Articles and Updates
Arizona's Population Estimates 2008
March, 2009
By Valorie Hanni Rice
The Census Bureau released its 2008 population estimates for counties and metropolitan areas on March 19th, 2009. Pinal County showed the largest gain in population for the state over the last year as well as over the last eight years. In fact, Pinal ranked third in a listing of the 100 fastest growing counties in the nation between 2000 and 2008. Most of Arizona’s counties saw small gains in population over the last year, while showing significant gain over the decade. There is one exception in that while Greenlee County grew 3.4% this last year, it has actually lost population since 2000.
Geographic Area |
Population July, 2008 |
change 2007 to 2008 |
change 2000 to 2008 |
||
number |
percent |
number |
percent |
||
| Arizona | 6,500,180 | 146,759 | 2.3 | 1,369,573 | 26.7 |
| Apache County | 70,207 | 541 | 0.8 | 784 | 1.1 |
| Cochise County | 129,006 | 1,075 | 0.8 | 11,274 | 9.6 |
| Coconino County | 128,558 | 1,208 | 0.9 | 12,240 | 10.5 |
| Gila County | 52,166 | 229 | 0.4 | 836 | 1.6 |
| Graham County | 36,452 | 1,475 | 4.2 | 2,963 | 8.8 |
| Greenlee County | 8,002 | 263 | 3.4 | -545 | -6.4 |
| La Paz County | 20,086 | -5 | - | 371 | 1.9 |
| Maricopa County | 3,954,598 | 89,550 | 2.3 | 882,426 | 28.7 |
| Mohave County | 196,281 | 408 | 0.2 | 41,249 | 26.6 |
| Navajo County | 112,757 | 1,678 | 1.5 | 15,289 | 15.7 |
| Pima County | 1,012,018 | 15,425 | 1.5 | 168,276 | 19.9 |
| Pinal County | 327,301 | 26,428 | 8.8 | 147,586 | 82.1 |
| Santa Cruz County | 42,923 | 448 | 1.1 | 4,542 | 11.8 |
| Yavapai County | 215,503 | 3,324 | 1.6 | 47,986 | 28.6 |
| Yuma County | 194,322 | 4,712 | 2.5 | 34,296 | 21.4 |
Source: Population Division, US Census Bureau (Released March 19, 2009)
Several Arizona metropolitan areas ranked among the fastest growing in the nation over this last year. Yuma was the 22nd fastest growing metro area between 2007 and 2008 while Prescott and Tucson appeared at 84th and 86th places respectively. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale MSA ranked 17th fastest growing metro area in the United States (most likely because of growth in Pinal County). This was enough for Phoenix to trade places with San Francisco as the 12th largest metropolitan area in the nation in 2008. Tucson, which is now among the one million residents club, ranks 52nd in population. The other Arizona metropolitan areas rank much lower on the list of 363 MSAs - Prescott 196th, Lake Havasu City-Kingman 211th, and Yuma 215th.
Estimates of Population for Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Rankings: July 1, 2008
| Metropolitan statistical area | Population estimate July 1, 2008 |
Ranking |
| New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA | 19,006,798 | 1 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA | 12,872,808 | 2 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI | 9,569,624 | 3 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 6,300,006 | 4 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 5,838,471 | 5 |
| Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX | 5,728,143 | 6 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL | 5,414,772 | 7 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA | 5,376,285 | 8 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 5,358,130 | 9 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH | 4,522,858 | 10 |
| Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI | 4,425,110 | 11 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 4,281,899 | 12 |
| Tucson, AZ | 1,012,018 | 52 |
| Prescott, AZ | 215,503 | 196 |
| Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ | 196,281 | 211 |
| Yuma, AZ | 194,322 | 215 |
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