AZ · Pima County · 542,629 (2020) · 33rd-largest US city · Mountain time (no DST)
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson lies in a Sonoran Desert basin in southern Arizona, ringed by five mountain ranges and 60 miles from the Mexican border. It is the second-largest city in Arizona and the thirty-third in the United States.
- State
- Arizona
- County
- Pima County
- Population (2020)
- 542,629
- Rank
- 33rd in the US
- Coordinates
- 32.22°N, 110.97°W
- Time zone
- Mountain
- Metro area
- about 1.0 million
- State capital
- No – Phoenix
Where Tucson is
Tucson is at 32.22°N, 110.97°W in Pima County, of which it is the county seat. The city covers about 240 square miles of the Tucson Basin at roughly 2,400 feet above sea level, higher and slightly cooler than Phoenix. Mountains stand on every side: the Santa Catalinas (Mount Lemmon, 9,157 ft) to the north, the Rincons to the east, the Santa Ritas to the south and the Tucson Mountains to the west. Phoenix, the state capital, is 115 miles northwest on Interstate 10; the border crossing at Nogales is 65 miles south, and El Paso 320 miles east.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 542,629 residents, ranking Tucson 33rd in the US and second in Arizona after Phoenix, though Mesa, a Phoenix suburb, is only about 38,000 behind. The Tucson metropolitan area is the same as Pima County and has about 1.0 million people, the second-largest metro in the state. Tucson is older than Phoenix — founded as a Spanish presidio in 1775 — and was the larger city until about 1920. About half of the metro population lives in the city itself; the rest is in Marana, Oro Valley and unincorporated county areas.
Geography
- Sonoran Desert — Tucson sits in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, the only place where the saguaro cactus grows; Saguaro National Park flanks the city east and west.
- Santa Cruz River — flows north along the west side of downtown, dry except after storms, and continues to the Gila River; groundwater pumping dried it in the 20th century.
- Sky islands — the surrounding ranges rise high enough to carry pine forest and even a ski area on Mount Lemmon, 30 road miles from the desert floor.
- Monsoon — summer thunderstorms from July to September bring about half of the city's 12 inches of annual rain.
Nearest large cities
Phoenix is under two hours away; the other nearby cities are in New Mexico, California and Nevada. Distances are approximate road miles from downtown.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenix | AZ | 115 | NW |
| Mesa | AZ | 110 | NW |
| El Paso | TX | 320 | E |
| San Diego | CA | 410 | W |
| Albuquerque | NM | 450 | NE |
Is Tucson the state capital?
No — but it was. Tucson was the capital of Arizona Territory from 1867 to 1877, between two periods at Prescott, before the legislature settled on Phoenix in 1889. Tucson is the seat of Pima County and the second-largest city in the state. Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, so Tucson is on Mountain Standard Time all year, matching Pacific time in summer.
Related maps
- Arizona map — the state with its 15 counties.
- Phoenix — the state capital; Tucson was the territorial capital.
- US cities map.
- Sonoran Desert and US deserts maps.
- Nearby: Phoenix, Mesa, El Paso.
- Southwest region · Mountain Time Zone (no daylight saving in Arizona).