96/100Arizona 6.2 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyCoconino County value
Adult obesity · low24.4%
95/100Arizona 33.3%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high8.9 /10k
94/100Arizona 4.2 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsCoconino County value
Effective property tax rate · low0.41%
93/100Arizona 0.48%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high36.0 /100k
1/100Arizona 20.8 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataCoconino County value
Job growth · low-4.5%
2/100Arizona -0.6%United States 0.1%2026 Q1U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsProvisional dataCoconino County value
Distance to an airport · high141 mi
3/100Arizona 30 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauCoconino County value
Home price to income ratio · high7.7×
4/100Arizona 4.9×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Traffic deaths · high37.2 /100k
4/100Arizona 16.6 /100kUnited States 12.3 /100k2020-2024National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationProvisional dataCoconino County value
Distance to an emergency room · high18.1 mi
4/100Arizona 5.7 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesCoconino County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
72,402 (2015-2019) → 76,445 (2020-2024)
+5.6%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedWorsening
8.6 /1k (2021) → 3.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−60%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Child poverty rateWorsening
9.3% (2015-2019) → 16.6% (2020-2024)
+7.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
6.0× (2015-2019) → 7.7× (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
47.1% (2015-2019) → 52.3% (2020-2024)
+5.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Median household incomeImproving
$58,748 (2015-2019) → $71,512 (2020-2024)
+22%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Flagstaff, Arizona improved on 4 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 8 moved within the margin of error and 1 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved4

Unemployment−1.9 points7.6% → 5.7%
Bachelor's++5.2 points47.1% → 52.3%
Household income+22%$58,748 → $71,512
Broadband+3.2 points85.4% → 88.7%

Declined2

Price / income+1.7×6.0× → 7.7×
Child poverty+7.3 points9.3% → 16.6%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Flagstaff, Arizona between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	15.4 min2015-2019	16.5 min2020-2024	+1.1 min	Within the margin of error	35%
Bachelor's degree or higher	47.1%2015-2019	52.3%2020-2024	+5.2 points	Improved	69%
Broadband subscriptions	85.4%2015-2019	88.7%2020-2024	+3.2 points	Improved	21%
Child poverty rate	9.3%2015-2019	16.6%2020-2024	+7.3 points	Declined	16%
Effective property tax rate	0.52%2015-2019	0.41%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Little change	38%
High school diploma or higher	94.1%2015-2019	95.9%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	56%
Home price to income ratio	6.0×2015-2019	7.7×2020-2024	+1.7×	Declined	6%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4652015-2019	0.4882020-2024	+0.023	Within the margin of error	32%
Median household income	$58,7482015-2019	$71,5122020-2024	+22%	Improved	37%
Poverty rate	17.5%2015-2019	18.2%2020-2024	+0.7 points	Within the margin of error	37%
Public transit commuters	1.8%2015-2019	2.3%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	98%
Rent as share of income	34.0%2015-2019	34.6%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	50%
Rent-burdened households	56.9%2015-2019	58.0%2020-2024	+1 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Unemployment rate	7.6%2015-2019	5.7%2020-2024	−1.9 points	Improved	81%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.4%2015-2019	11.6%2020-2024	+1.1 points	Within the margin of error	33%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Flagstaff, Arizona five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Flagstaff, Arizona in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Flagstaff, Arizona itself moved −3.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

76,445 residents (±68)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

28,550 households (±628)

Flagstaff, Arizona
Arizona share

Under $25k16%4,639
$25k–50k19%5,409
$50k–75k18%5,008

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

28,550 households (±628)

Flagstaff, Arizona
Arizona share

Own42%12,079
Rent58%16,471

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−5.1 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

39,960 workers (±932)

Flagstaff, Arizona
Arizona share

Drive alone62%24,657
Carpool10%4,174
Public transit2.3%908

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Flagstaff, AZ

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Coconino County, the county holding most of Flagstaff's residents.

