Tempe 4plexes: House Hacking in Tempe, Arizona
If Tempe is on your short list, the numbers below are your starting point for Tempe: roughly 190,571 people, median household income of $78,044, and a typical home value of $458,515. A house hack in Tempe lives or dies on how a specific building's rents in Tempe compare with its price, and this guide shows how to make that comparison in Tempe.
Tempe by the numbers
The three numbers that open the table below — about 190,571 residents in Tempe, median household income of $78,044 in Tempe, and a typical home value of $458,515 in Tempe — describe the housing market of Tempe in miniature. A fourplex buyer in Tempe should treat those Tempe figures as context for individual properties in Tempe, not as substitutes for a specific building's rents and expenses in Tempe.
| Measure | Tempe | Phoenix (state capital) |
|---|---|---|
| Population, July 1, 2025 (Census Vintage 2025) | 190,571 | 1,665,481 |
| Median household income (ACS 2024 1-year, B19013) | $78,044 | $85,246 |
| Households earning under $50,000 | 29.0% | 27.2% |
| Households earning $50,000 to $99,999 | 32.5% | 30.7% |
| Households earning $100,000 to $199,999 | 26.7% | 29.3% |
| Households earning $200,000 or more | 11.8% | 12.9% |
| Median gross rent (ACS 2024 1-year, B25064) | $1,818 a month | $1,712 a month |
| Median earnings, workers 16+ (ACS 2024 1-year, B20017) | $41,504 | $46,176 |
| Typical home value (Zillow ZHVI, September 2026) | $458,515 | $404,067 |
The largest single income group in Tempe is the $50,000 to $99,999 bracket at 32.5% of households in Tempe. That group is your most likely tenant base in Tempe in broad terms, and it sits alongside 61.5% of Tempe households under $100,000 and 11.8% of Tempe households at $200,000 or more. A fourplex in Tempe with a mix of unit sizes can serve more than one slice of that Tempe distribution, which is worth remembering when you look at floor plans in Tempe.
Buyer help and loans in Tempe
Owner-occupants in Tempe can use the loan types on our Loan Types page for a Tempe purchase. An FHA loan for a Tempe buyer can go as low as 3.5% down on a 1-4 unit primary residence in Tempe, and a conventional loan for a Tempe buyer as low as 5% down on an owner-occupied 2-4 unit property in Tempe. Veterans buying in Tempe may qualify for a VA loan with typically no down payment in Tempe. Which of those fits a Tempe buyer depends on income, credit, and the property in Tempe — a lender licensed in Arizona can walk through the options for your situation in Tempe.
The fitting set for Tempe is short: FHA (3.5% down, 1-4 units) for Tempe, conventional (5% down, owner-occupied 2-4 units) for Tempe, VA (typically no down payment, eligible veterans) for Tempe, plus HomeReady and Home Possible (5% down, capped at 80% of area median income) for Tempe.
Do not budget a Tempe purchase around help that cannot apply in Tempe: USDA does not cover fourplexes in Tempe at all, and many state and local assistance programs require a single-family, one-unit home in Tempe, so neither fits a four-unit purchase in Tempe unless the program's own rules for Tempe say otherwise.
Two income-based programs deserve a look in Tempe, where 61.5% of households in Tempe earn under $100,000. HomeReady (Fannie Mae) for a Tempe buyer and Home Possible (Freddie Mac) for a Tempe buyer both cap qualifying income at 80% of the area median income for the property's location in Tempe, and both allow a Tempe buyer as little as 5% down on a 2-4 unit property in Tempe. Whether a given buyer in Tempe qualifies depends on that area figure for Tempe, not on the city medians for Tempe in the table above — check the official program pages linked from Loan Types for Tempe.
Start with the Loan Types page for the full comparison for a Tempe purchase, then confirm your situation with a lender.
Life in Tempe as an owner-occupant
Pictured above: Downtown Tempe, Arizona, seen from 'A' Mountain. in Tempe. Tenants in Tempe choose a home in Tempe, not just a unit in Tempe, and in a city of about 190,571 people like Tempe, a building near the places people in Tempe already gather has a natural advantage in Tempe.
The landlord side of the house hack in Tempe is unglamorous and steady: three rents to collect in Tempe, three households to keep happy in Tempe, and a building in Tempe to maintain. In Tempe, where the median gross rent is $1,818 a month, pricing from verified comps in Tempe and fixing problems fast in Tempe will do more for your returns in Tempe than any financing trick for Tempe. Tenants in Tempe renew when the place in Tempe is cared for and the rent in Tempe matches the market in Tempe.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates (tables B19001, B19013, B25064, B20017); Census Vintage 2025 population estimates, July 1, 2025; Zillow Research ZHVI, September 2026. Typical home value is the Zillow ZHVI modeled typical value, not a median sale price.