Oro Valley, Arizona

Area Profile

48,162 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Oro Valley, in Pima County.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 23% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3505th of 3,904 cities measured34
GrowthTop 11% of 2,973 cities measured74
Housing affordabilityTop 47% of 4,223 cities measured82
Climate2839th of 4,223 cities measured64
Physical resilience3642nd of 4,182 cities measured19
Access2226th of 4,226 cities measured91
Economic stability3068th of 4,226 cities measured47
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 5.9% and the Opportunity signal places Oro Valley in the bottom 10%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 581 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 459% on the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
48,162
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$107,117
Top 15% nationally
Density
1,371/sq mi
35.1 sq mi of land
Median age
55.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Pima County
Arizona
Metro area
Tucson, AZ
Nearest major airport
TUS
21 mi · Tucson Intl
Median home value
$475,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.9% is lower than 8% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 4.8% over the past year, to 18,481 employed residents.

58% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 92% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,232$107,117Top 15%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,846$62,796Top 9%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.5%Bottom 30%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.6 minTop 40%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher58.0%Top 8%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment18,481Bottom 22%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-4.4%Bottom 5%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-4.8%Bottom 2%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force19,631Bottom 23%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation48.0%Bottom 19%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$63,200Bottom 25%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,760Bottom 21%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)1.4%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate5.9%Top 8%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.92.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.9% 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
2021202220232024107k93k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $107,117 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 — Tucson, AZ
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
General and Operations Managers12,130$83,610
Retail Salespersons11,100$34,530
Home Health and Personal Care Aides11,030$34,420
Registered Nurses10,120$94,110
Fast Food and Counter Workers9,980$31,690
Cashiers9,610$32,780

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 13.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Leman Academy of Excellence-Oro Valley Arizona · charterLeman Academy of Excellence Inc. (92730)94411.0
BASIS Oro Valley Primary · charterBASIS Charter Schools Inc. (92318)59918.7
BASIS Oro Valley · charterBASIS Charter Schools Inc. (90508)54016.4
Painted Sky Elementary SchoolAmphitheater Unified District (4406)41615.4
The Innovation AcademyAmphitheater Unified District (4406)41515.4
Copper Creek Elementary SchoolAmphitheater Unified District (4406)2839.4

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 →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 5% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,669 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Cost of living
94.9

Prices here run about 5% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
18.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,669
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$475,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index94.9Bottom 26%of 3,6582023
Home price to income4.44Top 21%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate76.4%Top 49%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±59424,112Top 2%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$49$1,669Top 16%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$10,260$475,700Top 13%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.7%Top 49%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate9.6%Bottom 49%of 32,0012024 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
74/ 100
Top 11% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 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 3% since 2020, reaching 48,855 in 2024.

79% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 12.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
581
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
12.1
Top 9% nationally
Year over year
+459%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
78.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202449k47k
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
202020212022202320242025423126
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+10%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 99°F and January a low of 41°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 11.1 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 56, in the Moderate band, and about 12 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 TUCSON 11 W, 16.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index87.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation11.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low41°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high99°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100122024 calendar year
Median air quality index56.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing34°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
56
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
87
90th percentile index
Days above 100
12
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

19 / 100
Physical resilience

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

WildfireElevated
Inland floodingHigh
AvalancheModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Violent crime
65
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
919
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offences, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Oro Valley's police department reported 65 violent offences per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 919.

Pima County records 6.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 18.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 36.3 per 100,000 residents in Pima County.

Homicide
6.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
36.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
22.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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

Offences are reported to the FBI by Oro Valley’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Pima 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 Oro Valley rather than Oro Valley 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.

Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 21 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Tucson IntlTUS21 mi10,996 ft
Mesa GatewayIWA73 mi10,401 ft
Phoenix Sky Harbor IntlPHX92 mi11,489 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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Area Score
53
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Other cities in Tucson, AZ

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
TucsonPima County547,07343vs Oro Valley
Casas AdobesPima County72,059vs Oro Valley
MaranaPima County56,93859vs Oro Valley
Catalina FoothillsPima County52,593vs Oro Valley
SahuaritaPima County35,86253vs Oro Valley
Drexel HeightsPima County27,675vs Oro Valley
Green ValleyPima County22,114vs Oro Valley
Flowing WellsPima County16,559vs Oro Valley
VailPima County16,315vs Oro Valley
Tanque VerdePima County15,866vs Oro Valley
Valencia WestPima County14,728vs Oro Valley
Tucson EstatesPima County12,136vs Oro Valley

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
safetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar yearAnnually, with monthly revisions
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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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)
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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
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.

ZIP codes in Oro Valley

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
8573722,785$107,34853
8575518,560$113,83152