Yuma County, AZ

County Profile

211,741 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Yuma County, AZ.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

45out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 5% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1226th of 1,255 counties measured19
GrowthTop 14% of 1,226 counties measured71
Housing affordability637th of 1,255 counties measured93
Climate1007th of 1,254 counties measured60
Physical resilience1162nd of 1,255 counties measured20
Access1214th of 1,255 counties measured33
Economic stability1114th of 1,255 counties measured32
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 16.5% and the Opportunity signal places Yuma County in the bottom 2%.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by earthquake, inland flooding and heat wave.

The nearest major airport is 100 miles away, which is farther than most measured US locations.

At a glance

Population
211,741
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$62,876
Bottom 44% nationally
Density
38/sq mi
5513.8 sq mi of land
Median age
36.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Yuma County
Arizona
Metro area
Yuma, AZ
Nearest major airport
GYR
100 mi · Phoenix Goodyear
Median home value
$217,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 16.5% is lower than 0% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 4.0% over the past year, to 81,266 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,259$62,876Bottom 44%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$996$30,204Bottom 26%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate15.6%Top 36%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.8 minBottom 30%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher16.8%Bottom 21%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment81,266Top 31%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.3%Bottom 43%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-4.0%Bottom 4%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force97,336Top 27%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation52.8%Bottom 23%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 9%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate16.5%Top 1%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/06178.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 16.5% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202463k53k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $62,876 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Yuma, AZ
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse4,420$34,610
Cashiers1,880$31,790
Retail Salespersons1,840$33,840
General and Operations Managers1,800$79,990
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,800$30,580
Registered Nurses1,640$94,320

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are 21.6 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
79
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
21.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
San Luis High SchoolYuma Union High School District (4507)2,68226.0
Cibola High SchoolYuma Union High School District (4507)2,43425.4
Gila Ridge High SchoolYuma Union High School District (4507)2,24924.7
Kofa High SchoolYuma Union High School District (4507)1,97622.7
Harvest Preparatory Academy · charterHarvest Power Community Development Group Inc. (79501)1,06818.4
Yuma High SchoolYuma Union High School District (4507)1,04021.2
Castle Dome Middle SchoolYuma Elementary District (4499)93925.4
Mary A Otondo Elementary SchoolYuma Elementary District (4499)89324.1
Desert View Academy · charterJuniper Tree Academy (79064)88120.0
Desert Mesa Elementary SchoolYuma Elementary District (4499)87620.9
Gowan Science AcademyCrane Elementary District (4501)81626.3
Cesar Chavez ElementaryGadsden Elementary District (4505)76630.6

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Arizona’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $993 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.5 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
19.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$993
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$217,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.46Top 32%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate71.0%Bottom 33%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±12795,200Top 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$36$993Top 32%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$5,202$217,800Top 38%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.0%Top 29%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate16.7%Top 39%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
71/ 100
Top 14% of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 7% since 2020, reaching 220,310 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

At 5.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
1,215
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.7
Top 25% nationally
Year over year
+3%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
20.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024220k206k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420251k850
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+36%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 106°F and January a low of 43°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 4.0 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 47, in the Good band, and about 4 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station YUMA 27 ENE, 16.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND0.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index74.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation4.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low43°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high106°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10042024 calendar year
Median air quality index47.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing39°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
47
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
74
90th percentile index
Days above 100
4
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

20 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, inland flooding and heat wave.

EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveHigh
Inland floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: drought, strong wind, volcanic activity, wildfire, landslide, lightning, hurricane, hail, tornado, winter weather.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Yuma County records 5.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 20.6 per 100,000 residents in Yuma County.

Homicide
5.2
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.3
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
20.6
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
16.9
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Yuma County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Yuma County rather than Yuma County itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 100 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Phoenix GoodyearGYR100 mi8,500 ft
Phoenix Sky Harbor IntlPHX119 mi11,489 ft
Phoenix Deer ValleyDVT123 mi8,196 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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45
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.