Maricopa County, AZ
By Michael Liddy on September 13th, 2008
Maricopa County - is located in the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of July 2007, its population was 3,880,181, which ranks fourth among the nation’s counties and is greater than the population of 24 states.[1] The county seat is Phoenix,[2] which is Arizona’s largest city and capital. The center of population of Arizona is located in Maricopa County, in the town of Gilbert.[3] It is by far Arizona’s most populous county, encompassing well more than half of the state’s residents.The population explosion is evident in a 2007 Forbes study which ranked four of Maricopa County’s municipalities in the top ten fastest-growing cities in the nation. Those included Buckeye as the 2nd-fastest-growing city, Surprise and Goodyear as 3rd and 4th, respectively, and Avondale as 9th.[4] All four of these cities are located in the booming “West Valley” which is the area of Maricopa County to the west of the City of Phoenix.
There are 12 Indian reservations located in the county. The largest of these are the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (East of Scottsdale) and the Gila River Indian Community (South of Phoenix), both of which have casino gambling.
Cities
Apache Junction (most of Apache Junction is in Pinal County)
Avondale
Chandler
El Mirage
Glendale
Goodyear
Litchfield Park
Mesa
Peoria (part of Peoria is in Yavapai County)
Phoenix
Scottsdale
Surprise
Tempe
Tolleson
Towns
Buckeye
Carefree
Cave Creek
Fountain Hills
Gila Bend
Gilbert
Guadalupe
Paradise Valley
Queen Creek (part of Queen Creek is in Pinal County)
Wickenburg
Youngtown(1)
[edit] Census-designated places
New River
Rio Verde
Sun City
Sun City West
Sun Lakes
Other communities
Aguila
Anthem
Arlington
Circle City
Higley
Komatke
Laveen
Liberty
Mobile
Morristown
Palo Verde
Tonopah
Tortilla Flat
Waddell
Wintersburg
Wittmann
Check out a 1871 historical description of Maricopa County here: http://www.arizonagenealogy.com/maricopa/
Footnotes: