Phoenix: young and growing with good times ahead

In case you haven’t heard, Arizona’s economy is in a solid rebound. Home prices are indisputably on the rise, apartment leases are being hiked, fewer homes are being foreclosed upon, and unemployment is slowly inching downward. Housing market know-it-all Zillow has reported that Phoenix was the fastest market to improve home values from December 2011 to December 2012, at an astonishing 22.5%. This increase leaves everyone else in the dust with the national average at just 5.9%. All of this great news sparked my curiosity; what kind of market is Phoenix anyway? What sets us apart?

I checked the most recent, frighteningly detailed 2010 U.S. Census Bureau report for more information. As it turns out, Phoenix saw the second most population change by percentage in the entire nation in the decade from 2000 to 2010! Not only that, but Pinal County was also the second fastest growing county in the nation! We also saw a massive jump in population for the overall State of Arizona by 24.6% since 2000.  As of 2010, there were 6,392,017 Arizonians bustling around this desert landscape, ranking us 6^th in the United States. Holy cow!

There are likely few other nerds like myself salivating at all of this statistical information, I thought I’d wrap this up in a nice little bow. As of 2010:

• Median Age in Arizona: 35.9
• Median Household Income in Arizona: $48,745.
• The number of men in comparison to the number of women in Arizona is nearly equal.
• Surprise was the second fastest growing city in the U.S.
• Goodyear came in as the fourth fastest growing city in the U.S.

One last bit of information that proves contrary to our “snowbird”, or retirement identity, there are vastly more young people in Arizona. The percentage of residents in the Phoenix-metro area under the age of 18 is 26.4%. The number of residents in the same area who are over the age of 65 represent just 12.3%.

All-in-all, we are a young city and we are growing, even in the face of tougher times.