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 488 closings a month, sits seventh of 20 at 6.7 percent. Two cities on this list carry a confirmed-close median as well as an asking median. Bullhead City has the largest close sample, 64, 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 $326,445, 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 756 closings, $1,795 median asking rent across 353 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 $173 per square foot. See the Sun City page for the property mix and the price band.

2. Green Valley, 7.5 percent gross

At $265,000 to buy and $1,650 a month to rent, Green Valley yields 7.5 percent gross on 523 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 $187 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: 64 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 695 closings, $1,600 median asking rent across 869 listings, 7.4 percent gross. The Bullhead City market page carries the monthly figures.

4. Sahuarita, 7.1 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: $327,990 median closed price across 345 closings, $1,950 median asking rent across 428 listings, 7.1 percent gross. See the Sahuarita page for the property mix and the price band.

5. Fort Mohave, 6.9 percent gross

Homes in Fort Mohave closed at a median of $304,990 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,750, a gross yield of 6.9 percent. Full detail is on the Fort Mohave market page.

6. Maricopa, 6.7 percent gross

Maricopa ranks sixth on yield but only twelfth on entry price: the $1,890 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $340,000 to buy and $1,890 a month to rent, Maricopa yields 6.7 percent gross on 820 tracked closings. The Maricopa market page carries the monthly figures.

7. Tucson, 6.7 percent gross

At $301,000 to buy and $1,672 a month to rent, Tucson yields 6.7 percent gross on 2,931 tracked closings. The Tucson market page carries the monthly figures.

8. Sun City West, 6.7 percent gross

Rent is what puts Sun City West eighth here; on price alone it would sit fifteenth of 20. At $360,000 to buy and $1,995 a month to rent, Sun City West yields 6.7 percent gross on 562 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 $213 per square foot. Full detail is on the Sun City West market page.

9. Florence, 6.6 percent gross

Homes in Florence closed at a median of $324,900 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,800, a gross yield of 6.6 percent. Full detail is on the Florence market page.

10. Casa Grande, 6.6 percent gross

The numbers: $316,000 median closed price across 494 closings, $1,749 median asking rent across 1,176 listings, 6.6 percent gross. Full detail is on the Casa Grande market page.

11. Apache Junction, 6.6 percent gross

At $340,000 to buy and $1,881 a month to rent, Apache Junction yields 6.6 percent gross on 550 tracked closings. Full detail is on the Apache Junction market page.

12. Arizona City, 6.6 percent gross

Arizona City is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: second on price, twelfth on yield, because a $254,950 home there rents for only $1,410. The numbers: $254,950 median closed price across 220 closings, $1,410 median asking rent across 173 listings, 6.6 percent gross. The Arizona City market page carries the monthly figures.

13. Sun Lakes, 6.5 percent gross

Rent is what puts Sun Lakes thirteenth here; on price alone it would sit nineteenth of 20. At $440,000 to buy and $2,400 a month to rent, Sun Lakes yields 6.5 percent gross on 299 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 $242 per square foot. See the Sun Lakes page for the property mix and the price band.

14. Yuma, 6.4 percent gross

Yuma is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: sixth on price, fourteenth on yield, because a $290,000 home there rents for only $1,550. The numbers: $290,000 median closed price across 645 closings, $1,550 median asking rent across 1,337 listings, 6.4 percent gross. Full detail is on the Yuma market page.

15. Cottonwood, 6.3 percent gross

Homes in Cottonwood closed at a median of $340,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,795, a gross yield of 6.3 percent. See the Cottonwood page for the property mix and the price band.

16. Kingman, 6.3 percent gross

Kingman also carries a confirmed-close median: 57 confirmed lease closes in the last twelve months have a median of $1,325, 10 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 $279,700 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. Avondale, 6.2 percent gross

At $405,450 to buy and $2,099 a month to rent, Avondale yields 6.2 percent gross on 444 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $219 per square foot. See the Avondale page for the property mix and the price band.

18. Surprise, 6.2 percent gross

Homes in Surprise closed at a median of $420,495 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,170, a gross yield of 6.2 percent. Houses there closed at about $221 per square foot. The Surprise market page carries the monthly figures.

19. Chino Valley, 6.1 percent gross

Chino Valley clears the rental bar narrowly, with 91 listings behind its $2,150 median, so its 6.1 percent yield deserves a wider margin of error than the bigger samples here. The numbers: $421,320 median closed price across 177 closings, $2,150 median asking rent across 91 listings, 6.1 percent gross. See the Chino Valley page for the property mix and the price band.

20. Oro Valley, 6.1 percent gross

The numbers: $510,000 median closed price across 509 closings, $2,600 median asking rent across 201 listings, 6.1 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $250 per square foot. See the Oro Valley page for the property mix and the price band.

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 October 3, 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 60,742 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 October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 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.