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Renting an Apartment in Phoenix
What You Should Know
Phoenix is the state capital of Arizona, and was incorporated as a city on
February 25, 1881. Phoenix is located in central Arizona in the southwestern
United States, 118 miles (188 km) northwest of Tucson. It is Arizona's largest
city and largest metropolitan area by population. It is also the county seat of
Maricopa County and the principal city of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Phoenix
is appropriately called Hoozdo, or "the place is hot", in the Navajo language
and Fiinigis in the Western Apache language.
In mid-2004, Phoenix was the sixth-largest city in the United States according
to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest estimates. However, according to unofficial
projections Phoenix surpassed Philadelphia in late 2005, moving into the top
five cities in the U.S. The 2000 U.S. Census reported the Phoenix Metropolitan
Statistical Area (MSA) as the fourteenth-largest in the U.S., with a population
of 3,251,876. The city's MSA grew to an estimated 3,790,000 by 2004. Between
1990 and 2000, the metropolitan area grew by 34 percent, making it the eighth
fastest-growing metropolitan area in the U.S.
Phoenix is the largest capital city by population; meaning that of all U.S.
capital cities (all 50 state capitals & the national capital Washington, D.C.),
it's the largest. It is also the third-largest capital city by area in the U.S.
(behind Juneau, Alaska and Oklahoma City).
The Chicago Metropolitan area is also becoming a major center for
Indian-Americans and South Asians. Chicago has the third largest South Asian
population in the country, after New York City and San Francisco. The Devon
Avenue corridor on Chicago's north side is an example of this, as it is one of
the largest South Asian neighborhoods in North America.
There are 1,061,928 households, of which 28.9% have children under the age of 18
living with them, 35.1% were married couples living together, 18.9% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 40.4% were non-families. Of all
households, 32.6% are made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone
who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the
average family size was 3.50.
Of the city population, 26.2% are under the age of 18, 11.2% are from 18 to 24,
33.4% are from 25 to 44, 18.9% are from 45 to 64, and 10.3% are 65 years of age
or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there were 94.2
males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $38,625, and the median income
for a family was $42,724. Males had a median income of $35,907 versus $30,536
for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,175. Below the poverty
line are 19.6% of the population and 16.6% of the families. Of the total
population, 28.1% of those under the age of 18 and 15.5% of those 65 and older
are living below the poverty line.
Downtown Phoenix
Phoenix's downtown area is called Copper Square, although most locals still call
it Downtown. Incorporating the themes of Phoenix's early history with culture
and local events, Copper Square is the name for the one square mile area
surrounding Central Avenue and Jefferson. This is a slowly growing hotspot for
activities and action. Downtown attractions include the Arizona Science Center,
Phoenix Museum of History and the Phoenix Art Museum. Also downtown is the
Burton Barr Central Library. Downtown Phoenix currently features about
twenty-five mid-rise and high-rise buildings ranging up to 39 stories tall. Only
two skyscrapers reach over 400 feet tall (122 m), the last of which was
constructed in the 1970s. Unique among large American cities, downtown Phoenix
is rather small and short due to four important factors:
1. There is very little historical housing stock precisely because Phoenix was
so small—only 106,000 people in 1950. In addition, much of what little there was
largely destroyed in the "urban renewal" movements of the 1960s and 1970s, for
example, no equivalent of San Diego's Gaslamp District exists anywhere in
Phoenix today. Thus, few historical structures remain, and today some of
downtown Phoenix is pockmarked with vacant, dusty lots and unremarkable,
under-utilized, one-story buildings. For comparison, in 1950, San Diego was more
than three times as large as Phoenix. Dallas was more than four times as large,
and Houston was almost six times larger. Even Kansas City, Missouri was over
four times as large as Phoenix in 1950. Today, Phoenix has three times the
population of Kansas City, but Phoenix's skyline has not kept pace.
2. Much of Phoenix's growth during the 1950s and 1960s was low density suburban
sprawl, like that of most other American cities. The difference is that Phoenix
had no real core of taller buildings. Zoning at the time largely favored mass
subdivisions of inexpensive cement block homes at the edge of the ever-expanding
city. Land was cheaper and there were few neighbors and little red tape. As a
result, developers gravitated to the edges of the metropolitan area. This still
continues today. Zoning favors large setbacks and ample parking requirements,
with the result that parking in downtown Phoenix remains relatively easy and
inexpensive. Wide streets and narrow sidewalks form the predominant nature of
Phoenix's urban environment today.
