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Fun Facts
- According to legend, Phoenix gets its name from Cambridge-educated pioneer Darrell Duppa, who saw the ruins and prehistoric canals of the Hohokam and believed another civilization would rise from the ashes.
- Phoenix is the United States’ sixth-largest city with a population of over 1.4 million.
- Greater Phoenix (which includes, among others, the cities of Chandler, Glendale, Scottsdale and Tempe) has a population of more than 4.3 million, covers 2,000 square miles, and is the 13th largest metropolitan area in the United States.
- Maricopa County—where Greater Phoenix is located—covers 9,127 square miles.
- Phoenix's elevation is 1,117 feet.
- Greater Phoenix is located in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, which is widely considered the most ecologically diverse desert in the world.
- Phoenix averages more than 310 sunny days per year.
- Phoenix has an average annual rainfall of 7.66 inches, an average annual temperature of 72.6 degrees and an annual high temperature of 85 degrees.
- Greater Phoenix is home to more than 200 golf courses.
- 13-15 million people visit Phoenix each year. More than 30 million people visit Arizona each year.
- Sky Harbor serves more than 42 million passengers a year, ranking it among the 10 busiest airports in the nation.
- Phoenix is one of only 13 U.S. cities with franchises in all four major professional sports leagues: Phoenix Suns (NBA), Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB), Arizona Cardinals (NFL) and Phoenix Coyotes (NHL).
- University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and the site of Super Bowl XLII, is the only stadium in North America with both a retractable fabric roof and a roll-out grass field.
- The Waste Management Phoenix Open, played each February at the TPC Scottsdale, is the best-attended event on the PGA Tour, averaging more than 500,000 spectators.
- Greater Phoenix is home to college football’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and Insight Bowl. The inaugural BCS National Championship was played at University of Phoenix Stadium in 2007 and again in 2011.
- Greater Phoenix’s major industries are (1) high-tech manufacturing, (2) tourism and (3) construction.
- Phoenix is home to the largest municipal park in the world. South Mountain Park and Preserve covers more than 16,500 acres and has more than 50 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails.
- There are six lakes within a 75-minute drive of Phoenix.
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Arizona is home to 23 reservations representing 21 different Native American tribes.
