Benson, Arizona.
Typical home $252,029 (+0.1% in a year), asking rent $1,147 . Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$666 (+101%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $296 +0%
- $251,733$252,029 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $30,094 +14%
- $221,935$252,029 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Benson$1,323
- Arizona$2,187
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 27 years.
Typical home values in Benson, AZ rose 0.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Benson, Cochise County, Arizona
Benson is a city of 5,355 people in Cochise County. Half its households earn more than $49,346 a year and half less, against $59,742 across Cochise County; 12% of its people live below the poverty line. 60% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 40% are rented. Unemployment in Cochise County was 6.8% in August 2026, and the county had 1.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then transport and warehouses.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 24 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Benson is a small city in Cochise County where the typical resident is older than in most American places. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though incomes run below the county's and a share of residents live below the poverty line. Winters are mild and rarely bring snow, summers are hot, and the year is dry, with little rain and melted snow overall.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, and in transport, warehouses and utilities, with others in restaurants, hotels and shops. The largest workplaces in Benson include Benson Unified School District, Walmart and Benson Hospital. Unemployment across the county is higher than a year ago, and the county has fewer jobs than the year before. Commutes are fairly long for a small town, and few people work from home.
Things to do. Kartchner Caverns State Park and Coronado National Forest are both a short drive away, offering protected landscape for walking and time outdoors. Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park, a protected historic site, is a longer drive away. Saguaro National Park is a national park that also takes a longer drive to reach.
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- 2,395households
- 25%of adults have a degree
- 12%below the poverty line
- 31 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Cochise County had 34,618 jobs in 2025, 1.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 64° and lows near 27°; warmest in June, with highs near 99° and lows near 58°. About 12 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Benson 6SE weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Benson
- Benson Unified School District (79226)School district200FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters190
- Benson HospitalCritical access hospital146FTE
- VisionQuest NationalBoys' and girls' residential facilities124
- SsvecElectric power distribution24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 338 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- WildfireVery high
- Heat wavesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- LightningVery high
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Benson’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Cochise County and the Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ metro.
Benson home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Benson$252,029
- Arizona$416,733
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Benson listings — the market is cooling.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Benson29.21%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Benson64
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Benson10
Zip codes with a Benson address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Benson — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.