3. Phoenix was an isolated small outpost far from the centers of power.
Phoenix's tallest building from 1929 to 1961 was the Westward Ho, a 17-story
hotel that is now a retirement home for seniors. In 1970, Phoenix's entire
metropolitan population was less than one million, and was considered largely a
retirement and tourist haven. At the same time, Dallas had well over two million
residents and Los Angeles had seven million. Thus, much of the
skyscraper-building frenzy that marked the downtowns of sunbelt cities like
Dallas, Houston and Atlanta never occurred in Phoenix. Phoenix was considered
too small and too remote to attract much significant commercial high-rise
development during the 1960s and 1970s. It is also possible that the growing
leviathans of Los Angeles (and to a lesser degree, Denver, Houston and Dallas)
siphoned off some of the high-rise development that might have otherwise
occurred in Phoenix. All of these cities were much larger than Phoenix and were
seen as being much more progressive at the time.
4. Phoenix was anti-urban and still is, to some degree. A comprehensive freeway
plan was resisted until 1985. At that time Phoenix was the largest metropolitan
area (with almost two million residents) in the United States without a
completed freeway or beltway system encircling and crossing the city, which
created busy arterial streets. Sightlines and mountain views are important to
residents. Many still oppose high-rises because views of the mountains are
considered sacred, as evidenced by the recent rejection in 2005 of Donald
Trump's 15-story high-rise project in the Biltmore area. Many people that came
to Phoenix in the latter half of the 20th Century did so to escape "big city
problems," so there is a natural tendency in Arizona to keep things small. As a
result, much of the office space in Phoenix is located in low profile newer
office parks in outlying areas of the city, and not in downtown high-rises like
in other cities.
Copper Square, despite these shortcomings, has undergone a renaissance since the
building of the US Airways Center (formerly America West Arena) in 1992 and
Chase Field (formerly Bank One Ballpark) in 1998. Several new skyscrapers are
under construction as of March, 2006, with many more planned that will
dramatically transform the skyline. These include:
* Under Construction:
o 44 Monroe, a 34-story residential condo tower;
o Phoenix Convention Center Hotel, a 31-story hotel;
o Summit at Copper Square, a 22-story residential condo tower
* Approved:
o W Hotel, a 39-story hotel and condo tower, breaking ground in summer, 2006;
o Cosmopolitan Lofts, a 17-story residential condo tower;
o RO3 (Phase III), a 16-story residential condo tower;
* Proposed:
o Cityscape, four 30 to 40-story mixed-use towers;
o Central Park East, a 40-story mixed-use project;
o Park Place, Phase II, a 38-story mixed-use project;
For a list of other buildings in Phoenix, go to Emporis Phoenix.
There are a large number of high-rise proposals, some of which will likely not
be built, due to the considerable amount of speculation occurring in Phoenix.
Issues include skyrocketing land costs and ever-increasing construction costs,
due to the shortage of concrete, steel and other construction materials. Other
proposals not listed above include a third phase of Arizona Center, several
"warehouse district" residential high-rises near the stadiums, several office
projects and various other residential projects ranging from five to thirty
stories in height.
A newly expanded convention center is under construction now, which will triple
the amount of available space to nearly one million square feet. The name of the
center was recently changed to the Phoenix Convention Center from Phoenix Civic
Plaza, to reflect this $600 million investment.
A $1.2 billion light rail system called "The Metro" is also under construction.
When the initial 20-mile (32 km) segment is completed in 2008, it will improve
connections to downtown areas of Glendale, Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa. A downtown
extension for Arizona State University is opening in fall 2006, with about 3,000
students. A much larger campus is planned, with up to 15,000 students by 2015.
Some coffeehouses, restaurants, nightclubs and shopping in the area continue to
draw people downtown for the slowly growing nightlife scene. Much more
development is expected once the light rail line and downtown ASU are open.
Geography
Phoenix is located at 33°31'42" North, 112°4'35" West (33.528370°,
-112.076300°)GR1 in the Phoenix Valley or "Valley of the Sun" in central
Arizona. It lies at a mean elevation of 1,117 feet (340 m) in the heart of the
Sonoran Desert.
The Salt River course runs westward through the city of Phoenix; the riverbed is
normally dry except when excess runoff forces the release of water from the four
dams upriver. The city of Tempe has built two inflatable dams in the Salt River
bed to create a year-round recreational lake, called Tempe Town Lake. The dams
are deflated to allow the river to flow unimpeded during releases.
