Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Phoenix might be more expensive than living in rural Arizona, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Phoenix neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Phoenix are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Phoenix for 2024? According to the most recent census data, New Village looks to be the cheapest Phoenix neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Phoenix. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Phoenix that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Phoenix.
For more Arizona reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Arizona
- Cheapest Places To Live In Arizona
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 5 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Phoenix For 2024
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Population: 5,653
Cost Of Living Index: 94 (7th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.8 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.008 (cheapest)
More on New Village: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 183,274
Cost Of Living Index: 96 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (7th cheapest)
More on Deer Valley: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 22,664
Cost Of Living Index: 107 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.0 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (2nd cheapest)
More on North Gateway: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 90,378
Cost Of Living Index: 87 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.0 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (13th cheapest)
More on Estrella: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 134,116
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (10th cheapest)
More on Alahambra: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Phoenix Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Phoenix, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 15 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Phoenix.” We’re lookin’ at you, New Village.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Phoenix. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Phoenix
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Phoenix where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Phoenix are New Village, Deer Valley, North Gateway, Estrella, Alahambra, Maryvale, South Mountain, Laveen, North Mountain, and Ahwatukee Foothills.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Phoenix aren’t all cheap. Paradise Valley takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Phoenix.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Phoenix are Paradise Valley, Desert View, Central City, Encanto, and Camelback East.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Arizona reading, check out:
- Most Dangerous Cities In Arizona
- Richest Cities In Arizona
- Safest Places In Arizona
- Worst Places To Live In Arizona
Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Phoenix For 2024
| Rank | Neighborhood | Cost Of Living Index |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Village | 94 |
| 2 | Deer Valley | 96 |
| 3 | North Gateway | 107 |
| 4 | Estrella | 87 |
| 5 | Alahambra | 92 |
| 6 | Maryvale | 87 |
| 7 | South Mountain | 89 |
| 8 | Laveen | 100 |
| 9 | North Mountain | 93 |
| 10 | Ahwatukee Foothills | 114 |
| 11 | Camelback East | 105 |
| 12 | Encanto | 97 |
| 13 | Central City | 85 |
| 14 | Desert View | 123 |
| 15 | Paradise Valley | 108 |