Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Arizona (2026)

The cheapest place to buy in Arizona is also the best place to collect rent on it. Sun City closed at a median of $250,000 and asks $1,795 a month, which is 8.6 percent gross before any cost. One caution on Sun City: its sales are shaped by an age-restricted community, so review ownership type, occupancy requirements and association leasing rules before reading its ratio as an investable yield. Tucson, the busiest market on the list with about 520 closings a month, sits seventh of 20 at 6.7 percent. Three cities on this list carry a confirmed-close median as well as an asking median. Bullhead City has the largest close sample, 73, with a median of $1,500, 6 percent below the $1,600 asking median; the samples are separate, so this is not evidence that the same homes leased above or below their advertised rent. The median city on this list closed at $325,992, well below the Arizona statewide median of $415,000. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 49 Arizona cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown. A second table lists one city with enough closings to price but too few rental listings to rank.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Sun City, 8.6 percent gross

The numbers: $250,000 median closed price across 855 closings, $1,795 median asking rent across 340 listings, 8.6 percent gross. Note: sales here are shaped by an age-restricted community. Review ownership type, occupancy requirements and association leasing rules before reading this ratio as an investable yield. Houses there closed at about $174 per square foot. See the Sun City page for the property mix and the price band.

2. Green Valley, 7.6 percent gross

At $269,000 to buy and $1,695 a month to rent, Green Valley yields 7.6 percent gross on 567 tracked closings. Note: sales here are shaped by age-restricted communities. Review ownership type, occupancy requirements and association leasing rules before reading this ratio as an investable yield. Houses there closed at about $191 per square foot. Full detail is on the Green Valley market page.

3. Bullhead City, 7.4 percent gross

Bullhead City also carries a confirmed-close median: 73 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,500, 6 percent below the $1,600 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. The numbers: $259,000 median closed price across 752 closings, $1,600 median asking rent across 910 listings, 7.4 percent gross. The Bullhead City market page carries the monthly figures.

4. Sahuarita, 7.2 percent gross

Sahuarita ranks fourth on yield but only eleventh on entry price: the $1,950 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $326,990 median closed price across 387 closings, $1,950 median asking rent across 422 listings, 7.2 percent gross. See the Sahuarita page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Fort Mohave, 6.9 percent gross

Fort Mohave is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 30 closes with a median of $1,688 beside a $1,788 asking median, a 6 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. Homes in Fort Mohave closed at a median of $310,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,788, a gross yield of 6.9 percent. Full detail is on the Fort Mohave market page.

6. Casa Grande, 6.8 percent gross

The numbers: $310,000 median closed price across 538 closings, $1,750 median asking rent across 1,234 listings, 6.8 percent gross. Full detail is on the Casa Grande market page.

7. Tucson, 6.7 percent gross

At $301,000 to buy and $1,685 a month to rent, Tucson yields 6.7 percent gross on 3,118 tracked closings. The Tucson market page carries the monthly figures.

8. Yuma, 6.7 percent gross

The numbers: $285,250 median closed price across 672 closings, $1,595 median asking rent across 1,231 listings, 6.7 percent gross. Full detail is on the Yuma market page.

9. Arizona City, 6.7 percent gross

Arizona City is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: second on price, ninth on yield, because a $254,900 home there rents for only $1,425. The numbers: $254,900 median closed price across 251 closings, $1,425 median asking rent across 157 listings, 6.7 percent gross. The Arizona City market page carries the monthly figures.

10. Apache Junction, 6.7 percent gross

At $339,999 to buy and $1,895 a month to rent, Apache Junction yields 6.7 percent gross on 616 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Apache Junction market page.

11. Sun City West, 6.7 percent gross

At $360,000 to buy and $1,995 a month to rent, Sun City West yields 6.7 percent gross on 642 tracked closings. Note: sales here are shaped by an age-restricted community. Review ownership type, occupancy requirements and association leasing rules before reading this ratio as an investable yield. Houses there closed at about $214 per square foot. Full detail is on the Sun City West market page.

12. Florence, 6.6 percent gross

Homes in Florence closed at a median of $324,995 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,795, a gross yield of 6.6 percent. Full detail is on the Florence market page.

13. Maricopa, 6.6 percent gross

At $344,990 to buy and $1,890 a month to rent, Maricopa yields 6.6 percent gross on 883 tracked closings. The Maricopa market page carries the monthly figures.

14. Sun Lakes, 6.4 percent gross

Rent is what puts Sun Lakes fourteenth here; on price alone it would sit nineteenth of 20. At $447,450 to buy and $2,400 a month to rent, Sun Lakes yields 6.4 percent gross on 340 tracked closings. Note: sales here are shaped by age-restricted communities. Review ownership type, occupancy requirements and association leasing rules before reading this ratio as an investable yield. Houses there closed at about $244 per square foot. See the Sun Lakes page for the property mix and the price band.

15. Chino Valley, 6.4 percent gross

Chino Valley clears the rental bar narrowly, with 87 listings behind its $2,200 median, so its 6.4 percent yield deserves a wider margin of error than the bigger samples here. The numbers: $415,000 median closed price across 181 closings, $2,200 median asking rent across 87 listings, 6.4 percent gross. See the Chino Valley page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Kingman, 6.3 percent gross

Kingman also carries a confirmed-close median: 64 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,338, 9 percent below the $1,475 asking median. The two samples are not paired, so this describes the samples rather than the same homes. Homes in Kingman closed at a median of $280,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,475, a gross yield of 6.3 percent. See the Kingman page for the property mix and the price band.

17. Oro Valley, 6.2 percent gross

The numbers: $500,000 median closed price across 575 closings, $2,600 median asking rent across 175 listings, 6.2 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $252 per square foot. See the Oro Valley page for the property mix and the price band.

18. Surprise, 6.2 percent gross

Homes in Surprise closed at a median of $424,990 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,180, a gross yield of 6.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $222 per square foot. The Surprise market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Avondale, 6.1 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Avondale far: it is fifteenth cheapest on this list and nineteenth on yield, with rent of $2,099 against a $409,990 median price. At $409,990 to buy and $2,099 a month to rent, Avondale yields 6.1 percent gross on 459 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $220 per square foot. See the Avondale page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Vail, 6.1 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Vail far: it is sixteenth cheapest on this list and twentieth on yield, with rent of $2,095 against a $410,000 median price. At $410,000 to buy and $2,095 a month to rent, Vail yields 6.1 percent gross on 174 tracked closings. The Vail market page carries the monthly figures.

Priced, but too few rentals to rank

Resideline can price these cities but cannot yet rank them on rent: each has 100 or more closings and fewer than 50 rental listings in the window.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Arizona city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since September 10, 2025: 49 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $415,000 across 66,309 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated September 10, 2026) and rental listings since September 10, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Arizona rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Arizona ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Arizona cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Arizona housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Arizona markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.