This Phoenix suburb ranked among worst small towns in the U.S.

In Arizona, small-town living covers a wide spectrum for the wants and needs of prospective homeowners.

Arizonans can enjoy the cool, mountainous landscapes of the northern part of the state or the hot, expansive desert environments of Phoenix’s suburbs. But according to a newly released WalletHub study, none of these small towns ranked among the top 30% of the best small cities in the United States. 

Instead, more of Arizona’s small towns can be found among the worst small cities to live in the U.S. Amid the worst of the worst are Valley retirement hub Sun City and Bullhead City, located near the Nevada border. The two towns ranked in the third percentile, meaning they performed better than just three percent of the 1,318 cities on WalletHub’s list.

To create the rankings, WalletHub compared U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 people based on 45 factors of livability, according to its website. These factors include housing costs, school quality, restaurants per capita and more. WalletHub used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the FBI and several other agencies and services.

Bullhead City, located off the Colorado River between Las Vegas and Lake Havasu City, ranked 893rd of the cities on the list. Its best ranking was for its quality of life, but it goes down from there. Its education and safety rankings were among the lowest on the list, coming in at 1,294th and 1,210th, respectively.

Misery loves company, and Bullhead City residents upset about the ranking can commiserate with the retirees of Sun City. While the retirement community is great for seniors looking to kick up their feet and drive golf carts, the area doesn’t score well for the entire population. It ranks 1,246th for quality of life and 1,242nd for safety, per WalletHub.

Two other Arizona cities were among the bottom 10% of small towns. 

The southern border town of San Luis ranked among the top 350 cities for safety, but its education (1,308th) and quality of life rankings (1,307th) were nearly the worst out of the 1,318 cities considered in the study. Notably, San Luis tied for first — along with Florence — in income growth. But it was also fifth-worst in the percentage of the population with a high school diploma.

The northern Arizona town of Kingman, which is considered the “Heart of Route 66,” ranked among the top 650 for economics and affordability but among the worst for education (1,283rd) and safety (1,206th).

Queen Creek was the highest-ranking small Arizona town on the list, though it only ranked in the 60th percentile. Also noted in the study: El Mirage ranked dead last for “coffee shops per capita.” If you’re bleary-eyed and seeing mirages in El Mirage, you’ll have to get your caffeine fix elsewhere.

In total, 23 Arizona towns were featured on the list. Here’s how they fared. 

60th percentile: Queen Creek, Prescott
52nd percentile: Goodyear
48th percentile: Buckeye
44th percentile: Oro Valley
38th percentile: Marana
35th percentile: Sahuarita
32nd percentile: Yuma
31st percentile: Maricopa
30th percentile: Florence, Prescott Valley
28th percentile: Flagstaff, Sierra Vista
26th percentile: Avondale, Apache Junction
23rd percentile: Sun City West
20th percentile: El Mirage
14th percentile: Casa Grande
13th percentile: Lake Havasu City
10th percentile: Kingman
9th percentile: San Luis
3rd percentile: Sun City, Bullhead City