Where People Are Moving To In Arizona In 2026

Arizona's growth is landing hardest where there is still land to build, road to widen, and a job within commuting distance. The state added about 97,000 residents between mid-2024 and mid-2025, with Maricopa and Pinal counties taking the largest share. The pressure keeps pushing out from Phoenix into the West Valley and Pinal County while southern and rural Arizona stay flat or shrink. Housing supply and commuter access and big new master-planned communities are deciding where people land. The result is a growth map led by Buckeye and Queen Creek and the fast-rising cities of Pinal County.

Buckeye

Buckeye is one of Arizona's biggest growth stories because it still has open desert to fill west of Phoenix. The city jumped about 37% since 2020 to roughly 125,400 residents, one of the largest numeric gains in the state. The pattern is housing first, access second. There is more room here than in the older Phoenix suburbs, and I-10 keeps it tied to jobs across the West Valley and central Phoenix. The city has projected more than 2,900 new homes for 2025 alone, which is most of the story. Verrado, Sundance, Tartesso, and the corridors along Watson and Yuma roads are where the change shows on the ground. Buckeye grows because West Valley demand keeps moving farther out.

Queen Creek

Few Arizona towns have changed as fast as Queen Creek. It grew more than 50% since 2020 to about 89,800 residents, one of the steepest rates among the state's larger places. The town sits where Maricopa and Pinal County growth meet, part bedroom community, part job corridor, part family-housing magnet. New subdivisions, retail, schools, and road work have all chased the population up. The town is planning for a build-out near 150,000, so this is not a short-term bump. The change is loudest around Queen Creek Marketplace, Ellsworth Loop Road, the town center, and the neighborhoods spreading toward San Tan Valley.

Maricopa

Maricopa shows how much of Arizona's growth is now spilling into Pinal County. The city climbed about 35% since 2020 to roughly 76,700 residents, ranking among the state's largest city-level gainers year over year. Housing is the draw, but the commute defines daily life. Most residents rely on State Route 347 to reach jobs in Chandler, Tempe, Phoenix, and the wider Valley, which is exactly why the SR 347 widening has become such a fight. Copper Sky, the city center, and the commercial growth along John Wayne Parkway give Maricopa more services than it had in earlier boom years. The city keeps growing because families keep finding homes there, even as the roads work to catch up.

Goodyear

Goodyear has become one of the West Valley's major growth centers. The city rose about 30% since 2020 to roughly 118,200 residents, again among the state's largest numeric gainers. Its growth runs on a mix of housing, jobs, healthcare, logistics, and freeway access. Goodyear sits along I-10 with newer neighborhoods spreading south and west while employers cluster around the business parks, industrial areas, and the airport. It ranks among the country's fastest-growing cities above 50,000, with more than 20,000 acres of parks and trails feeding a family-and-retirement appeal. Estrella, Palm Valley, Goodyear Civic Square, and the Loop 303 area give the city several growth points instead of one.

Surprise

Surprise keeps gaining as the northwest Valley builds out. The city reached about 167,600 residents in 2025, up roughly 22% since 2020, and it added more people year over year than any Arizona city except Phoenix. The growth is housing and retail finally catching up to each other. Newer subdivisions, retirement communities, spring-training crowds, and expanding shopping mean fewer trips deeper into Phoenix for everyday errands. Surprise City Center is filling in while the Prasada area has become one of the northwest Valley's busiest retail zones. The Surprise Stadium area, Bell Road, Asante, and the northern neighborhoods each show a different side of the build-out.

Casa Grande

Casa Grande is at the center of the Pinal County shift between Phoenix and Tucson. The city grew about 30% since 2020 to roughly 69,800 residents, one of Arizona's fastest gainers. What sets it apart is that it is not only a commuter town. Casa Grande has turned into a manufacturing and logistics hub, with Lucid Motors, Kohler, Frito-Lay, and Abbott Nutrition tied to the I-10 and I-8 corridors. Lucid alone has put about $2 billion into the city and created some 2,500 jobs. Downtown, the Promenade, the industrial parks, and the new subdivisions show jobs and housing climbing together, which makes Casa Grande a regional center rather than a midpoint.

Coolidge

Coolidge is smaller than most of this list, but its growth rate stands out. The city grew roughly 48% since 2020 to just under 20,000 residents, among the fastest in the state. The reasons are location and cheap land. Coolidge sits in central Pinal County, close to Casa Grande, Florence, Queen Creek, and the wider Phoenix-Tucson corridor, right in the path of the industrial and logistics growth spreading across the county. New housing and job access are turning a former farm town into a connected piece of central Arizona's map. The land around Arizona Boulevard and Coolidge Avenue gives the city room for both homes and employers.

Marana

Marana is southern Arizona's clearest entry here, the only Pima County city among the state's ten fastest-growing since 2020. The town grew about 26% over those five years to roughly 65,500 residents. The push comes from Tucson's northward spread. Marana has I-10 access, master-planned communities, schools, and new development along Tangerine, Cortaro, and Twin Peaks roads. A planned downtown is in the works on about 60 acres near the Ed Honea Marana Municipal Complex. Marana adds residents because it offers Tucson-area households newer housing and desert scenery without pulling them far from the metro economy.

Where Arizona's Growth Is Heading

Arizona's growth is still anchored in the Phoenix region, but the pressure is spreading outward rather than filling the old urban core. Maricopa County still adds the most people by number, while Pinal County has become the state's fastest-growing county by rate. That puts housing, roads, schools, water, and local services at the center of the next decade in places like Buckeye, Queen Creek, and Casa Grande. The cities that do well will be the ones that add homes and jobs together, so daily life does not turn into a long commute between subdivisions and services.