These Arizona cities have the most residents from out of town

Arizonans have a lot of complaints about each other. Phoenicians say Tucson is boring. Tucsonans say Phoenix is too sprawling and uses too much water. And people from every city fight over where the best Mexican food is.

But if there’s one thing that unites Arizonans, it’s a sense of pride about being born or raised in the state. So how many people who live here are actually from here? And which cities have the most out-of-towners?

There’s a widespread sentiment here that the state is receiving a rapid infusion of newcomers. An Arizona Republic analysis of 2024 Census Bureau data shows that to be true.

Arizona has a total population of more than 7.3 million. Only 39% of people who live here were born here, according to 2024 data. In California, for comparison, that number is 56%. In Texas, it’s 58%.

Newcomers are not distributed equally across the state, however.

Which cities have the most residents who are not from Arizona?

The Republic analyzed places across the state that had at a population of at least 10,000 people.

A clear trend emerged among the cities with the highest out-of-towner populations. In metro Phoenix, the top three were all retirement communities. No. 4 and 5 on the list were Fountain Hills and Scottsdale, which also happen to be among the richest cities in the state.

Here’s the cities in metro Phoenix with the most residents not from Arizona:

• Sun City West: 2.6% of Sun City West’s population of 27,003 was born in Arizona, meaning 97.4% were born out of state.
• Sun Lakes: 4.8% of Sun Lakes’ population of 14,079 was born in Arizona, meaning 95.2% were born out of state.
• Sun City: 8.1% of Sun City’s population of 38,018 was born in Arizona, meaning 91.9% were born out of state.
• Fountain Hills: 15.1% of Fountain Hills’ population of 23,768 was born in Arizona, meaning 84.9% were born out of state.
• Scottsdale: 23.3% of Scottsdale’s population of 242,169 was born in Arizona, meaning 76.7% were born out of state.

Which cities have the most residents who are from Arizona?

These metro Phoenix cities have the most residents who were born here:

• Avondale: 43.8% of Avondale’s population of 92,477 were born in Arizona, meaning 56.2% were born out of state.
• Phoenix: 42.4% of Phoenix’s population of 1,642,323 were born in Arizona, meaning 57.6% were born out of state.
• Glendale: 42.1% of Glendale’s population of 252,833 were born in Arizona, meaning 57.9% were born out of state.
• Mesa: 39.8% of Mesa’s population of 511,764 were born in Arizona, meaning 60.2% were born out of state.
• Gilbert: 39.3% of Gilbert’s population of 280,262 were born in Arizona, meaning 60.7% were born out of state.

Reporting by Reia Li, Arizona Republic / Arizona Republic

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