By admin 
YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — The Yuma area is growing steadily.
While it’s not seeing the rapid population boom of metro Phoenix, Yuma County has gained about 20,000 residents over the past 10 years. Ask newcomers why they’re coming, and many point to the same reason: affordability.
“Affordable” is a word longtime residents use, too — and it’s part of why many say Yuma remains a place people want to put down roots.
Talk to locals about what it’s like to live in Yuma, and you’ll often hear pride in the community and the lifestyle.
“I think Yuma, for us who are from here, is the best-kept secret from the West Coast,” said Junior Atherton.
Across the country, housing affordability has become a growing challenge.
WalletHub reports the median sale price for a single-family home rose from about $313,000 in 2019 to more than $403,000 in early 2026. Even in areas where prices may be starting to cool, mortgage rates have increased sharply in recent years, raising monthly payments for buyers.
Maryanna Arias, a real estate agent with Keller Williams, said Yuma remains one of the most affordable markets in the region.
“[Yuma] remains one of the most affordable real estate markets in the southwest, with median home prices generally ranging in the low mid-thirties… $300,000,” Arias said.
She said local prices haven’t surged the way some other markets did during the pandemic and that conditions are shifting.
“Right now, we are turning more into a buyer’s market, where buyers are taking a little bit longer to make a decision,” Arias said.
Arias said Yuma residents aren’t the only ones shopping for homes.
She’s seeing snowbirds, Californians and other out-of-state buyers moving to the area in large numbers.
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Shannon Smath, who moved to Yuma from Oklahoma with her family in September, said they had long hoped to return after her husband was stationed here years ago.
“My husband was stationed here twenty years ago — he was in the Marine Corps — and we always wanted to come back,” Smath said.
She added that the cost of living felt manageable.
“I think it’s about the same, which was part of the draw of being able to come down here because we knew we could afford to live here as well as where we were,” Smath said.
Some longtime residents say Yuma’s popularity has a downside: they’ve noticed costs rising.
“It’s a little less affordable,” Atherton said. “I say that because obviously…the economy…and the cost of homes have gone up, but still you got folks moving down here from different parts of the world.”
Yuma isn’t the only Arizona city included in WalletHub’s affordability rankings. Surprise ranked No. 3, Mesa ranked No. 15, and Peoria and Gilbert ranked No. 22 and No. 23.
See the full WalletHub list here.
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