Payson, Arizona.
Typical home $443,575 (-0.5% in a year), asking rent $2,011 . Payson, AZ metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,264 (+119%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $2,203 -0%
- $445,777$443,575 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $51,830 +13%
- $391,745$443,575 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.
- Payson$2,328
- Arizona$2,187
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 28 years.
Typical home values in Payson, AZ fell 0.5% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Payson, Gila County, Arizona
Payson is a town of 16,351 people in Gila County. Half its households earn more than $67,710 a year and half less, against $61,986 across Gila County; 11% of its people live below the poverty line. 76% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 24% are rented. Unemployment in Gila County was 5.0% in August 2026, and the county had 4.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Payson is a town in Gila County where residents are older than in most American towns, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run above the county's, though a noticeable number of people still live below the poverty line. Fewer adults hold a four-year degree than the typical American adult, and a good share of people work from home.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in the building trades, and in shops. Among the largest workplaces in Payson are the Payson Unified School District, Walmart and Safeway. Across Gila County, unemployment is higher than a year ago and there are fewer jobs than there were the year before.
Things to do. Green Valley Lake, a reservoir in or beside town, is the closest place to get out on the water. A short drive away are Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, a protected area, and Shoofly Village Ruin, an archaeological site. Tonto National Forest, a protected area a longer drive away, offers more room to roam. Winters are cold, with some snow, and summers are warm.
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- 8,224households
- 24%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 19 mintypical commute
- 14%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Gila County had 15,339 jobs in 2025, 4.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 55° and lows near 26°; warmest in July, with highs near 92° and lows near 60°. About 18 inches of snow and 20 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Payson weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Payson
- Payson Unified District (4209)School district297FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters286
- Frito-LayConfectionery merchant wholesalers224
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores132
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture102
- HC PaysonHome health care agencies39
- The Door StopDoors, wood and covered wood, manufacturing39
- American Medical Response28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 9 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 817 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); 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
- LightningVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively 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 Payson’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Gila County and the Payson, AZ metro.
Payson home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Payson$443,575
- Arizona$416,733
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Payson listings, and the typical home goes pending in 62 days — the market is roughly in balance.
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.
- Payson28.52%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Payson62
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Payson322
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Payson56
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Payson$445,762
- United States$371,407
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Payson96.80%
Zip codes with a Payson address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Payson — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.