City · Yuma County, Arizona

Yuma, Arizona

Yuma is a city in Yuma County, Arizona, part of the Yuma, AZ metro area. It has 100,139 residents. Yuma, Arizona has a quality-of-life score of 12 out of 100 (very low), ranking #13,831 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Arizona it ranks #157 of 207 cities and towns. It ranks best on comfortable days (high), average commute time (low) and depression (low). It ranks worst on hot days (high), social associations (low) and distance to an airport (high).

12Very low

Quality-of-life score: #13,831 of 15,651 cities and towns
Arizona: #157 of 207 in AZ
Population: 100,139 (2020-2024)
Land area: 121 mi²
Density: 826.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 0485540

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.

Safety36#10,045/15,637
Economy19#12,730/15,631
Housing49#7,589/14,977
Health51#7,592/15,609
Healthcare8#14,405/15,650
Environment18#12,720/15,453
Education5#14,849/15,649
Infrastructure49#8,013/15,650
Community14#13,406/15,651
Leisure & amenities4#15,064/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Yuma, Arizona ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Yuma 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

Comfortable days · high34.4%
94/100Arizona 31.6%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationYuma County value
Average commute time · low18.4 min
92/100Arizona 25.4 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Depression · low19.2%
86/100Arizona 20.0%United States 20.7%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Preventable hospital stays · low1,985 /100k
85/100Arizona 2,070 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteYuma County value
New homes permitted · high7.6 /1k
84/100Arizona 6.3 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Frequent mental distress · low16.2%
77/100Arizona 17.4%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Hot days · high178 days
0/100Arizona 96 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationYuma County value
Social associations · low4.1 /10k
3/100Arizona 5.7 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteYuma County value
Distance to an airport · high137 mi
3/100Arizona 30 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauYuma County value
Students per teacher · high21.6×
4/100Arizona 17.6×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsYuma County value
Voter turnout · low51.5%
6/100Arizona 65.3%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionYuma County value
Food environment index · low6.4
7/100Arizona 6.8United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteYuma County value

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
81.0% (2015-2019) → 90.3% (2020-2024)
+9.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$47,998 (2015-2019) → $65,482 (2020-2024)
+36%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
High school diploma or higherImproving
79.0% (2015-2019) → 84.1% (2020-2024)
+5.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Child poverty rateImproving
26.6% (2015-2019) → 21.8% (2020-2024)
−4.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
48.4% (2015-2019) → 52.4% (2020-2024)
+4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Unemployment rateImproving
9.9% (2015-2019) → 6.3% (2020-2024)
−3.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

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, Yuma, Arizona improved on 7 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 4 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.

Improved7

Unemployment−3.6 points9.9% → 6.3%
High school++5.1 points79.0% → 84.1%
Child poverty−4.8 points26.6% → 21.8%
Household income+36%$47,998 → $65,482
Poverty−2.7 points18.3% → 15.5%

Declined2

Commute+2.6 min15.8 min → 18.4 min
Price / income+0.5×3.0× → 3.5×

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Yuma, Arizona between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	15.8 min2015-2019	18.4 min2020-2024	+2.6 min	Declined	23%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.5%2015-2019	20.9%2020-2024	+2.4 points	Improved	46%
Broadband subscriptions	81.0%2015-2019	90.3%2020-2024	+9.2 points	Improved	56%
Child poverty rate	26.6%2015-2019	21.8%2020-2024	−4.8 points	Improved	68%
Effective property tax rate	0.89%2015-2019	0.63%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	69%
High school diploma or higher	79.0%2015-2019	84.1%2020-2024	+5.1 points	Improved	82%
Home price to income ratio	3.0×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	+0.5×	Declined	46%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4452015-2019	0.4532020-2024	+0.008	Within the margin of error	43%
Median household income	$47,9982015-2019	$65,4822020-2024	+36%	Improved	68%
Poverty rate	18.3%2015-2019	15.5%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Improved	68%
Rent as share of income	29.3%2015-2019	30.9%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Rent-burdened households	48.4%2015-2019	52.4%2020-2024	+4 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Unemployment rate	9.9%2015-2019	6.3%2020-2024	−3.6 points	Improved	92%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	13.1%2015-2019	13.6%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	40%

“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 Yuma, Arizona five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Yuma, 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, Yuma, Arizona itself moved −0.3 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

100,139 residents (±51)

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

39,110 households (±882)

Yuma, Arizona
Arizona share

Under $25k16%6,417
$25k–50k20%7,999
$50k–75k21%8,158

Homes

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

Owners and renters

39,110 households (±882)

Yuma, Arizona
Arizona share

Own67%26,107
Rent33%13,003

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+5.6 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

42,966 workers (±1,301)

Yuma, Arizona
Arizona share

Drive alone75%32,366
Carpool13%5,487
Public transit0.2%†89

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 Yuma, 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 Yuma County, the county holding most of Yuma's residents.

Yuma County has 3,376 employer establishments, 158 for every 10,000 residents (0.63× the US rate of 248; 0.72× Arizona's), with 50,443 paid employees at an average annual pay of $43,901. The Census Bureau also counts 13,837 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 3,376; 13,837 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 158; US 248 · Arizona 219
Paid employees: 50,443
Average annual pay: $43,901; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	302	14.1	0.68×Fewer than typical	3,655	$60,144	649
Specialty trade contractors	268	12.5	0.81×About typical	2,350	$48,760	931
Restaurants and other eating places	264	12.3	0.67×Fewer than typical	5,692	$22,288	107
Lessors of real estate	166	7.7	0.63×Fewer than typical	445	$38,764	1,124
Limited-service restaurants	138	6.4	0.80×About typical	2,889	$21,760	19
Truck transportation	131	6.1	1.21×About typical	665	$60,555	660
Building equipment contractors	113	5.3	0.88×About typical	954	$47,126	235
Automotive repair and maintenance	108	5	1.00×About typical	616	$40,323	374
Construction of buildings	104	4.9	0.64×Fewer than typical	848	$47,309	508
Offices of physicians	104	4.9	0.75×Fewer than typical	668	$88,274	93
Services to buildings and dwellings	98	4.6	0.68×Fewer than typical	566	$33,613	1,661
Full-service restaurants	93	4.3	0.57×Fewer than typical	2,244	$23,392	50

Rank places for an industry Open Yuma County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 214,228 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 $16.3M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Yuma, Arizona: $163 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $16.3M; −79% vs FY2025
Per resident: $163; US $1,994
Sole-source: 22%; US 30%
Single offer: 11%; 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

Department of the Army$6.7M41%
Bureau of Reclamation$4.1M25%
Public Buildings Service$2.4M15%
U.S. Customs and Border Protection$2M12%
Department of the Navy$342.5K2.1%
Defense Logistics Agency$190.9K1.2%
Federal Acquisition Service$180.9K1.1%
Agricultural Marketing Service$150.9K0.9%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

28.8MFY2017
15.9MFY2018
32.8MFY2019
49.3MFY2020
36.6MFY2021
59MFY2022
28.6MFY2023
23.1M

Top industries (NAICS)

Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$3.9M24%
Facilities support services · 5612$3M18%
Highway, street, and bridge construction · 2373$2.5M15%
Nonresidential building construction · 2362$1.4M8.7%
Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$1.3M8.2%
Management, scientific, and technical consulting services · 5416

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 Yuma, Arizona, so they do not add up across cities.

Yuma, Arizona's figures are part of those of Yuma County, AZ ($343.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 4.8% of that total.

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

See federal money in Yuma 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.

Yuma, Arizona is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

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

Yuma County17100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Yuma, AZ18

Other cities and towns in Yuma 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/0485540

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends