Arizona - Desert Growth and the Copper State
Before the air conditioner, Arizona was a place people passed through rather than settled in. Phoenix had 65,000 residents in 1940. By 2025 the metropolitan area holds well over five million. That transformation, driven by postwar migration, defense spending, and eventually the tech sector, turned a territory that joined the union only in 1912 into the country's fifth most populous state.
The Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River across 277 miles of northern Arizona, draws roughly six million visitors per year to its South Rim alone. The state also contains Monument Valley, the Petrified Forest, and the Sonoran Desert with its distinctive saguaro cacti. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, both formed by dams on the Colorado River, provide water storage for the entire Southwest, though declining water levels have become a defining political issue.
Tucson, the second-largest city, sits 60 miles north of the Mexican border and houses the University of Arizona. The border runs for 373 miles across the southern edge of the state, making immigration and border security permanent topics in Arizona politics. Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista is the Army's primary intelligence training facility. Raytheon Missiles and Defense operates a major campus in Tucson. Luke Air Force Base west of Phoenix is the largest fighter pilot training facility in the Western world.
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Before the air conditioner, Arizona was a place people passed through rather than settled in. Phoenix had 65,000 residents in 1940. By 2025 the metropolitan area holds well over five million. That transformation, driven by postwar migration, defense spending, and eventually the tech sector, turned a territory that joined the union only in 1912 into the country's fifth most populous state.
The Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River across 277 miles of northern Arizona, draws roughly six million visitors per year to its South Rim alone. The state also contains Monument Valley, the Petrified Forest, and the Sonoran Desert with its distinctive saguaro cacti. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, both formed by dams on the Colorado River, provide water storage for the entire Southwest, though declining water levels have become a defining political issue.
Tucson, the second-largest city, sits 60 miles north of the Mexican border and houses the University of Arizona. The border runs for 373 miles across the southern edge of the state, making immigration and border security permanent topics in Arizona politics. Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista is the Army's primary intelligence training facility. Raytheon Missiles and Defense operates a major campus in Tucson. Luke Air Force Base west of Phoenix is the largest fighter pilot training facility in the Western world.
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