Key Points: 

• Arizona added nearly 100,000 residents in past year

• Mesa closing in on Tucson as second largest city

• Some freeway projects prompted by population growth

It probably comes as no surprise, but once again the fastest-growing communities in Arizona are on the far outskirts of the state’s two major metropolitan areas.

Yes, it is true that of the more than 97,000 people who decided to make Arizona their home in the year ending July 1, nearly one in eight landed in Phoenix.

That brought the city’s population to over 1.7 million according to new estimates by the Arizona Commerce Authority.

But it represented a year-over-year growth rate of less than 0.7% — much slower than the 1.3% average for the entire state.

By contrast, the 3,291 people moving into Apache Junction approached an 8% annual increase. And that was trailed — but only slightly — by Queen Creek at close to 7.7%.

At the other extreme of the Phoenix area, Maricopa grew by nearly 6.7%.

Some other Pinal County communities also beat the state’s growth rate, including Coolidge at 5.7%, Casa Grande at 5.3%, Florence up nearly 3.7% and Eloy growing by 2.8%

Also at the top of the growth chart are communities west of Phoenix, with Buckeye at 5.3%, Goodyear at 5.0%, and Surprise and Avondale at 4.2% and 4.0%, respectively.

In fact, both areas are growing so fast that state lawmakers have set aside millions of dollars to alleviate existing and potential future traffic jams for daily commuters.

That includes widening stretches of Interstate 10 that serve both areas, one north of Casa Grande and the other adding more lanes to the freeway going out to Buckeye. And an entirely new freeway — State Route 30 — is being planned parallel to I-10 to serve Buckeye, Goodyear and Avondale.

And what of the rest of the state?

It isn’t until you look at Marana that you see growth in southern Arizona, with nearly 4,000 new residents boosting the town by 6.3%. Sahaurita was further behind at 1.9%, though still besting the statewide average.

So where else has been growing in the past year?

The border community of San Luis added more than 2,000 people, enough to boost its population by 5.1%.

Prescott Valley, which years ago overtook Prescott, continued to grow its lead, boosting its population by another 2.2%, compared to less than 0.7% for Prescott.

Leading on the losing end were places like Bisbee, which saw its population shrink by 1.5%. Also at the top — or bottom, if you will — of the list of communities with negative numbers are Winslow, Springerville, Jerome, St. Johns, Page, Fredonia and Miami.

Beyond Phoenix among large cities, Tucson maintained its spot as the second largest, adding 682 people over the past year to bring its population to 557,901.

But Mesa is moving to catch up, with 4,499 new residents. That puts its population within 29,000 of Tucson.

Gilbert, which a decade ago was among the hottest growth cities, remains the fourth largest community in the state at 294,689 residents, though its growth rate has slowed to 0.9%. Chandler is not far behind at 288,299 residents, with its population increase also lagging the state rate at 0.7%.

And Scottsdale’s own growth is down to 0.4%, with the community now at 251,000.

Glendale, however, outpaced the state’s 1.3% growth rate, clocking in at 1.8% and boosting its population to more than 265,000. So did Peoria at 1.5%, now with 206,000 residents, and even land-locked Tempe, with 196,000 residents, after posting a 1.4% year-over-year increase.

Among the other communities outpacing the state’s 1.3% growth rate are Colorado City, Wickenburg, Snowflake, Thatcher, Douglas, Pima and Bullhead City.

City / July 1, 2025 population / Annual growth rate

Apache Junction / 44,934 / 8.0%

Avondale / 100,686 / 4.0%

Benson / 5,589 / 1.0%

Bisbee / 4,959 / (-1.5%)

Buckeye / 119,317 / 5.3%

Bullhead City / 44,277 / 1.6%

Camp Verde / 12,465 / 0.6%

Carefree / 3,752 / 0.4%

Casa Grande / 69,405 / 5.3%

Cave Creek / 5,324 / 1.2%

Chandler / 288,299 / 0.7%

Chino Valley / 13,890 / (-0.2%)

Clarkdale / 4,941 / (-0.5%)

Clifton / 3,901 / (-0.6%)

Colorado City / 3,512 / 5.0%

Coolidge / 20,027 / 5.7%

Cottonwood / 12,796 / 1.0%

Dewey-Humbolt / 4,613 / 0.6%

Douglas / 16,347 / 1.8%

Duncan / 701 / 1.3%

Eagar / 4,584 / <0.1%

El Mirage / 37,017 / 0.2%

Eloy / 19,531 / 2.8%

Flagstaff / 79,796 / (-1.5%)

Florence / 26,065 / 3.7%

Fountain Hills / 24,483 / 1.3%

Fredonia / 1,328 / (-1.0%)

Gila Bend / 1,898 / 0.2%

Gilbert / 294,689 / 0.9%

Glendale / 265,599 / 1.8%

Globe / 7,212 / 0.7%

Goodyear / 122,569 / 5.0%

Guadalupe / 5,327 / 0%

Hayden / 505 / (-0.8%)

Holbook / 4,935 / 0.7%

Huachuca City / 1,616 / (-0.7%)

Jerome / 454 / (-1.1%)

Kearny / 1,756 / <0.1%)

Kingman / 36,080 / 1.2%

Lake Havasu City / 59,752 / 0.4%

Litchfield Park / 7,018 / <0.1%

Mammoth / 1,078 / 0

Marana / 66,735 / 6.3%

Maricopa / 78,194 / 6.7%

Mesa / 529,391 / 0.9%

Miami / 1,517 / (-0.8%)

Nogales / 19,994 (-<0.1%)

Oro Valley / 48,967 / (-0.4%)

Page / 7,404 / (1.0%)

Paradise Valley / 12,774 / (-<0.1%)

Parker / 3,508 / 0.6%

Patagonia / 796 / (-0.5%)

Payson / 16,723 / (-0.1%)

Peoria / 206,063 / 1.5%

Phoenix / 1,709,489 / 0.7%

Pima / 3,196 / 1.8%

Pinetop-Lakeside / 4,189 / 0.2%

Prescott / 48,403 / 0.7%

Prescott Valley / 52,682 / 2.2%

Quartzsite / 2,468 / 0.9%

Queen Creek / 88,050 / 7.7%

Safford / 10,329 / 0.7%

Sahaurita / 38,421 / 1.9%

St. Johns / 3,395 / (-1.1%)

San Luis / 41,409 / 5.1%

Scottsdale / 251,000 / 0.4%

Sedona / 9,735 / (-0.4%)

Show Low / 12,647 / 0.9%

Somerton / 14,793 / 0.3%

South Tucson / 4,535 / (-0.7%)

Springerville / 1,711 / (-1.1%)

Star Valley / 2,545 / (-0.1%)

Superior / 2,470 / 0

Surprise / 172,943 / 4.2%

Taylor / 4,468 / 0.6%

Tempe / 196,001 / 1.3%

Thatcher / 5,700 / 2.0%

Tolleson / 8,689 / 0.7%

Tombstone / 1,408 / 0.1%

Tucson / 557,901 / 0.1%

Tusayan / 594 / (-0.8%)

Wellton. 2,653 / 1.0%

Wickenburg / 8,647 / 2.3%

Willcox / 3,255 / (-0.5%)

Winkelman / 290 / (-0.7%)

Winslow / 8658 / (-1.2%)

Youngtown / 7,233 / 1.0%

Yuma / 104,263 / 1.5%

Statewide / 7,718,747 / 1.3%

Source: Arizona Commerce Authority