COLLEGE DIRECTORY       :      VISIT ELLER      :      LOG IN 
Eller College of Management

Eller College Home > EBR > Research, Analysis, and Publications > Articles and Updates
Economic and Business Research Center
Current IndicatorsArizona's EconomyEconomic ForecastEBR Database

Articles and Updates

Arizona's Population Estimates 2008

2

arizona population

"Several Arizona metropolitan areas ranked among the fastest growing in the nation over this last year. "

 

 

1

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

Source: Population Division, US Census Bureau (Released March 19, 2009)

 

For additional information, please contact us.

RSS RSS      Print Print