Buckeye vs Surprise

A side-by-side comparison of Buckeye and Surprise: population, income, housing, and more.

Buckeye and Surprise are places in Arizona. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Surprise has the higher population (149,519 vs 99,844 in Buckeye). Buckeye has the higher median household income ($98,778 vs $93,371 in Surprise). Surprise has the higher median home value ($396,000 vs $384,100 in Buckeye).

Population, income & housing

	Buckeye	Surprise
Population	99,844	149,519
Median age	35.4 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$98,778	$93,371
Median home value	$384,100	$396,000
Median gross rent	$1,742	$1,917
Housing units	32,787	60,356
Homeownership rate	86.1%	79.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.1%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buckeye	Surprise
Population	69,744 → 99,844 (+43.2%)	135,450 → 149,519 (+10.4%)
Median household income	$71,707 → $98,778 (+37.8%)	$69,076 → $93,371 (+35.2%)
Median home value	$222,700 → $384,100 (+72.5%)	$239,500 → $396,000 (+65.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,246 → $1,742 (+39.8%)	$1,349 → $1,917 (+42.1%)

Buckeye

Population

69,74499,844

Median household income

$71,707$98,778

Median home value

$222,700$384,100

Median gross rent

$1,246$1,742

Surprise

Population

135,450149,519

Median household income

$69,076$93,371

Median home value

$239,500$396,000

Median gross rent

$1,349$1,917

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buckeye	Surprise
Under 5	8.1%	5.6%
5 to 17	19.1%	18.2%
18 to 24	6.8%	7.3%
25 to 34	15.2%	10.7%
35 to 44	15.3%	12.2%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.7%
55 to 64	10.5%	10.9%
65 to 74	9.2%	11.2%
75 and over	4.3%	11.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buckeye	Surprise
White (non-Hispanic)	44.5%	66.9%
Black or African American	6.4%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.1%	0.8%
Asian	1.5%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.3%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.1%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	43.0%	19.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buckeye	Surprise
No high school diploma	10.1%	5.7%
High school graduate	27.8%	25.2%
Some college or associate's	38.0%	38.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	11.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buckeye	Surprise
Drove alone	69.9%	70.7%
Carpooled	10.0%	9.2%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	0.6%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	17.5%	17.6%
Other means	1.6%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buckeye	Surprise
1-unit, detached	93.5%	85.3%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	0.6%	1.4%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	2.9%
20 or more units	0.8%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Buckeye	Surprise
Poverty rate	6.8%	7.8%
Average household size	3.11	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	33	30
Median year structure built	2010	2004