America’s Camping Report Card
Arizona
#4 of 43 for camping
Better than 93% of graded states · overall grade B+ — campers like it.
Graded on 25,047 written reviews from Arizona - no star ratings, just what people wrote.
The breakdown
Letter grades reflect how campers actually felt about each topic - A means they loved it, not that it beat other states.
What campers praised
- beautiful campground295
- beautiful area210
- beautiful scenery199
- beautiful place181
- great location158
What campers warned about
- no shade9
- hot weather5
- not much shade5
- windy conditions5
- lake very low4
- Praised by
- 46.3%
- Warned by
- 1.4%
- Rank
- Better than 60% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.449 (±0.006, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- very clean494
- clean448
- clean bathrooms366
- well maintained326
- clean campground213
What campers warned about
- trash left behind9
- dirty bathrooms8
- bathrooms not very clean7
- bathroom odor5
- bathrooms never cleaned5
- Praised by
- 40.3%
- Warned by
- 5.9%
- Rank
- Better than 98% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.344 (±0.007, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- friendly staff186
- friendly hosts172
- friendly and helpful hosts143
- friendly camp hosts118
- great hosts101
What campers warned about
- no host present11
- no camp host present10
- no camp host8
- rude camp host6
- no camp host available5
- Praised by
- 35.9%
- Warned by
- 4.5%
- Rank
- Better than 98% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.313 (±0.007, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- spacious sites202
- well spaced sites84
- great campsite73
- spacious site72
- large sites62
What campers warned about
- sites close together31
- sites too close together27
- sites very close together19
- small sites12
- sites a little close together10
- Praised by
- 37.5%
- Warned by
- 9.0%
- Rank
- Better than 60% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.285 (±0.007, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- hiking trails58
- fishing34
- hiking trails nearby34
- great hiking30
- nearby hiking trails29
What campers warned about
- fishing not successful3
- fishing not very good3
- fishing was poor3
- fishing was slow3
- no fish3
- Praised by
- 25.2%
- Warned by
- 1.2%
- Rank
- Better than 36% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.240 (±0.006, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- bathrooms85
- clean bathrooms81
- clean restrooms59
- restrooms58
- bathrooms and showers51
What campers warned about
- no showers58
- no hookups41
- no water available38
- showers closed28
- no cell service26
- Praised by
- 25.0%
- Warned by
- 12.8%
- Rank
- Better than 74% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.122 (±0.007, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- quiet580
- very quiet257
- quiet campground240
- quiet atmosphere141
- quiet and peaceful85
What campers warned about
- road noise37
- highway noise32
- sites close together31
- generator noise25
- highway traffic noise23
- Praised by
- 18.1%
- Warned by
- 10.3%
- Rank
- Better than 48% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.078 (±0.006, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- close to town94
- easy access50
- easy to find34
- easy to get to34
- close to prescott19
What campers warned about
- no cell service11
- close to highway8
- close to main road6
- close to road5
- rough road in5
- Praised by
- 11.7%
- Warned by
- 7.7%
- Rank
- Better than 91% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.041 (±0.005, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- friendly campers22
- friendly people21
- family friendly16
- friendly neighbors13
- made us feel welcome12
What campers warned about
- felt unwelcome2
- campers' privacy not respected1
- church group felt targeted1
- church retreat campers targeted1
- creepy comment toward daughter1
- Praised by
- 2.4%
- Warned by
- 0.4%
- Rank
- Better than 26% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.020 (±0.002, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- free camping41
- great price19
- free campground17
- free13
- affordable12
What campers warned about
- showers cost extra7
- expensive6
- not worth the price5
- not worth the money4
- too expensive4
- Praised by
- 4.0%
- Warned by
- 3.7%
- Rank
- Better than 19% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment +0.002 (±0.003, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- felt safe51
- felt very safe26
- safe22
- feels safe7
- very safe6
What campers warned about
- cars driving too fast3
- bear in campsite2
- cat ran away2
- cougar encounter on last night2
- dog bite incident2
- Praised by
- 1.8%
- Warned by
- 2.4%
- Rank
- Better than 83% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment -0.006 (±0.003, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- easy check-in13
- will book again8
- easy reservation process5
- easy online reservations4
- easy reservations4
What campers warned about
- hard to get a reservation5
- hard to get a site5
- reserved site occupied5
- no reservations4
- arrive early for a spot3
- Praised by
- 2.5%
- Warned by
- 4.1%
- Rank
- Better than 50% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment -0.017 (±0.003, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- dog friendly15
- pet friendly6
- quiet hours enforced6
- rules enforced5
- campfires allowed4
What campers warned about
- quiet hours not enforced15
- fire restrictions11
- quiet hours ignored9
- no campfires allowed8
- generator hours too long5
- Praised by
- 1.3%
- Warned by
- 4.6%
- Rank
- Better than 45% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment -0.033 (±0.003, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
What campers praised
- no bugs4
- no flies3
- no flies or bugs3
- not buggy3
- plenty of wildlife3
What campers warned about
- very windy conditions13
- windy conditions11
- lots of flies10
- dusty conditions8
- mosquitoes6
- Praised by
- 0.8%
- Warned by
- 5.1%
- Rank
- Better than 74% of graded states
- Confidence
- High confidence
Net sentiment -0.043 (±0.003, 95% CI) from 25,047 written reviews, 65% from federal campgrounds. Graded vs. every other graded state.
We read every written review of a campground in Arizona and used AI to label what each camper praised or complained about, across 14 topics. A topic’s score is the share who praised it minus the share who complained, and the letter is absolute: A means campers loved it, F means they were frustrated — on a fixed scale, not a curve. So a topic isn’t marked down just because another state scored higher. Switch to Raw numbers to see the share who praised vs. warned behind every grade.
The rank (Arizona vs. other states) is shown separately, because most states are genuinely good overall — the ranking is what tells them apart. The overall grade is the average of the topic grades, weighted by how often campers raise each one.
Only states with at least 2,000 reviews are graded, and every topic carries a 95% confidence interval from its sample size.
Topic weights
- Scenery15%
- Campsites15%
- Cleanliness13%
- Facilities12%
- Staff & hosts10%
- Things to do9%
- Crowds & noise8%
- Getting there6%
- Bugs & weather3%
- Booking2%
- Value2%
- Rules & policies2%
- Safety2%
- Welcoming1%
Methodology v3-absolute-grade-plus-rank | 43 states graded | updated June 2026.