Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

is a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

located in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. According to the 2020 United States census, Arizona is the 14th most populous state with 7,151,502 inhabitants (as of the 2020 census) and the 6th largest by land area spanning . Arizona is divided into 15 counties and contains 90 incorporated

cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

. Incorporated places in Arizona are those that have been granted

home rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...

, possessing a local government in the form of a city or town council. Most of the population is concentrated within the

Phoenix metropolitan area The Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, metro Phoenix, or The Valley, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the Southwestern United States, with its largest principal city being the c ...

, with a 2020 census population of 4,845,832 ( of the state population). Phoenix is the capital and largest city by population in Arizona with 1,608,139 residents, is ranked as the fifth most populous city in the United States, and land area spanning as of the 2020 census. The smallest municipality by population and land area is Winkelman with 296 residents in . The oldest incorporated place in Arizona is

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

which incorporated in 1877 and the most recent was the town of Tusayan which incorporated in March 2010.

Municipal incorporation

The

Arizona Constitution The Constitution of the State of Arizona is the governing document and framework for the State of Arizona. The current constitution is the first and only adopted by the state of Arizona. History The Arizona Territory was authorized to hold a ...

has, since its ratification in 1912, allowed for the creation of municipal corporations in any community with a population of 3,500 or greater. According to the Constitution, a

municipal charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally, the granting of a charter ...

cannot be created by special laws or by the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

, but rather by the communities themselves as provided by general law. The population limit specified by the constitution was lowered by state law to a minimum of population of 1,500 for most locations, and further reduced to 500 for communities located within of a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

. State law further restricts the incorporation of new municipalities within urbanized areas, which are defined as a specific buffer zone surrounding existing cities and towns. State law allows for the incorporation of a community as either a city or a town; the only additional requirement to incorporate as a city is a minimum population of 3,000. Cities and towns in Arizona function largely in an identical manner, but cities are provided with additional powers that a town charter does not provide, limited primarily to certain powers regarding the regulation of utilities and construction within the city limits. State law allows adjoining towns to merge and it allows a city to annex a town, but it does not allow cities to merge. Additionally, a town may change its form of government to a city upon reaching the minimum population of 3,000. There are, however, large communities that have remained incorporated as a town in spite of attaining a large population; Gilbert, with 267,918 residents, remains incorporated as a town. Twenty Arizona municipalities were incorporated before 1912, when the state was admitted to the Union. As such, these cities and towns were incorporated by means other than those stipulated by current state law and the constitution. Phoenix, for example, was incorporated in 1881 by an act of the Territorial Legislature.

List of cities and towns

File:Downtown Phoenix Aerial Looking Northeast.jpg, alt=Aerial view of Downtown Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona's state capital and most populous municipality File:CatalinasAndTusconAZ.JPG, alt=Aerial view of Downtown Tucson, Arizona,

, Arizona's second largest city by population File:Downtown Mesa Arizona.jpg, alt=Downtown Mesa, Arizona,

Mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a ...

, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's third largest city by population File:Chandler AZ downtown.jpg, alt=Downtown Chandler, Arizona, Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's fourth largest city by population File:Gilbert-Gilbert Heritage District as viewed from Gilbert Rd..jpg, alt=Downtown Gilbert, Arizona, Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's largest town and fifth largest municipality by population File:Glendale-Downtown Glendale.jpg, Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's sixth largest city by population File:Scottsdale waterfront.jpg, alt=Waterfront view of Scottsdale, Arizona, Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's seventh largest city by population File:Peoria High School, Old Main Building.jpg, alt=Peoria High School, Peoria, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's eighth largest city by population File:Haydenferry.jpg, alt=Downtown Tempe, Arizona, Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's ninth largest city by population File:City_Hall_-_Surprise,_AZ,_USA_2250094.jpg, alt=Surprise City Hall, Surprise, a suburb of Phoenix and Arizona's tenth largest city by population

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Cities And Towns In Arizona **

Local government in Arizona Arizona is a state located in the Western United States. According to the 2020 United States census, Arizona is the 14th most populous state with 7,151,502 inhabitants (as of the 2020 census) and the 6th largest by land area spanning . Arizon ...

Cities A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Municipal incorporation

List of cities and towns

See also

Notes

References