More 2010 Census Numbers - Cities and Towns

This past week, the U.S. Census Bureau released Arizona's 2010 local level census data.

On Thursday, I put up a quick post on county population numbers.  Summary: Maricopa  County grew during the decade, but not as much as some of the other counties.

Today, raw numbers for the 20 largest cities and towns, with brief analysis.

Cities and towns -

City                        pop 2000          pop 2010        

Phoenix               1,321,045          1,445,632


Tucson                 486,699              520,116

Mesa                     396,375              439,041

Chandler               176,581              236,123

Glendale               218,812               226,721

Scottsdale            202,705               217,385

Gilbert                   109,697               208,453

Tempe                   158,625               161,719

Peoria                    108,364               154,065

Surprise                  30,848               117,517

Yuma                      77,515                 93,064

Avondale              35,883                 76,238

Flagstaff                52,894                 65,870

Goodyear               18,911                65,275

Lake Havasu City 41,938                52,527

Buckeye                   6,537                50,876

Casa Grande          25,224                48,571

Sierra Vista            37,775                43,888

Maricopa                1,040                 43,482

Oro Valley             29,700                41,011


The most recent "official" Census Bureau estimates that I could find for cities and towns were from 2006, so those are somewhat less useful than the 2009 county estimates used in the previous post.

However, even those showed some interesting developments.

...Scottsdale (my home) had a 2006 estimate of over 231K, and late in the decade was operating under the belief that the population was between 230K and 240K.  The City (electeds, staff, most residents) expected that the 2010 Census would show that Scottsdale would rank 5th, maybe even 4th, in population.

The reality of the 2010 census shows that Chandler and Glendale are easily ahead of it, while Gilbert is gaining fast

...In terms of percentage growth, the Town of Maricopa (which, strangely enough, is NOT in Maricopa County :) ), grew by more than 4000% during the decade, from a population of 1,040 in the year 2000, to a population of 43,482 in 2010.  It is now the "City of Maricopa," officially.

...Of the cities that were "cities" in 2000, Surprise led the way in percentage growth during the decade at more than 280%.  It grew from 30,848 people in 2000 to 117,517 in 2010.

...The City of Phoenix experienced the greatest raw growth, growing by 124,587 during the decade.  However, Phoenix was and remains far and away the largest city in the state, so their percentage growth only 9.4%.

...Of the top 20 cities and towns, Tempe experienced the smallest growth, both as a percentage of year 2000 population and in absolute numbers.  During the decade, it grew by 3,094, or 2%.  It's one of the few completely land-locked municipalities in the state, so it doesn't really have anywhere to grow.  Most of the other cities and towns in the state contain or border on unincorporated areas that can be annexed.

Tempe does contain four "county islands," land that is not incorporated into the city but is completely surrounded by it.  However, those are fairly small, and even if Tempe was interested in adding those locations to it, the additional land area (<100 parcels of land) and population count wouldn't make a significant difference.


Legislative and Congressional districts next...