Cochise County is a beautiful and inexpensive place to live with over 280 sunny days a year, making it an ideal location for off-grid living. Cochise County’s favorable rules and regulations make it easy for homesteaders to build unique desert-friendly homes.
Named after the Native American chief Cochise, Cochise County is located in the southeastern corner of the state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the county is home to 125,000 residents. The largest city in the County is Sierra Vista, with 43,700 residents. There are a number of different towns, cities, and regions in Cochise County so the perfect fit is out there for everyone. You can find out more about these areas here.
The cost of living in the county is much lower than the national average.
Weather
Cochise County is a slightly milder region of the state of Arizona sitting at an elevation of over 3,500 feet at its lowest point and 9,798 feet at its highest.
The county averages 13 inches of rain and 2 inches of snow a year. On average, the county gets some form of precipitation 57 days a year.
The average high temperature in July is 93 degrees Fahrenheit, which is about 12 degrees above the national average for the month. In January, the average low is 30 degrees. June is typically the hottest month of the year before monsoon rains appear in July.
July and August is the rainy season in Cochise County, with August averaging about 3 inches of rain. April is the driest month with just 0.3 inches of rainfall.
RU-4 Zoning & The “Opt-Out”
90% of unincorporated land in Cochise County is zoned RU-4. Why does this matter and what does it mean? RU-4 zoning indicates that there can only be one dwelling per 4 acres, or in other words, the parcels must stay at least 4 acres in size. The purpose of this is to keep the area rural and not too congested.
While it is nice to live in Cochise County and not worry about the land around you getting too crowded the main reason people care about RU-4 Zoning is the Opt-Out permit. The Opt-Out permit allows RU-4 land owners to build their own homes without costly government oversight using non-traditional building materials and methods to take more control over their homes and property. Want to live in an Earthship, container home, tiny home, cobb house, strawbale construction, or any other kind of building, this is the place for you. You can even get a permit to live in an RV on your land while you build (which can be very difficult in other parts of the country and state). More than 25% of homes built in the county between 2015 and 2018 used the Opt-Out option.
Activities
While Cochise County is mostly rural there are plenty of fun activities and areas to visit. From numerous breweries, wineries (74% of all wine grapes grown in AZ come from Cochise County), bountiful farms, and delicious restaurants and coffee shops to amazing nature in the Dragoons or the Chiricahua National Monument there’s lots to do and explore. At night enjoy the quiet away from the hustle and bustle and be awed by the glorious Milky Way visible most nights in the dark skies overhead.
Looking for more physical activities? Try the Bisbee 1000 stair climb, rock climb in Cochise Stronghold, or bike along the miles of dirt roads. Perhaps a quad ride over the Dragoons with a stop for a shoot-out in Tombstone or the chance to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of sandhill cranes flocking to Whitewater Draw is what you are after. Cochise County has it all.