Arizona Selected Geographical Facts

Arizona State Flag

The 13 rays of red and gold on the top half of the flag represent both the 13 original colonies of the Union, and the rays of the Western setting sun.

Red and gold were also the colors carried by Coronado's Spanish expedition in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola in 1540. The bottom half of the flag has the same Liberty blue as the United States flag.

Since Arizona was the largest producer of copper in the nation, a copper star was placed in the flag's center. Flag was adopted 1917.

Arizona was the last of the contiguous 48 states to enter the United States of America. The date of admission was February 14, 1912

Arizona is the 6th largest state with 113,628 square miles

Arizona is the 18th most populous state with 5,944,351 persons

Arizona is approximately 400 miles long and 310 miles wide

Arizona is the largest US landlocked state by population

The Mean elevation of Arizona is 4,100 feet above sea level

The Highest elevation is Humphreys Peak,
8 miles North of Flagstaff at 12,643 feet

The lowest elevation is the Colorado River in the
SW corner of the state below Parker Dam at 70 feet

The elevation of Phoenix is approximately 1,050 feet

The Hopi, direct descendants of the San Juan Anasazi,
have occupied their lands in NE Arizona since 6,000 BC.

Oraibi, located 90 miles NE of Flagstaff, has been continuously occupied since 500 AD making it the oldest documented settlement in the United States.

Average annual rainfall exceeds 30" in the mountain areas to less than 7" in the Western deserts

Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 105.0 degrees to a low of 38.1 degrees

The highest temperature recorded in Arizona is 128F recorded on June 29, 1994 at Lake Havasu

The lowest temperature recorded in Arizona is -40F recorded on January 7, 1971 at Hawley Lake.

Arizona Highway Map

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Arizona Counties

Arizona contains 15 counties with North Central Coconino
being the largest at 18,608 square miles
and South Central Santa Cruz
at 1,238 square miles being the smallest.

Coconino with 18,617 square miles is the largest county in Arizona and the 2nd largest county in the U.S.A.
(The largest county is San Bernardino in SE California
with 20,160 square miles)

Maricopa county, home of Phoenix, and Arizona's 6th largest county is nonetheless larger than the following states:

Rhode Island - 1,096
Delaware - 1,955
Connecticut - 4,845
Hawaii - 6,423
New Jersey - 7,468
Massachusetts - 7,826
New Hampshire - 8,995

Maricopa County - 9,226

Vermont - 9,267
Maryland - 9,836

Arizona Native American Tribal Lands

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No U.S. state has more land set aside for Native American tribes than the state of Arizona. The state has 21 individual reservations, established as early as 1859 (the Gila River Indian Community created for the Pima and Maricopa tribes) to as late as 1984 (the Zuni Heaven Reservation, created for the Zuni tribe).

All told, over a quarter of the land in the state, 27.1 percent, is federally protected reservation land, with several of the numerous reservations overlapping slightly into the neighboring states of California, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico.

Not only does Arizona have the most reserved land, but it also contains the largest single reservation in the United States, the Navajo Nation reserve. The reserve, established in 1868 and found in the northeast corner of the state and extending slightly into New Mexico and Utah, covers 27,413 square miles and has a population of 173,667 people.

Arizona Counties and Population *
COUNTY	SQ MILES	POPULATION	SEAT	POPULATION
Apache	11,204	71,474	St. Johns	3,483
Cochise	6,169	126,427	Bisbee	5,208
Coconino	18,617	139,097	Flagstaff	70,320
Gila	4,767	53,159	Globe	7,396
Graham	4,629	37,666	Safford	9,683
Greenlee	1,847	9,529	Clifton	3,685
La Paz	4,499	20,152	Parker	3,046
Maricopa	9,203	4,167,947	Phoenix	1,563,025
Mohave	13,311	204,737	Kingman	28,912
Navajo	9,953	108,277	Holbrook	5,019
Pima	9,168	1,010,025	Tucson	531,641
Pinal	5,369	406,584	Florence	31,110
Santa Cruz	1,237	46,461	Nogales	20,252
Yavapai	8,123	222,255	Prescott	41,899
Yuma	5,514	204,275	Yuma	94,139
	113,628	6,828,065

Arizona Cities and Phoenix Metropolitan Area

LARGEST CITY	RANK	POPULATION	PHOENIX METROPOLITAN AREA
			CITY	RANK	POPULATION
Phoenix	1	1,563,025	Phoenix	1	1,563,025
Tucson	2	531,641	Mesa	2	471,825
Mesa	3	471,825	Chandler	3	260,828
Chandler	4	260,828	Gilbert	4	247,542
Gilbert	5	247,542	Glendale	5	240,126
Glendale	6	240,126	Scottsdale	6	236,839
Scottsdale	7	236,839	Tempe	7	175,826
Tempe	8	175,826	Peoria	8	171,237
Peoria	9	171,237	Surprise	9	128,422
Surprise	10	128,422	Avondale	10	80,684
Yuma	11	94,139	Goodyear	11	79,003
San Tan Valley	12	87,923	Buckeye	12	62,138
Avondale	13	80,684	Sun City	13	39,111
Goodyear	14	79,003	Apache Junction	14	38,074
Flagstaff	15	70,320	Queen Creek	15	34,614
Casas Adobes	16	68,862	El Mirage	16	33,935
Buckeye	17	62,138	Sun CityWest	17	24,338
Lake Havasu City	18	53,553	Fountain Hills	18	23,899
Casa Grande	19	51,460	Paradise Valley	19	13,922
Catalina Foothills	20	50,940	Gold Canyon	20	9,597
Maricopa	21	48,602	Tolleson	21	7,008
Oro Valley	22	43,565	Youngtown	22	6,613
Sierra Vista	23	43,355	Guadalupe	23	6,177
Prescott Valley	24	42,197	Litchfield Park	24	5,533
Prescott	25	41,899	Cave Creek	25	5,341
Marana	26	41,315	Carefree	26	3,610
Bullhead City	27	39,445
Sun City	28	39,111
Apache Junction	29	38,074
Queen Creek	30	34,614
					3,974,282
Data for this page were taken from United States Census Bureau Data for this page were taken from Arizona Demographics Data for this page were taken from 50 States * Population Estimates were provided by US Census Bureau for the year 2016

Pictures of Arizona (Click on image for larger view)
Monument Valley	Monument Valley
North Rim Grand Canyon	Ponderosa Pine Forest
https://www.davidstuff.com/geo/arizona.htm Paria Canyon Arizona	Paria Canyon Arizona
Phoenix Arizona	Central Avenue Phoenix
Horseshoe Bend Arizona	Canyon de Chelly Whitehouse
Glen Canyon Lake Powell	Hoover Dam