AreaProfile

85138Maricopa, Arizona

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 85138.

55
Area Score
Bottom 33% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity4506th of 6,210 published ZIP areas44
GrowthTop 15% of 5,428 published ZIP areas70
Housing affordability3979th of 6,685 published ZIP areas74
Climate5950th of 6,789 published ZIP areas59
Physical resilience5143rd of 6,709 published ZIP areas29
Access4458th of 6,791 published ZIP areas88
Economic stabilityTop 42% of 6,742 published ZIP areas64
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 5.3% and the Opportunity signal places 85138 in the bottom 27%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 900 units authorized over the past twelve months, 30% below the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
55,260
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$95,867
Top 22% nationally
Density
652/sq mi
84.8 sq mi of land
Median age
37.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Maricopa
Arizona
Metro area
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
Nearest major airport
IWA
28 mi · Mesa Gateway
Median home value
$378,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.3% is lower than 19% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 3.7% over the past year, to 36,330 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,499$95,867Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,972$37,296Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.3%Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute40.1 minTop 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher23.7%Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment36,330Bottom 37%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)5.0%Top 5%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.7%Bottom 5%June 2026
Labor force38,352Bottom 37%June 2026
Labor force participation64.7%Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$69,630Top 41%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$51,380Top 44%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.9%Top 9%June 2026
Unemployment rate5.3%Top 19%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202496k84k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $95,867 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 — Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers81,520$98,610
Retail Salespersons69,060$35,960
Customer Service Representatives68,930$46,410
Home Health and Personal Care Aides57,940$36,930
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand56,420$44,950
Fast Food and Counter Workers54,900$34,540

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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Maricopa, AZ, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 20.2 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
15
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
20.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Legacy Traditional School - Maricopa · charterLegacy Traditional School - Maricopa (88360)1,36348.7
Desert Sunrise High SchoolMaricopa Unified School District (4441)1,26123.4
Santa Cruz Elementary SchoolMaricopa Unified School District (4441)94118.1
Heritage Academy Maricopa · charterHeritage Academy Maricopa Inc. (1002080)93718.7
Butterfield Elementary SchoolMaricopa Unified School District (4441)92015.9
Desert Wind Middle SchoolMaricopa Unified School District (4441)89821.4
Leading Edge Academy Maricopa · charterLeading Edge Academy Maricopa (90637)87215.9
Saddleback Elementary SchoolMaricopa Unified School District (4441)81113.3
Sequoia Pathway Academy · charterEdkey Inc. - Sequoia Pathway Academy (92226)67437.4
Santa Rosa Elementary SchoolMaricopa Unified School District (4441)52717.6
Pima Butte Elementary SchoolMaricopa Unified School District (4441)40716.3
A+ Charter Schools · charterA+ Charter Schools (1000166)37017.6

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 $1,974 takes 25% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
24.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,974
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$378,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.95Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate82.3%Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±65919,384Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$106$1,974Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,381$378,800Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income24.7%Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.1%Bottom 46%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 →
Development Momentum
70/ 100
Top 15% of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 13.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
900
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
13.4
Top 6% nationally
Year over year
−30%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Maricopa, AZ, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 107°F and January a low of 46°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 7.2 inches.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station PHOENIX SKY HARBOR INTL AP, 28.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND0.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation7.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low46°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high107°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing40°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

29 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Heat waveElevated
WildfireElevated
Inland floodingElevated
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, hail, earthquake, strong wind, landslide, tornado, avalanche, hurricane, winter weather, cold wave.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. 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.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 28 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Mesa GatewayIWA28 mi10,401 ft
Phoenix Sky Harbor IntlPHX29 mi11,489 ft
Phoenix GoodyearGYR36 mi8,500 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
55
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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)
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

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.

85138 vs Maricopa

How this ZIP area compares with Maricopa as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

85138
Maricopa
Median household income
$95,867
vs
$96,391
Per capita income
$37,296
vs
$36,983
Population density
652/sq mi
vs
1,581/sq mi
Median home value
$378,800
vs
$377,200
Median gross rent
$1,974
vs
$1,998
Homeownership rate
82.3%
vs
83.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
23.7%
vs
23.6%
Poverty rate
7.3%
vs
7.4%
Median age
37.2
vs
36.8

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.