Somerton, Arizona

Area Profile

14,574 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Somerton, in Yuma County.

45out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 5% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3798th of 3,904 cities measured24
GrowthTop 38% of 2,973 cities measured57
Housing affordabilityTop 12% of 4,223 cities measured98
Climate3732nd of 4,223 cities measured59
Physical resilience3624th of 4,182 cities measured20
Access4196th of 4,226 cities measured6
Economic stability2871st of 4,226 cities measured50
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 16.5% and the Opportunity signal places Somerton in the bottom 3%.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 15% of median household income and the median home is 3.1 times it.

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

At a glance

Population
14,574
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$74,015
Top 40% nationally
Density
2,004/sq mi
7.3 sq mi of land
Median age
31.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Yuma County
Arizona
Metro area
Yuma, AZ
Nearest major airport
TRM
110 mi · Jacqueline Cochran Rgnl
Median home value
$232,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 16.5% is lower than 0% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

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

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$11,292$74,015Top 40%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$5,105$25,658Bottom 22%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.8%Top 40%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.0 minBottom 36%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher12.4%Bottom 27%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment81,266Top 42%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.3%Bottom 47%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-4.0%Bottom 3%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force97,336Top 40%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation58.9%Bottom 44%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$55,390Bottom 5%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$44,170Bottom 4%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.8%Top 8%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate16.5%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202474k54k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $74,015 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.

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

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 12% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $896 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Cost of living
88.1

Prices here run about 12% 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
14.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$896
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$232,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index88.1Bottom 3%of 3,6582023
Home price to income3.14Top 44%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate73.7%Bottom 45%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3475,168Top 11%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$254$896Bottom 41%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$17,532$232,600Top 39%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.5%Bottom 22%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.9%Bottom 24%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
57/ 100
Top 38% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, 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 14,902 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 2.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
30
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.1
Bottom 47% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202415k14k
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
202020212022202320242025786.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−59%).

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 48°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 3.3 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.

40°60°80°100°120°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station YUMA MCAS, 5.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND0.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index74.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation3.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall0.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low48°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high107°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10042024 calendar year
Median air quality index47.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing38°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 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
27
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
292
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.

Somerton's police department reported 27 violent offences per 100,000 residents, lower than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 292.

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 · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
18.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
20.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
16.9
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 Somerton’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 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 Somerton rather than Somerton 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

No airport meeting the AreaProfile major-airport definition lies within 100 miles; the nearest is 110 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Jacqueline Cochran RgnlTRM110 mi8,500 ft
Palm Springs IntlPSP135 mi10,000 ft
Lake Havasu CityHII137 mi8,000 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
45
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Other cities in Yuma, AZ

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
YumaYuma County100,13944vs Somerton
San LuisYuma County37,33745vs Somerton
Fortuna FoothillsYuma County28,896vs Somerton

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.

Compare

Put Somerton side by side with a similar place.

Somerton vs YumaSomerton vs San LuisSomerton vs LiberalSomerton vs Guymon

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)
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)
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
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.