AARP’s Great Places to Live: Tucson, Arizona

The Southwestern city is popular with retirees for its weather and culture

Edie Jarolim,

AARP

Published November 19, 2025

AARP’s Great Places to Live is a list of 10 communities that have many of the qualities older people value: good health care, social opportunities, a nice climate, ease in getting around, a thriving job market and rank highly on AARP's Livability Index (learn more about the Livability Index here, including how your community ranks). One city that made the list: Tucson, Arizona. With lower housing costs than Phoenix and warm weather, Tucson is worth a look. To see more Great Places to Live, click here.

Population: 541,033
AARP Livability Index score: 54
Average monthly housing cost: $1,100
Perfect-weather days*: 146 per year

Outdoorsy, laid-back and a bit quirky with its bicycle and pedestrian bridge in the shape of a rattlesnake, Tucson, Arizona, combines the culture of a university town and a 4,000-year-old settlement with the beauty of the desert Southwest. In a single day, you might visit a Spanish Colonial mission on Tohono O’odham land, dine at one of the country’s oldest Mexican restaurants, then have a nightcap at a stargazing bar.

For many winters, Kate Kaemerle, 70, would leave behind the gloom of Seattle to visit Tucson for the season. When she and her husband retired, they decided to make the sunnier — and less expensive — city their permanent home. “The mortgage on our Tucson house is about half of what it was in Seattle,” she says. “And we often spot roadrunners in the backyard!”

Affordability

For a sun-soaked community, Tucson is relatively affordable. According to realtor.com, the median sold home price is $350,000. That’s quite a bit lower than Phoenix, at $465,000, and much lower than San Diego, at $944,000, and Los Angeles, at $1.1 million.

Health care

Major hospitals include the Tucson Medical Center and the Banner-University Medical Center, both ranked among the country’s best regional hospitals in 2025-26 by U.S. News & World Report. Along with its traditional college of medicine, the University of Arizona is home to the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. The 14 nonprofit El Rio community health centers offer sliding-scale fees for comprehensive medical and dental services.

Culture

Traditional performing arts — symphony, opera, ballet — are concentrated downtown and around the University of Arizona, as are visual-art venues like the Center for Creative Photography on the U of A campus, cofounded by Ansel Adams. A thriving outdoor cultural scene includes vibrant murals celebrating the city’s Native American, Hispanic and Old West roots. Tucson is also the country’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy, with many culinary events. And don’t miss the annual Agave Heritage Festival (think tequila and mezcal).

Bicyclists, amblers and horseback riders share the 138-mile-long, car-free Chuck Huckelberry Loop, while hikers and rock climbers enjoy the cinematic desert-meets-mountain backdrops of Saguaro National Park and Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. Agua Caliente Park is especially popular with birdwatchers. Many local resorts open their luxe recreation facilities to the public, but those on a limited budget can enjoy municipal golf courses and swimming pools.

Getting around

Sprawling Tucson is not easily navigable without a car. Interstates 10 and 19 are its only major highways, so surface streets can be congested, especially when seasonal winter residents and visitors arrive. That said, several bus routes traverse the city, an electric streetcar runs regularly between the University of Arizona and downtown areas, and public transportation is free.

Climate

Its 300-plus days of sunshine, and the fact that it really is a dry heat, make Tucson appealing for much of the year. But summers are uncomfortably hot, with temperatures reaching triple digits at times. Early rising is key. Seasoned hikers and bicyclists hit the trails at sunrise, and many golfers tee off between 5:30 and 6 a.m. The Tucson Botanical Gardens runs an annual Dog Days of Summer special, welcoming people and their pups in at 7:30 a.m. Summer storms often offer a break from the heat and provide dramatic sound-and-light shows.

Job market

Skilled jobs in the city tend to be in the aerospace, defense, health care and education sectors. Employment assistance is available through Pima County One-Stop Career Centers and Arizona’s Senior Community Service Employment Program. Pima Community College has several skills-training programs for adults.

Going out guide

Sunny-day location: The patio of Tohono Chul’s Garden Bistro. Enjoy a brunch featuring Southwestern cuisine, including blue corn tamales, eggs Benedict with poblano peppers or a chorizo frittata.

Weekday evening hangout: The Century Room jazz lounge in the historic Hotel Congress. Although it opened in 2022, its elegant decor and classic jazz music harkens back to an earlier era.

Where to take visitors first: The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Get to know the distinctive fauna and flora of the cross-border region.

AARP initiatives

In 2019, the city adopted a comprehensive Age-Friendly Tucson action plan developed with AARP Arizona and other partners. Recent initiatives include the Complete Streets Plan, working to improve safety on multiuse thoroughfares; and the Affordable Housing Initiative for Older Adults, designed to facilitate better access to housing for lower-income older adults.

*What's a perfect weather day? High temperature between 60 and 85 degrees, with less than 1 millimeter of rain. Source: Yahoo News analysis of federal data

Edie Jarolim is a freelance writer who moved from Manhattan to Tucson in 1992. She is the author of five travel guides, including Arizona for Dummies, and her articles have appeared in Hemispheres, National Geographic Traveler, Sunset, Travel + Leisure and USAToday.com. She is a regular contributor to Tucson Lifestyle and TucsonFoodie.com.

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