The Phoenix area is surrounded by the McDowell Mountains to the northeast, the
White Tank Mountains to the west, the Superstition Mountains far to the east,
and the Sierra Estrella to the southwest. Within the city are the Phoenix
Mountains and South Mountains. Current development (as of 2005) is pushing
rapidly beyond the geographic boundaries to the north and west, south through
Pinal County towards Tucson, and beginning to surround the large Salt River and
Gila River reservations.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 475.1
square miles (1,230.5 km²)—474.9 square miles (1,229.9 km²) of it is land and
0.2 square miles (0.6 km²) of it is water. The total area is 0.05% water.
The Phoenix Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) (officially known as the
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale MSA), is the 14th largest in the United States, with a
total population of 3,251,876 at the 2000 U.S. Census. It includes the Arizona
counties of Maricopa and Pinal. Major cities include Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale,
Glendale, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, and Peoria. Several smaller communities are
also included, such as Queen Creek, Goodyear, Fountain Hills, Litchfield Park,
Anthem, Sun Lakes, Sun City, Sun City West, Surprise and Tolleson. The community
of Ahwatukee is a part of the City of Phoenix itself, but is almost entirely
separated from it by South Mountain.
Climate
Phoenix's arid climate is characterized by some of the hottest seasonal
temperatures anywhere. In fact, out of the world's large cities, only Riyadh and
Baghdad have higher average summer temperatures. The temperature reaches or
exceeds 100 °F (38 °C) on an average of 89 days during the year, including most
days from early June through early September. On June 26, 1990, the temperature
reached an all-time high of 122 °F (50 °C). The dry Arizona air makes the hot
temperatures more tolerable early in the season; however, the influx of
monsoonal moisture has been known to make August in Phoenix almost as humid as
summers in the Southeastern United States. On the other hand, mild, sunny
weather in the winter months makes the area a mecca for golfers and others
seeking to escape the cold typical of the northern U.S.
Phoenix sees some 300 sunny days per year and scant rainfall, the average annual
total at Sky Harbor International Airport being 8.4 inches (210 mm). March is
the wettest month of the year (1.07 inches or 27 mm). Rain is particularly
scarce from April through June. Although thunderstorms occur on occasion during
every month of the year, they are most common during the monsoon season from
July to mid-September as humid air surges in from the Gulf of California. These
can bring strong winds, large hail, or tornadoes. Winter storms moving inland
from the Pacific Ocean occasionally produce significant rains but occur
infrequently. Fog is observed from time to time during the winter months.
At the airport, the mean date of first frost is December 12 and the last is
February 7; however, these dates do not represent the city as a whole because
the frequency of freezes varies considerably among terrain types and elevations.
Some areas of Phoenix may see frost for a month or more before and after the
airport readings. The earliest frost on record occurred on November 3, 1946, and
the latest occurred on April 4, 1945. Successive winters without any frosts at
the airport have been recorded, and the longest period without a freeze
stretched from November 23, 1979 to January 31, 1985. The all-time lowest
temperature in Phoenix was recorded at 16 °F (-8.8 °C) on January 7, 1913.
Snow is extremely rare in the area, though still can occur from time to time.
Snowfall was first officially recorded in 1896, and since then accumulations of
0.1 inches (0.25 cm) or greater have occurred only seven times. The heaviest
snowstorm on record dates to January 20-21, 1937, when 1 to 4 inches fell (2 to
10 cm) in parts of the city and did not melt entirely for four days. Prior to
that, 1 inch (2.5 cm) had fallen on January 20, 1933. On February 2, 1935, 0.5
inches (1 cm) fell. Most recently, 0.4 inches (1 cm) fell on December 21-22,
1990. Snow also fell on March 12, 1917 November 28, 1919, and December 11, 1985.
Colleges and Universities
Public education in the Phoenix area is provided by over 30 school
districts.[5] The Phoenix Union High School District operates most of the public
high schools in the city of Phoenix.
The main institution of higher education in the area is Arizona State
University, with its main campus located in Tempe, and satellite campuses in
Phoenix and Mesa. ASU is currently one of the largest public universities in the
U.S., with a 2004 student enrollment of 57,543.
The University of Phoenix is also headquartered in Phoenix. This is the nation's
largest private, for-profit university with over 130,000 students at campuses
throughout the United States (including Puerto Rico), Canada, Mexico, and the
Netherlands.
There are also ten community colleges and two skills centers throughout Maricopa
County, providing adult education and job training.