New River vs Sun City West

A side-by-side comparison of New River and Sun City West: population, income, housing, and more.

New River and Sun City West are places in Arizona. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Sun City West has the higher population (27,003 vs 18,365 in New River). New River has the higher median household income ($120,279 vs $63,792 in Sun City West). New River has the higher median home value ($603,700 vs $350,500 in Sun City West).

Population, income & housing

	New River	Sun City West
Population	18,365	27,003
Median age	50.6 yrs	74.9 yrs
Median household income	$120,279	$63,792
Median home value	$603,700	$350,500
Median gross rent	$1,837	$1,658
Housing units	7,381	19,284
Homeownership rate	94.4%	88.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.6%	35.3%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	New River	Sun City West
Population	15,910 → 18,365 (+15.4%)	25,544 → 27,003 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$85,294 → $120,279 (+41.0%)	$52,196 → $63,792 (+22.2%)
Median home value	$376,700 → $603,700 (+60.3%)	$221,500 → $350,500 (+58.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,968 → $1,837 (-6.7%)	$1,250 → $1,658 (+32.6%)

New River

Population

15,91018,365

Median household income

$85,294$120,279

Median home value

$376,700$603,700

Median gross rent

$1,968$1,837

Sun City West

Population

25,54427,003

Median household income

$52,196$63,792

Median home value

$221,500$350,500

Median gross rent

$1,250$1,658

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	New River	Sun City West
Under 5	5.0%	0.0%
5 to 17	14.8%	0.3%
18 to 24	4.5%	0.2%
25 to 34	7.7%	0.4%
35 to 44	9.3%	0.6%
45 to 54	19.5%	1.9%
55 to 64	18.1%	10.8%
65 to 74	15.0%	36.4%
75 and over	6.0%	49.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	New River	Sun City West
White (non-Hispanic)	86.3%	94.5%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.9%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.2%
Hispanic or Latino	7.9%	1.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	New River	Sun City West
No high school diploma	4.6%	3.1%
High school graduate	28.1%	26.5%
Some college or associate's	35.8%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	21.0%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.6%	15.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	New River	Sun City West
Drove alone	66.6%	70.7%
Carpooled	8.6%	2.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.0%
Worked from home	22.4%	22.1%
Other means	0.9%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	New River	Sun City West
1-unit, detached	90.8%	81.2%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	10.2%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	1.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	8.8%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	New River	Sun City West
Poverty rate	5.4%	6.8%
Average household size	2.59	1.65
Mean commute (minutes)	34	23
Median year structure built	2002	1990