Cost of Living & Housing in Tombstone
Tombstone is a genuinely affordable small city by national standards, though a real, disclosed spread across sources on local income and cost-of-living magnitude means movers should treat any single figure as directional rather than precise for a town this small.
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Learn moreHousing Prices -- Genuinely Affordable
Redfin-linked data cites a $294,000 median list price as of August 2026, with homes selling for a median $295,000 in April 2026 -- well below the national median. Price per square foot ($179) is up 4.7% year over year. Small transaction volumes in a city this size mean month-to-month figures can swing more than in a larger market.
Property and Sales Taxes -- Low Property Tax, High Combined Sales Tax
No Tombstone-specific effective property tax rate was independently found this session; Cochise County's county-wide median effective rate is 0.87%, below the national median of roughly 1.02%. The combined sales tax runs high, consistent with Arizona's statewide pattern -- sources disagree on the exact figure (9.6% per one source, 10.1% per another, differing specifically on the county-level component), so budget toward the higher end. Arizona's flat 2.5% state income tax applies here as it does statewide -- this is real state income tax, not a no-income-tax situation.
Overall Cost of Living -- Below National, But the Margin Is Disputed
Sources agree Tombstone runs below the national average on overall cost of living but disagree substantially on by how much -- one detailed monthly cost breakdown put it at just 3% below national, while a separate cost-of-living index (80.1, where 100 = national average) implies roughly 20% below. Both are disclosed here rather than resolved into one number.
Income -- A Genuinely Wide, Disclosed Spread
Median household income figures ranged from $35,474 to $57,213 across sources checked this session -- a roughly $22,000 spread for the same small city, likely reflecting different data years and estimation methods rather than one settled figure. Every cited figure sits below the national median (roughly $83,181 cited elsewhere in this dataset), and the local job market is genuinely small: total employed residents fell from 457 in 2023 to 386 in 2024, concentrated in public administration, tourism/hospitality, and retail.
Key takeaways
- Median home price runs $294,000-$295,000 (2026), genuinely affordable relative to the national median, in a low-volume, small-city housing market where month-to-month figures can swing.
- No Tombstone-specific property tax rate was found; Cochise County's county-wide effective rate (0.87%) runs below the national median, but the combined sales tax is high (9.6%-10.1%, sources disagree on the exact figure) -- consistent with Arizona's statewide pattern.
- Arizona's flat 2.5% state income tax applies here -- this is a real, not-zero state income tax.
- Median household income carries a genuinely wide, disclosed spread ($35,474-$57,213) across sources, and the local job market outside tourism and government is small and can be volatile year to year.
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