Scottsdale vs Tempe

A side-by-side comparison of Scottsdale and Tempe: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Scottsdale has the higher population (242,169 vs 186,419 in Tempe). Scottsdale has the higher median household income ($107,372 vs $77,643 in Tempe). Scottsdale has the higher median home value ($709,900 vs $421,900 in Tempe).

Population, income & housing

	Scottsdale	Tempe
Population	242,169	186,419
Median age	49.2 yrs	29.9 yrs
Median household income	$107,372	$77,643
Median home value	$709,900	$421,900
Median gross rent	$1,910	$1,623
Housing units	138,422	84,664
Homeownership rate	67.6%	41.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	61.5%	49.5%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Scottsdale	Tempe
Population	250,602 → 242,169 (-3.4%)	187,454 → 186,419 (-0.6%)
Median household income	$88,213 → $107,372 (+21.7%)	$57,994 → $77,643 (+33.9%)
Median home value	$475,300 → $709,900 (+49.4%)	$272,900 → $421,900 (+54.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,365 → $1,910 (+39.9%)	$1,164 → $1,623 (+39.4%)

Scottsdale

Population

250,602242,169

Median household income

$88,213$107,372

Median home value

$475,300$709,900

Median gross rent

$1,365$1,910

Tempe

Population

187,454186,419

Median household income

$57,994$77,643

Median home value

$272,900$421,900

Median gross rent

$1,164$1,623

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Scottsdale	Tempe
Under 5	3.4%	4.1%
5 to 17	10.6%	10.2%
18 to 24	6.6%	22.3%
25 to 34	13.7%	23.0%
35 to 44	10.8%	11.7%
45 to 54	12.8%	8.6%
55 to 64	15.9%	9.1%
65 to 74	13.8%	6.1%
75 and over	12.3%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Scottsdale	Tempe
White (non-Hispanic)	78.7%	52.4%
Black or African American	1.9%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	1.7%
Asian	5.1%	9.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.4%
Some other race	0.6%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.6%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.4%	23.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Scottsdale	Tempe
No high school diploma	2.5%	6.2%
High school graduate	11.2%	15.5%
Some college or associate's	24.8%	28.8%
Bachelor's degree	37.1%	28.9%
Graduate or professional degree	24.4%	20.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Scottsdale	Tempe
Drove alone	62.1%	60.6%
Carpooled	4.5%	8.1%
Public transit	0.4%	3.3%
Walked	1.7%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.7%	2.4%
Worked from home	29.0%	19.4%
Other means	1.6%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Scottsdale	Tempe
1-unit, detached	53.0%	38.5%
1-unit, attached	11.5%	9.6%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	10.9%	17.5%
20 or more units	18.1%	24.1%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	2.5%

Poverty & households

	Scottsdale	Tempe
Poverty rate	7.1%	16.2%
Average household size	2.04	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	22	21
Median year structure built	1990	1983