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Moving to
Drexel Heights.
Drexel Heights is an unincorporated community in Pima County, AZ. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.
What it's like to live in Drexel Heights
Drexel Heights is an unincorporated community in Arizona with home prices that remain within reach and schools with class sizes near the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.
The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Drexel Heights deals with air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, college degree attainment below the national average, a population that has been shrinking, and very hot summers.
The good
- Affordable home prices
- Average class sizes
The not so good
- Air quality concerns
- Low college degree attainment
- Shrinking population
- Very hot summers
- Car-dependent — few commuters use transit
How Drexel Heights compares
Median household income
Median rent (per month)
Median home value
What it takes to move to Drexel Heights
Based on Drexel Heights's median rent, home value and household income
To rent
$2,684
up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit
- Income to keep rent under 30%: $53,680 a year
- 48% of Drexel Heights renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent
To buy
$50,020
a 20% down payment on the median home
- With 10% down: $25,010
- Homes cost 3.4× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)
Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.
The details
Cost of livingNear US average
$1,342/mo median rent
Cost of living works in this city's favor. Median rent sits around $1,342 a month, nothing that raises eyebrows. Solid value overall. Home prices are reasonable, with a median around $250,100. Not a steal, but not intimidating either.
Median home value $250,100 · 48% of renters cost-burdened
Job market
4.3% county unemployment
Unemployment in Pima County is 4.3%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.
Pima County (county-wide)
Safety
214 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction
Drexel Heights doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Pima County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.
Property crime 1821/100k · Policed by Pima County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data
Getting aroundNear US average
27 min average commute
Commutes run about average, at 26.8 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 11% work from home.
How workers get to work
Climate
Summers run seriously hot, with average highs pushing 100°F, and winters are chilly but manageable, with lows around 42°F. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.
Average month
30-year averages, 1991–2020
Education & workforce▼ 51% below US
18% bachelor's degree or higher
This is a working-class city, and college degree rates reflect that. Trades, manufacturing, and service industries tend to dominate the local economy, which is a strength for some fields and a real constraint for others.
Schools
10 public schools inside the boundary
There are 10 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 15:1, close to the national average of 16:1. Smaller class sizes are generally a positive sign for a district.
Parks & recreation
The nearest national park or historic site is Saguaro National Park (17 miles away). There are 6 national parks and sites within a day's drive.
Bottom line
Drexel Heights's strongest point is home prices that remain within reach; the main tradeoffs are air quality that falls short of national benchmarks and college degree attainment below the national average. A year of median rent ($1,342/mo) equals 22% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. It may be a harder fit for anyone who doesn't drive and people who struggle with heat.
Other places near Drexel Heights
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