Living in Tucson Metro

Tucson anchors this region with a genuinely large public research university (the University of Arizona, 54,384 Fall 2025 students) and a major aerospace-defense employer (Raytheon/RTX, 12,000-plus local employees), running roughly 22% below the national median home price and meaningfully below Phoenix's own figures in this dataset's Phoenix Metro region. Its four satellite communities span a real, wide demographic and economic range: Oro Valley's affluent, biotech-anchored, golf-course-dense character (Roche Tissue Diagnostics' regional headquarters); Marana's young, fast-growing aerospace/defense corridor along I-10; Sahuarita's family-oriented affordability paired with two unusual regional landmarks (the Titan Missile Museum, the world's largest irrigated pecan orchard); and Green Valley's near-total retirement-community concentration (80.5% of residents aged 65-plus) built around an unmatched, purpose-built recreation-center-and-golf amenity system. The whole region sits notably closer to the Mexican border than Phoenix, with a genuine Sonoran Desert saguaro-and-mountain landscape running through every member community.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-26. Independent research; see individual place pages for metric-level source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.