Phoenix is huge. It’s the fifth-largest US city by population, the 14th-largest metropolitan area, and, from what I can tell, the biggest city between Los Angeles and Dallas (or maybe Houston). It’s growing like gangbusters – I’ve heard it’s on track to be the 3rd largest city in the country by 2020 (though I now can’t find a cite for that).
My question: Why is Phoenix (and its metro area) so huge, as opposed to one of the other southwest desert communities – such as Albuquerque, Tucson, Las Vegas, or even Salt Lake City? Lots of desert cities have undergone rapid expansion since dams and air conditioning arrived, and one of them had to grow the most. Why Phoenix?
I realize LA itself could qualify for this question, but while imported water helped it bloom in a former desert, it’s also a port city, so there’s some added explanation for it being so large. Phoenix is in the middle of Arizona – no major ports. Not much of anything but mountains, desert, and petrified wood. So far as I know, there’s not even major agriculture post-dams, as in California.
So what fueled the Phoenix boom so much more powerfully than other desert cities?
There are a lot of factors and one is geography. Phoenix and the surrounding area is really flat with only a few small mountain ranges to punctuate the plain. This means few barriers to building suburban housing with a relatively short commute to the city and reasonable land prices made it ideal for growth. By contrast much of the land in coastal southern California is mountainous which means far less is suitable for building.
This is probably one of the biggest reasons for the recent growth. Every other person you meet here is from Southern California.
When California real estate prices started going haywire a few years ago people realized that they could sell their house for 2 or 3 times what they bought it for and come live basically the same lifestyle out here for 1/3rd or 1/4th the cost. Two of my cousins sold their house in Rancho Cucamonga about a year and a half ago for close to half a million and came out here and paid something like $130k (cash) for a house twice as big. I’m guessing this has happened several times in cycles going back to the 1950s or '60s. Someone like Padeye who has been here awhile might know for sure.
It’s all catching up and levelling out now, fortunately.
There are of course many other reasons people move here; it’s a beautiful and diverse state, nice weather (summer is too hot, though), the roads are pretty well planned but starting to get too crowded.
Our governor (Napolitano) has done and is doing a lot to bring businesses here as well. Intel and Google are both supposed to be expanding here, and a new law goes into effect this month that is supposed to bring a large film industry to Arizona.
I’m not expecting a simple answer, of course. I expect it’s got to be a combination of factors – the stuff that’s been suggested is interesting.
But I’m still not clear why Phoenix has undergone such phenomenal growth even compared to cities like Albuquerque or Las Vegas, which have themselves grown phenomenally in the last 100 years. Albuquerque is older, Las Vegas is younger, but Phoenix seems to have hit the sweet spot – what makes the spot so sweet?
Phoenix has had a multi-termainal major airport for some time which no doubt is a factor for business locating here. The airport is also unusual in that it’s near city center which makes it more convenent than say Denver’s new airport which is quite a ride out to the country. Phoenix is similar to LA in this respect.
Part of it is a chicken and egg thing. Phoenix grew a little faster than other southwestern cities after WWII and that growth made it more suitable for additional growth.
Well having lived there for several years of my life, and just recently came back to New England from a year there…I’ll say a few words. First of all If you mean Phoenix, a.k.a. East L.A. yes it is extremely huge. Some reasons for the major growth, is that it is becoming the next silicon valley. Google just moved there and there are countless Big businesses there including Motorola, Intel, Micro-chip, Honeywell, etc…etc… And with big growth comes big opportunity. The demographic in Phoenix last time I checked had a median age of 35 and with the urban sprawl, and great climate most of the year, it is a great place to live therefore a huge draw for yuppies ERR, I mean those young people who want to make some good money and have a great house, 2 cars, and a camelbak. Albeit not for my wife and I - we missed the ocean and change of seasons so we’re back in CT.
I blame my sister. She and her husband moved out there back in the late '60s from Ohio.
So the growth has been happening at various rates since the 1970s. Becoming the next Silicon Valley is just the latest way to attract more companies and more people.
And, yes, it’s flat and land is cheaper than in California, so development has been able to spread in all directions. As my brother-in-law would remind me frequently, you can drive a few hours in one direction and find snow-covered mountains, and a few hours in the other and hit the beach.
I’ll try to look this up some more later, but part of the answer of city size lies in the laws for expansion of city borders. Cities in the west and southwest, unlike NE and midwest, tend to be more “elastic” in that they can more readily append growth to themselves. Thus, the real focus should be on metropolitan statistical area and not political jurisdiction, to determine why an “urban region” if you will, has grown so much.
Albuquerque - has four actual seasons, which might have been a turn-off to retirees looking to completely escape the snow. It’s also quite far from Southern California and other major urban centers; the closest is Denver, which is about a 10 hour drive away.
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El Paso** - almost nonexistent urban planning and zoning, very hard on the eyes, and too industrial, much like the cold Northeastern cities many retirees were leaving. The very dominant Hispanic population, and presence of poverty-stricken informal settlements on the US side of the border, may have made prospective residents uncomfortable. El Paso functions and feels like a lower middle class suburb of Juarez.
Las Vegas - until about 20 years ago, the economy was centered almost entirely on gambling, making it difficult for skilled professionals in many fields to find a job. Las Vegas is also completely surrounded by BLM-owned land, forming an unofficial urban growth boundary.
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Tucson** - similar climate, but farther away from Southern California than Phoenix.
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Flagstaff** - again, four seasons, a turnoff to oldsters that don’t want to shovel any more.
Reno - see Flagstaff.
Douglas - a smaller version of El Paso, without the heavy industry and truck stops.
Las Cruces - where? Nonexistent mindshare until recently.
Alamogordo - huh? A smaller version of El Paso, with a proportionately larger military presence.
Santa Fe - even more out-of-the-way than Albuquerque, and a colder climate.
Another advantage of Phoenix - and one that is contributing to growth in Las Cruces at a rate far outstripping its close neighbor El Paso – is water. Phoenix has a lot more of it than Tucson, or any other city in Arizona.
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The relatively cheap cost of building was a big factor. Starting in the late 50’s, people like Del Webb put up thousands of, slab built, block houses. Many midwesterners were drawn to Phoenix by the climate and the building boom. Electronics cos. also provided employment, although the wages in the area have always been low.
I don’t see how Phoenix can sustain itself in the long run, primarily because of water.
Two kinds of “larger,” area and population. A couple of years ago, Phoenix City annexed a shopping center up the I-17, and then became larger than Los Angeles City in area, with about 460 square miles, IIRC.
Unfortunately, the population is growing by leaps and bounds too. Climate (now still in the 70s F.), lots of high-tech and construction jobs, good entertainment, snazzy resorts, sports teams, beautiful country, 80 gazillion shopping centers, and another 80 gazillion housing developers.
