Newcomers are curious as to what exactly comprises the Valley of the Sun. It is Maricopa County.

More than half of the state's population resides in Maricopa County, which includes the cities of Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Chandler, Peoria, Gilber and Buckeye. In other words, the communities surrounding Phoenix.

The Phoenix metropolitan area is the state's major center of political and economic activity.

Today Maricopa County measures 9,222 square miles, 98 square miles of which is water.

The population of the Phoenix metropolitan area increased by 45% from 1990 through 2000, compared to the average United States rate of only 15%, helping to make Arizona the second fastest growing state in the nation in the last 5 years (the fastest was Nevada). The 2000 Census reports the population of the metro area to 3,524,175.

Twenty-nine percent of this area is owned individually or by corporation, and 28% is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The U.S. Forest Service and the state of Arizona each control 11% of the county' an additional 16% is owned publicly. Almost 5% is Indian reservation land. That means, that of all the property in the Valley, only 16% is privately owned!