Phoenix, Arizona

Where Phoenix is

Phoenix is the seat of Maricopa County, at 33.45°N, 112.07°W in the Salt River valley of south-central Arizona. The valley floor is about 1,090 ft above sea level and lies within the Sonoran Desert. The Salt River runs through the south side of the city but is dry for most of the year, its water diverted upstream by the Roosevelt Dam and a canal system that began with prehistoric Hohokam ditches. Camelback Mountain, South Mountain and the Phoenix Mountains break up the grid of streets. Tucson is about 115 miles southeast down Interstate 10.

How it became the capital

Arizona Territory was organized in 1863 with Prescott as its capital. The legislature moved to Tucson in 1867, back to Prescott in 1877, and finally to Phoenix in 1889, by which time the farming town founded in 1867 had a railroad connection and sat midway between the older rivals. Phoenix remained the capital at statehood on February 14, 1912, when Arizona became the 48th state.

Population

Phoenix has grown from about 107,000 people in 1950 to 1,608,139 in 2020, passing Philadelphia to become the fifth-largest city in the United States. It is also, by a wide margin, the largest state capital: the next largest, Austin, has under a million residents. The Phoenix metropolitan area, which takes in Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Glendale, Tempe and the rest of Maricopa and Pinal counties, has about 4.85 million people, roughly two-thirds of Arizona's total of 7,151,502.

The capitol

The Arizona State Capitol at 1700 West Washington Street was completed in 1901, before statehood, to a design by Texas architect James Riely Gordon. It is built of local tuff and granite and topped by a copper dome with a wind vane of the goddess Victory. The legislature moved into new House and Senate buildings on either side in 1960, and the original capitol is now a museum. Arizona keeps Mountain Standard Time all year, so in summer Phoenix clocks match Los Angeles rather than Denver.

Distances to other cities

Related maps

• Arizona map — the whole state with borders, cities and counties.
• Phoenix city map — the city page with nearby cities and distances.
• Arizona county map · blank Arizona map · printable Arizona map.
• All 50 state capitals on one map, and the state capitals quiz.
• West region · Mountain division · Mountain Time Zone.