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.
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
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.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$2,259 | $62,876 | Bottom 44%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$996 | $30,204 | Bottom 26%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 15.6% | Top 36%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 22.8 min | Bottom 30%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 16.8% | Bottom 21%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 81,266 | Top 31%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -0.3% | Bottom 43%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -4.0% | Bottom 4%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 97,336 | Top 27%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 52.8% | Bottom 23%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.8% | Top 9%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 16.5% | Top 1%of 1,255 | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse | 4,420 | $34,610 |
| Cashiers | 1,880 | $31,790 |
| Retail Salespersons | 1,840 | $33,840 |
| General and Operations Managers | 1,800 | $79,990 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 1,800 | $30,580 |
| Registered Nurses | 1,640 | $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.
Schools
How it’s calculated →There are 21.6 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Luis High School | Yuma Union High School District (4507) | 2,682 | 26.0 | — | — |
| Cibola High School | Yuma Union High School District (4507) | 2,434 | 25.4 | — | — |
| Gila Ridge High School | Yuma Union High School District (4507) | 2,249 | 24.7 | — | — |
| Kofa High School | Yuma Union High School District (4507) | 1,976 | 22.7 | — | — |
| Harvest Preparatory Academy · charter | Harvest Power Community Development Group Inc. (79501) | 1,068 | 18.4 | — | — |
| Yuma High School | Yuma Union High School District (4507) | 1,040 | 21.2 | — | — |
| Castle Dome Middle School | Yuma Elementary District (4499) | 939 | 25.4 | — | — |
| Mary A Otondo Elementary School | Yuma Elementary District (4499) | 893 | 24.1 | — | — |
| Desert View Academy · charter | Juniper Tree Academy (79064) | 881 | 20.0 | — | — |
| Desert Mesa Elementary School | Yuma Elementary District (4499) | 876 | 20.9 | — | — |
| Gowan Science Academy | Crane Elementary District (4501) | 816 | 26.3 | — | — |
| Cesar Chavez Elementary | Gadsden Elementary District (4505) | 766 | 30.6 | — | — |
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.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.46 | Top 32%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 71.0% | Bottom 33%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±127 | 95,200 | Top 10%of 3,222 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$36 | $993 | Top 32%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$5,202 | $217,800 | Top 38%of 3,219 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 19.0% | Top 29%of 3,216 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 16.7% | Top 39%of 3,222 | 2024 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 →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.
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.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| 90th percentile air quality index | 74.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Annual precipitation | 4.0" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 43°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 106°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 7 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Days above AQI 100 | 4 | 2024 calendar year |
| Median air quality index | 47.0 | 2024 calendar year |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 39°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
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
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, inland flooding and heat wave.
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.
Safety
How it’s measured →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.
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.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix Goodyear | GYR | 100 mi | 8,500 ft |
| Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl | PHX | 119 mi | 11,489 ft |
| Phoenix Deer Valley | DVT | 123 mi | 8,196 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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Similar places
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
| Climate | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System Daily Air Quality Index by county | 2024 calendar year | Annually, 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.