Cost of Living in Sedona
Sedona's cost of living is dominated by extreme housing costs relative to a comparatively modest local median household income -- a real, disclosed affordability tension for full-time working residents that distinguishes Sedona from a typical high-cost market where income and housing costs track each other more closely.
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Learn moreA real, disclosed tension: median household income below the national median despite extreme home prices
Sedona's median household income is cited at $73,738 -- BELOW the $83,181 national median household income -- even as the median home price runs $1.1M-$1.36M depending on source. This is a real, worth-naming tension: home values here are driven heavily by second-home, investment, and lifestyle buyers rather than tracking local full-time-resident wages, meaning a full-time working resident's income doesn't map cleanly onto local housing costs the way it would in most other markets in this dataset.
A real, high combined sales tax layer
Sedona's combined sales tax rate is 10.4% across most of the city (5.6% AZ state + 1.3% Yavapai County + 3.5% City of Sedona) -- notably higher than Flagstaff's 9.386% and Prescott's roughly 8.6%-9.3% in this same batch, and higher than the Arizona statewide average combined rate documented in arizona.js.
Arizona's flat 2.5% state income tax applies here too
As anywhere in Arizona, Sedona residents pay a flat 2.5% state income tax -- a real, if modest, ongoing cost relative to a true no-income-tax state. See taxes for the fuller picture.
A visitor-subsidized tax base, not a resident-subsidized one
Because visitors generate 77% of Sedona's total sales and bed tax revenue, the city's own municipal tax base is structurally less dependent on full-time-resident spending than a typical city's would be -- a real, distinctive fact about how Sedona's local government funds itself, separate from what an individual resident actually pays.
Key takeaways
- Sedona's median household income ($73,738) runs below the national median ($83,181) despite the area's extreme home prices -- a real affordability tension for full-time working residents.
- Sedona's combined sales tax rate (10.4% across most of the city) is notably higher than Flagstaff's or Prescott's in this same batch.
- Arizona's flat 2.5% state income tax applies statewide, including Sedona.
- Visitors generate 77% of Sedona's own sales and bed tax revenue -- the city's municipal tax base is structurally visitor-subsidized, not resident-subsidized.
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