Best Cities in Arizona for Schools

Welcome to SchoolDigger, your premier source for city-wide school rankings! Our user-friendly platform focuses on test scores, presenting a transparent, data-driven comparison to help you navigate the educational scene. Explore top-rated cities in Arizona and make informed decisions for your child's academic future. With our comprehensive database, uncover the best-performing schools within each city, evaluate their performance, and gain valuable insights. Trust SchoolDigger.com to guide you in finding the perfect city for your child's education. Embark on your journey to academic success right here!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Arizona test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the test scores by the Arizona Department of Education. The most recent update was on Saturday, October 11, 2025.

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Rank (of 107)	City	# Elementary Schools	# Middle Schools	# High Schools	# Alt. Schools	# Private Schools*	Rank score (2025)	Rank (2024)	Rank change from 2024
1^st	Topock	1	0	0	0	0	0.996		(n/a)
2^nd	Sun Lakes	1	0	0	0	0	0.982	2
3^rd	Paradise Valley	3	0	0	0	5	0.971	1	2
4^th	Colorado City	1	0	1	1	0	0.862	10	6
5^th	Oro Valley	5	0	4	0	3	0.858	8	3
6^th	Many Farms	2	0	1	0	0	0.858	11	5
7^th	Fort Huachuca	3	0	0	0	0	0.844	4	3
8^th	Anthem	4	0	3	1	1	0.841	6	2
9^th	Cave Creek	2	0	1	0	6	0.83	7	2
10^th	Sun City	2	0	0	0	0	0.828	15	5
11^th	Corona De Tucson	2	1	0	0	0	0.822	9	2
12^th	Scottsdale	35	6	14	4	33	0.802	13	1
13^th	Tsaile	1	0	0	0	0	0.793	23	10
14^th	Snowflake	5	2	3	0	0	0.791	16	2
15^th	Vail	3	1	3	0	1	0.759	12	3
16^th	Prescott	10	1	9	1	7	0.754	17	1
17^th	Taylor	0	1	1	0	0	0.751	14	3
18^th	Desert Hills	1	0	0	0	0	0.747	18
19^th	Gilbert	45	4	21	9	15	0.73	20	1
20^th	Queen Creek	17	4	13	7	2	0.687	21	1
21^st	Saint Johns	1	1	5	0	0	0.68	19	2
22^nd	Joseph City	1	1	2	0	0	0.668	33	11
23^rd	Rimrock	1	0	1	0	3	0.665	64	41
24^th	Chandler	45	7	14	4	19	0.651	22	2
25^th	Surprise	19	1	13	2	2	0.636	26	1
26^th	Peoria	30	0	16	2	14	0.635	25	1
27^th	Green Valley	2	0	0	1	0	0.63	41	14
28^th	Heber	0	2	2	0	0	0.608	28
29^th	Waddell	1	0	3	0	0	0.607	29
30^th	Goodyear	17	1	10	1	8	0.606	30
31^st	Saint David	1	0	2	0	0	0.603	49	18
32^nd	Thatcher	2	1	4	0	0	0.602	24	8
33^rd	Prescott Valley	8	2	8	2	1	0.6	44	11
34^th	Hereford	2	0	0	0	0	0.595	36	2
35^th	Litchfield Park	8	3	0	0	3	0.585	45	10
36^th	Flagstaff	16	2	14	3	4	0.58	31	5
37^th	Tombstone	1	0	2	0	0	0.579	27	10
38^th	Clarkdale	2	0	0	0	0	0.579	39	1
39^th	Benson	1	1	3	1	1	0.573	34	5
40^th	Cornville	2	0	0	0	0	0.551	5	35
41^st	Sahuarita	6	1	5	1	0	0.549	38	3
42^nd	Sierra Vista	10	1	7	2	3	0.536	37	5
43^rd	Tempe	25	6	24	1	15	0.534	42	1
44^th	Pima	2	1	3	1	0	0.521	40	4
45^th	Marana	5	1	3	1	0	0.52	46	1
46^th	Lake Havasu City	8	1	5	0	1	0.515	32	14
47^th	Mesa	89	16	30	15	22	0.515	47
48^th	Show Low	4	1	7	3	4	0.511	53	5
49^th	Fountain Hills	2	1	3	1	1	0.51	55	6
50^th	Morenci	1	1	2	0	0	0.509	51	1
51^st	Bullhead City	7	2	4	0	0	0.505	48	3
52^nd	Oracle	1	0	0	0	0	0.504	56	4
53^rd	Fort Mohave	3	0	2	0	1	0.491	35	18
54^th	Eagar	1	1	2	1	0	0.486	54
55^th	Tucson	150	38	103	30	61	0.481	52	3
56^th	Glendale	56	2	38	3	15	0.456	59	3
57^th	Phoenix	275	47	125	30	72	0.434	57
58^th	Safford	4	1	4	0	0	0.425	65	7
59^th	Maricopa	10	2	7	4	0	0.416	63	4
60^th	Williams	2	0	3	0	0	0.399		(n/a)
61^st	Laveen	12	0	3	1	1	0.397	67	6
62^nd	Nogales	9	2	7	3	4	0.39	43	19
63^rd	Red Rock	1	0	0	0	0	0.39	79	16
64^th	Dewey	1	1	0	0	0	0.389	83	19
65^th	Lakeside	1	1	3	1	1	0.388	60	5
66^th	San Tan Valley	15	1	5	2	2	0.382	68	2
67^th	Palo Verde	1	0	0	0	0	0.372	62	5
68^th	Cottonwood	5	0	7	3	3	0.368	61	7
69^th	Buckeye	20	1	13	2	1	0.367	66	3
70^th	Mohave Valley	3	0	3	0	0	0.363	89	19
71^st	Globe	2	1	4	2	0	0.355	71
72^nd	Wickenburg	1	1	2	1	2	0.354	88	16
73^rd	Gadsden	1	0	0	0	0	0.353	69	4
74^th	Chinle	4	1	2	2	0	0.352	85	11
75^th	Kingman	9	4	7	1	1	0.341	74	1
76^th	Payson	2	1	5	1	1	0.339	78	2
77^th	Chino Valley	4	1	3	0	0	0.336	72	5
78^th	Somerton	6	1	3	0	0	0.331	80	2
79^th	El Mirage	5	0	2	0	1	0.329	82	3
80^th	Douglas	7	3	4	1	1	0.329	58	22
81^st	Casa Grande	15	4	11	0	3	0.324	81
82^nd	Yuma	27	7	19	2	6	0.321	70	12
83^rd	Florence	2	0	5	4	1	0.319	76	7
84^th	Avondale	18	2	13	1	4	0.311	75	9
85^th	San Luis	8	2	3	0	0	0.291	87	2
86^th	Apache Junction	6	2	6	0	0	0.286	84	2
87^th	Golden Valley	1	0	0	0	0	0.275	86	1
88^th	Wittmann	1	0	2	0	0	0.268	77	11
89^th	Camp Verde	3	1	5	1	1	0.236	96	7
90^th	Indian Wells	1	0	0	0	0	0.228		(n/a)
91^st	Tolleson	9	1	6	0	0	0.223	91
92^nd	Holbrook	2	1	5	1	1	0.219	90	2
93^rd	Winslow	6	1	5	0	3	0.216	93
94^th	Guadalupe	1	0	0	0	0	0.205	98	4
95^th	Rio Rico	4	1	2	1	1	0.203	95
96^th	Willcox	2	1	3	0	0	0.17	73	23
97^th	Coolidge	7	1	5	1	0	0.161	99	2
98^th	Parker	3	1	4	0	0	0.14	94	4
99^th	Tonopah	1	0	2	2	0	0.137	92	7
100^th	Fort Defiance	2	2	2	0	0	0.127	100
101^st	Whiteriver	4	1	2	0	1	0.123		(n/a)
102^nd	Ganado	5	1	2	0	0	0.116		(n/a)
103^rd	Tuba City	5	1	5	0	0	0.097	101	2
104^th	Page	3	1	5	1	1	0.094	102	2
105^th	Kayenta	4	1	3	0	0	0.085	97	8
106^th	Eloy	2	1	4	2	0	0.041		(n/a)
107^th	Arizona City	1	0	0	0	0	0.021	103	4

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Arizona

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About our rankings:

* Private schools are not used in determining city rank.
Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on test scores released by the Arizona Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 11, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Arizona Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Arizona Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Arizona Department of Education.