By Sasha Hupka | Arizona Republic
In 2012, about 4.2 million people called central Arizona’s desert metropolis home.
Since then, the Phoenix metro area has gained more than 800,000 new residents and surpassed 5 million in population for the first time, according to newly released 2022 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nationally, the new census numbers show that urban flight during the COVID-19 pandemic slowed or reversed for most metros.
But in the Phoenix area, which includes Maricopa and Pinal counties, growth never halted. The area added about 66,850 people in 2021 and another 72,850 in 2022, some of the largest gains of any metro in the country.
And previous data releases from the Census Bureau have shown more people are moving to Maricopa County than anywhere else in the country.
Those gains make the Phoenix area the 10th largest metro in the country. Valley dwellers were beat out in population by:
- New York-Newark-Jersey City (19,617,869)
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (12,872,322)
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin (9,441,957)
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (7,943,685)
- Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land (7,340,118)
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (6,373,756)
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington (6,241,164)
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta (6,222,106)
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach (6,139,340)
