Sun City West, Arizona Demographics
Population trends, housing costs, income, commuting, and health, all on one page.
Sun City West, AZ Population Density Map and Area Scores
Area Score
Health, income and education, each graded from F to A+. Explore interactive maps for deeper analysis.
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B
Health Around average
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D
Income Well below average
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B
Education Around average
Source: Map AI Methodology
Population
| Metric | Sun City West | Arizona Avg | U.S. Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 25,067 | 7,356,359 | 337,468,954 |
| Population density (per sq mi) | 2094.8 | 64.6 | 86.4 |
| Population growth (%/yr) | 0.29% | 1.15% | 0.59% |
| Median age | 73.6 | 37.3 | 37.3 |
| Households | 14,955 | 2,847,012 | 130,235,071 |
Population in Sun City West grew by 49.8% from 2009 to 2024, reaching 25,067 in 2024.
Population Growth 2009–2024
Race & Ethnicity
Age & Sex
The largest generation in Sun City West is Boomers, aged 61–79, at 62.7% of residents. That is 45.1 points above Arizona as a whole.
- Gen Z 13–28 123 0.5% -21.8 pts
- Millennials 29–44 227 0.9% -20.6 pts
- Gen X 45–60 2,156 8.6% -10.5 pts
- Boomers 61–79 15,708 62.7% +45.1 pts
Residents by birth cohort, from the 2025 age distribution. The right-hand figure is how far each cohort's share sits above or below Arizona, in percentage points. Children younger than Gen Z and the generations before the Boomers are counted in the population but not shown here, so these shares do not add up to 100%.
Male and female share
Women are 55.3% of the people living in Sun City West and men 44.7%.
- Women 55.3% Arizona 50.0%
- Men 44.7% Arizona 50.0%
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Economy
Sun City West has a the economy index of D, which means it is barely prosperous.
| Metric | Sun City West | Arizona Avg | U.S. Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $64,178 | $80,381 | $80,455 |
| Income growth (%/yr) | 4.42% | 5.72% | 4.80% |
| Unemployment rate | 3.7% | 5.1% | 5.2% |
The median household income in Sun City West is about 20% lower than in Arizona.
Housing
| Metric | Sun City West | Arizona Avg | U.S. Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median home price | $404,892 | $367,851 | $248,835 |
| Median rent | $1,650 | $1,543 | $1,407 |
| Homeownership rate | 88.4% | 67.4% | 65.2% |
The median home price in Sun City West is about 20.4 years' worth of rent — buying at the median price costs roughly as much as paying the median rent of $1,650 per month for that long.
Commute Time & Mobility
Commuters in Sun City West spend about 32 minutes on the road round trip each working day. Over a typical 250-day work year, that adds up to roughly 135 hours, about 5.6 full days, spent commuting.
| Metric | Sun City West | Arizona Avg | U.S. Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-way commute (min) | 16.2 | 22.4 | 22.4 |
| Round-trip commute (min) | 32.4 | 44.9 | 44.8 |
| Yearly time spent (hours) | 135 | 187 | 187 |
| Estimated yearly cost | $4,188 | $5,798 | $5,790 |
| Work from home | 22.3% | 18.4% | 15.0% |
| Highway traffic (vehicles/day) | 10,042 | 9,219 | 8,813 |
| Local road traffic (vehicles/day) | 4,577 | 1,948 | 1,355 |
The average commute time in Sun City West is 16 minutes, shorter than the 22 minutes in Arizona.
Estimated yearly cost applies a single national wage rule of thumb (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics average hourly earnings), not a measurement of wages in this area. Traffic volume figures come from proprietary Ticon and TrafficZoom data.
Education & Households
Sun City West has a education index of B, which means it is quite educated.
| Metric | Sun City West | Arizona Avg | U.S. Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 34.7% | 29.1% | 31.6% |
| Average household size | 1.61 | 2.53 | 2.53 |
Health
Sun City West has a health index of B, which means it is quite healthy.
| Metric | Sun City West | Arizona Avg | U.S. Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy (years) | 80.2 | 78.3 | 78.3 |
| Self-rated poor health | 16.7% | 19.4% | 16.3% |
| Smokers | 7.8% | 19.5% | 19.0% |
Sun City West, AZ Compared With Nearby Cities
Sun City West, AZ is the smallest of the 5 cities compared here, 25,067 residents against a local median of 95,495. Sun City West, AZ's commute, at 16.2 min, runs 40% below the 27.1 min typical of the cities around it. That is the better end of the local range on this measure.
Median household income tells the same story from another angle: $64,178 against a local median of $87,300, 26% below it. The picture is mixed rather than uniform: commute runs ahead of the neighbourhood while median household income runs behind it, so Sun City West, AZ is trading one against the other rather than simply out-performing what surrounds it. The cities themselves sit within 4.9 min of each other on commute, a tighter band than the gap between any of them and Sun City West, AZ, which makes it a genuine outlier here rather than one end of a wide local spread. Sun City West, AZ has the lowest commute of the 5 areas compared here.
| Area | Population | Median household income | Median home price | Commute |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun City West, AZ | 25,067 | $64,178 #4/5 | $404,892 #3/5 | 16.2 min #1/5 |
| El Mirage, AZ | 34,950 | $79,919 | $274,260 | 28.0 min |
| Sun City, AZ | 40,024 | $54,093 | $355,512 | 23.1 min |
| Surprise, AZ | 150,965 | $94,681 | $424,328 | 27.4 min |
| Peoria, AZ | 193,918 | $95,270 | $507,883 | 26.8 min |
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Sun City West, Arizona.
What is the population of Sun City West, Arizona?
About 25,067 people live in Sun City West, Arizona, in 14,955 households of 1.6 people on average. The median age is 73.6, so residents are older than the U.S. median of 37.3 by about 36 years.
Is Sun City West, Arizona mostly urban or rural?
Averaged over its land area, Sun City West, Arizona has 2,095 people per square mile, a density typical of urban and suburban areas. That is about 24 times the U.S. average of 86.
Is Sun City West, Arizona an affordable place to live?
The median home costs 6.3 times the median household income ($404,892 against $64,178), compared with 3.1 times nationally. A ratio of about 3 is traditionally considered affordable. Median rent of $1,650 a month takes about 31% of the median household's income, above the 30% level at which HUD considers renters cost-burdened.
Is it hard to find a job in Sun City West, Arizona?
Unemployment in Sun City West, Arizona is only 3.7%, well below the U.S. rate of 5.2%, a sign of a tight labor market where employers compete for workers.
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