Coconino County has 3,955 employer establishments, 274 for every 10,000 residents (1.10× the US rate of 248; 1.25× Arizona's), with 51,178 paid employees at an average annual pay of $47,152. The Census Bureau also counts 10,714 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 3,955; 10,714 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 274; US 248 · Arizona 219
Paid employees: 51,178
Average annual pay: $47,152; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Coconino County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	355	24.6	1.34×More than typical	7,899	$28,450	34
Ambulatory health care services	329	22.8	1.09×About typical	3,279	$64,503	659
Specialty trade contractors	256	17.7	1.14×About typical	1,985	$56,668	555
Lessors of real estate	240	16.6	1.35×More than typical	539	$74,551	1,288
Full-service restaurants	169	11.7	1.52×More than typical	4,292	$31,971	15
Traveler accommodation	161	11.1	6.17×More than typical	4,654	$37,002	97
Construction of buildings	150	10.4	1.37×More than typical	757	$63,280	312
Limited-service restaurants	137	9.5	1.18×About typical	3,057	$24,236	10
Real estate agents and brokers	129	8.9	1.83×More than typical	201	$61,537	343
Offices of other health practitioners	124	8.6	1.41×More than typical	478	$43,086	388
Services to buildings and dwellings	109	7.5	1.12×About typical	759	$40,207	661
Building equipment contractors	94	6.5	1.08×About typical	611	$59,553	110

Rank places for an industry Open Coconino County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 144,554 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $4.4M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Flagstaff, Arizona: $57.06 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $4.4M; −27% vs FY2025
Per resident: $57.06; US $1,994
Sole-source: 15%; US 30%
Single offer: 53%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Forest Service$1.5M35%
Defense Threat Reduction Agency$1.3M31%
Department of the Army$581.3K13%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$348.9K8.0%
National Park Service$142.1K3.3%
National Institutes of Health$124.1K2.8%
U.S. Marshals Service$113.8K2.6%
Indian Health Service$86.7K2.0%

Top recipients

NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY$2M45%
KATALYST SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC$340.6K7.8%
PERKINS TIMBER HARVESTING, LLC$236.1K5.4%
THUNDER MTN CATERING INC$116.2K2.7%
JOHNSON CONTROLS SECURITY SOLUTIONS LLC$113.8K2.6%

Spending by fiscal year

2.7MFY2017
5.4MFY2018
2.7MFY2019
8.2MFY2020
2.3MFY2021
6.5MFY2022
11.3MFY2023
4M

Top industries (NAICS)

Scientific research and development services · 5417$2.2M49%
Support activities for forestry · 1153$863.9K20%
Colleges, universities, and professional schools · 6113$158.2K3.6%
Special food services · 7223$126.1K2.9%
Investigation and security services · 5616$119.4K2.7%
Highway, street, and bridge construction · 2373

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Flagstaff, Arizona

ASSAY DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION TO IDENTIFY VACCINE TARGETS AND EVALUATE COMPLEX VACCINES FOR BACTERIAL INFECTIONS$11.2M
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY· Coconino County, AZ· Research & development· Jun 22, 2022 – May 12, 2026· HDTRA122C0013
SERDP PROJECT RC23-3805$934.6K
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY· Coconino County, AZ· Research & development· May 4, 2023 – Feb 4, 2026· W912HQ23C0041
SERDP PROJECT NUMBER RC25-4650 PROPOSAL TITLE: DISTURBANCE IMPACTS ON PERMAFROST SOIL CARBON POOLS AND FLUXES IN THE BLACK SPRUCE FORESTS OF INTERIOR ALASKA$699.9K
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY· Coconino County, AZ· Research & development· Dec 11, 2025 – May 28, 2026· W912HQ26C0006

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Flagstaff, Arizona, so they do not add up across cities.

Flagstaff, Arizona's figures are part of those of Coconino County, AZ ($209.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Flagstaff is mostly in Coconino County.

See federal money in Coconino County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Flagstaff, Arizona is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Elijah CraneR-AZ-2 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 2.2%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Coconino County41100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Flagstaff, AZ49

Other cities and towns in Coconino County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0423620

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends