Been researching the cheapest places to live in Arizona lately and some of these numbers are pretty eye-opening. If you're looking at relocating somewhere affordable, there's actually a solid list of options that won't drain your wallet.

Flowing Wells came up as the most budget-friendly option I found - housing there is dirt cheap at like 66% below the national average. That's wild. Most expenses across the board are lower too, though utilities run a bit higher. Then you've got Nogales and Douglas on the lower end of the cost spectrum as well. Nogales especially has super affordable housing and transportation costs.

What's interesting is how varied these cheapest places to live in Arizona actually are. Take Eloy - it's small but overall pretty reasonable, though healthcare and utilities will hit harder there. Green Valley and Rio Rico are similar stories where most things are under the national average except utilities tend to spike.

The trade-off I kept noticing across these affordable Arizona towns is healthcare. In places like San Luis and Kingman, medical costs are way above the national average - like 30-36% higher. So you save on housing and utilities but then healthcare takes a chunk back out.

Sierra Vista and Drexel Heights also made the list as relatively cheap places to live in Arizona. Sierra Vista's got reasonable housing costs despite slightly higher healthcare. Drexel Heights is where utilities and transportation are the main expense items.

If you're seriously considering a move to one of these cheapest places to live in Arizona, the data suggests you really need to factor in what matters most to you - like if healthcare is a big concern, some of these towns might offset their housing savings. But overall, places like Flowing Wells, Nogales, and Douglas seem to offer the best all-around affordability. The median household incomes vary too, so depending on your situation, some might be better fits than others.

Worth doing your own deep dive if Arizona's on your radar. These numbers are from a few years back so things might've shifted, but the general picture of which towns are most affordable should still hold up pretty well.