Show Low, Arizona

Area Profile

12,102 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Show Low, in Navajo County.

44out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 4% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3787th of 3,904 cities measured24
GrowthTop 43% of 2,973 cities measured54
Housing affordability2881st of 4,223 cities measured69
Climate2691st of 4,223 cities measured66
Physical resilience3510th of 4,182 cities measured22
Access3717th of 4,226 cities measured70
Economic stability4012th of 4,226 cities measured28
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 7.8% and the Opportunity signal places Show Low in the bottom 3%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 102 units authorized over the past twelve months, 34% below the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
12,102
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$60,368
Bottom 40% nationally
Density
185/sq mi
65.5 sq mi of land
Median age
45.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Navajo County
Arizona
Metro area
Show Low, AZ
Nearest major airport
JTC
43 mi · Springerville Muni
Median home value
$299,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 7.8% is lower than 2% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 4.4% over the past year, to 33,938 employed residents.

35% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 76% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,322$60,368Bottom 40%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,806$35,823Top 44%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.2%Top 45%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.3 minBottom 23%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher34.9%Top 24%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment33,938Bottom 41%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.6%Bottom 24%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-4.4%Bottom 3%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force36,806Bottom 42%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation49.3%Bottom 21%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)1.0%Top 5%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate7.8%Top 2%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202463k54k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $60,368 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Navajo County, AZ, which contains this city.

There are 18.4 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
13
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
18.4
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Show Low High SchoolShow Low Unified District (4393)85822.0
Show Low Junior High SchoolShow Low Unified District (4393)52718.2
Nikolaus Homestead Elementary SchoolShow Low Unified District (4393)38319.1
Whipple Ranch Elementary SchoolShow Low Unified District (4393)35114.6
Linden Elementary SchoolShow Low Unified District (4393)20814.9
Sequoia Village School · charterEdkey Inc. - Sequoia Village School (79211)17317.3
White Mountain InstituteShow Low Unified District (4393)48
NAVIT - Northland Pioneer College WMCNorthern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technolog (78786)16
Show Low PreschoolShow Low Unified District (4393)14
NAVIT - Show Low High SchoolNorthern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technolog (78786)3
AAEC Show Low · charterArizona Agribusiness & Equine Center Inc. (91131)0
Sequoia Village High School · charterEdkey Inc. - Sequoia Village School (79211)0

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 $1,110 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
22.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,110
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$299,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.96Top 16%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate65.5%Bottom 29%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4107,766Top 8%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$89$1,110Top 38%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$31,431$299,600Top 28%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.1%Top 29%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate34.3%Top 10%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
54/ 100
Top 43% 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 5% since 2020, reaching 12,366 in 2024.

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

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

At 8.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
102
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
8.4
Top 17% nationally
Year over year
−34%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202412k12k
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
202020212022202320242025200100
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−19%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 24°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 15.7 inches, including 19.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 13, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SHOW LOW AP, 1.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.0"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index22.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation15.7"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall19.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low24°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index13.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing38°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
13
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
22
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
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

22 / 100
Physical resilience

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

WildfireHigh
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeModerate
AvalancheModerate

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

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.

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.

Navajo County records 18.3 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 29.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 40.3 per 100,000 residents in Navajo County.

Homicide
18.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
29.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
40.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
39.4
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.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Navajo 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 Show Low rather than Show Low 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
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences 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. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
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

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 43 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Springerville MuniJTC43 mi8,422 ft
Flagstaff PulliamFLG111 mi8,800 ft
Mesa GatewayIWA114 mi10,401 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
44
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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.

ZIP codes in Show Low

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
8590119,533$59,77943