Pima County · Tucson · population 554,013
Where Tucson stands
Steady, no major recent move.
Home value trajectory · last 10 years
Zillow ZHVI · monthlyLifestyle scores
Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.
Rent trajectory · last 5 years
Zillow ZORI · monthlyHome value vs rent · indexed to 100
Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)Rent vs buy
At a 19.5 price-to-rent ratio, Tucson is in the 'depends on horizon' zone. Buy if you'll be there 5+ years and value flexibility on the home; rent if you might move, want zero maintenance friction, or expect rates to drop.
How the momentum score breaks down
methodology →Tucson is a major US metro showing +4.2% annualized appreciation with 554,013 residents — scale plus growth. The kind of city that doesn't need a thesis; the data has been making its own case for years.
Tucson's bear case is the boring one: the cycle is real and any market that's run hard can stall. Watch for slowing population growth, rising days-on-market, or builder discounts as the early warning signals.
About Tucson
Tucson is a city in Pima County, Arizona, with an estimated population of 554,013. The population grew 0.5% annually from 2020 to 2024, a moderate gain. The median home value in Tucson is $324,946 as of 2026-04, down 2.1% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +4.2% annual growth (-4.0% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Tucson average $1,387 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (+0.9%). The composite momentum score is 56 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.
▲ Bull case
▼ Bear case
About Tucson (Wikipedia)
Tucson is the county seat of and the most populated city in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona with a population of 542,630 at the 2020 census, behind the capital city, Phoenix, while the Tucson metropolitan statistical area has an estimated 1.08 million residents and is the 52nd-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Tucson and Phoenix anchor the Arizona Sun Corridor. The city is 108 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 mi (100 km) north of the United States–Mexico border. It is home to the University of Arizona.
Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.
City facts
Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.
Things to see in Tucson(Cultural and other attractions)
- Mission Garden, an agricultural museum of the Sonoran Desert
- Arizona Historical Society
- The Fremont House is an original adobe house in the Tucson Community Center that was saved when one of Tucson's earliest barrios was razed as part of urban renewal.
- Fort Lowell Museum
- Mission San Xavier del Bac
- Old Tucson Studios, built as a set for the movie Arizona, is a movie studio and theme park for classic Westerns.
- The Tucson Museum of Art was established as part of an art school, the Art Center, which was founded by local Tucson artists, including Rose Cabat.
- Center for Creative Photography, a leading museum with many works by major artists such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.
- The DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is an iconic Tucson landmark in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains.
- Pima Air & Space Museum has a wide assortment of aircraft on display both indoors and outdoors.
- Pima County Fair
- Trail Dust Town is an outdoor shopping mall and restaurant complex built from the remains of a 1950 western movie set.
+7 more on Wikipedia.
Extracted from the Wikipedia article. Names linked in the source — open the city’s Wikipedia page for details.
Playbook
Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.
Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.
Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.
Local safety & alerts
No active National Weather Service alerts for Pima County right now.
Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Pima County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.
Neighborhoods of Tucson
128 tracked · ranked by median home valueSee the full neighborhood ranking →
Cities like Tucson
Run the numbers for Tucson
Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.
Climate & natural-disaster risk
State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.
Current weather
Find rentals & listings
Open current Tucson listings on the major real-estate sites.
Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.
Local sports teams
Major professional teams the Tucson area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.
Local economy & environment
Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.
Cities similar to Tucson
Explore other places with comparable momentum or affordability.