Chandler, Arizona

Chandler, Arizona
Chandler, Arizona
City
	Aerial view of Chandler
	Seal
	Location in Maricopa County, Arizona
	Chandler Location in Arizona Chandler Location in the contiguous United States
	Coordinates: 33°18′N 111°50′W / 33.300°N 111.833°W
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Maricopa
Founded	May 17, 1912
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• Mayor	Kevin Hartke
Area
• City	65.55 sq mi (169.77 km2)
• Land	65.48 sq mi (169.58 km2)
• Water	0.07 sq mi (0.18 km2)
Elevation	1,211 ft (370 m)
Population (2020)
• City	275,987
• Estimate (2022)	280,711
• Rank	US: 76th
• Density	4,226.4/sq mi (1,627.45/km2)
• Metro	4,948,203
• Demonym	Chandlerite
Time zone	UTC−7 (MST (no DST))
ZIP Codes	85224, 85225, 85226, 85286, 85248, 85249
Area code	480
FIPS code	04-12000
GNIS feature ID	2409433
Website	www.chandleraz.gov

Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area. Chandler is considered to be a part of the East Valley.

As of the 2020 census, the population of Chandler was 275,987,^[2] up from 236,123 at the 2010 census.^[4] Chandler is a commercial and tech hub for corporations like Intel, Northrop Grumman, Wells Fargo, PayPal and Boeing.

History

In 1891, Dr. Alexander John Chandler, a Canadian and the first veterinary surgeon in the Arizona Territory, settled on a ranch south of Mesa and studied irrigation engineering. By 1900, he had acquired 18,000 acres (73 km²) of land and began drawing up plans for a town-site on what was then known as the Chandler Ranch. The town-site office opened on May 16, 1912.

The original town-site was bounded by Galveston Street to the north, Frye Road to the south, Hartford Street to the west, and Hamilton Street to the east.^[5] By 1913, a town center was established, featuring the Hotel San Marcos, which also had the first grass golf course in the state. Chandler High School was established in 1914. Chandler was officially incorporated on February 16, 1920, after 186 residents petitioned the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to approve incorporation.^{[citation needed]}

Most of Chandler's economy was sustained during the Great Depression (though the Depression was to blame for the cancellation of a second San Marcos hotel), but the cotton crash a few years later had a much deeper impact on the city's residents. A.J. Chandler lost his San Marcos hotel to creditors as a result.^[6] Later, the founding of Williams Air Force Base in 1941 led to a small surge in population, but Chandler still only held 3,800 people by 1950.^{[citation needed]}

By 1980, the population had grown to 30,000, and it has since paced the Phoenix metropolitan area's high rate of growth, with suburban residential areas and commercial use areas swallowing former agricultural plots. The population has nearly doubled in the last twenty years. Some of this growth were fueled by the establishment of manufacturing plants for communications and computing firms such as Microchip, Motorola and Intel.

Geography

According to the 2020 census, Chandler has a total area of 65.55 square miles (169.8 km²), of which 0.07 square miles (0.18 km²), or 0.11%, are listed as water.^[2] The center of the city, along Arizona State Route 87, is 22 miles (35 km) southeast of Downtown Phoenix.

Chandler is in proximity to/borders the San-Tan mountain range. The San-Tan mountains are in the jurisdiction of the Gila River Indian Community.

Chandler is divided into three parts: North Chandler, West Chandler and South Chandler, each being divided by the Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) and Loop 101 (Price Freeway).

Climate

Climate data for Chandler, AZ
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	89 (32)	95 (35)	99 (37)	106 (41)	118 (48)	116 (47)	119 (48)	115 (46)	113 (45)	107 (42)	97 (36)	86 (30)	119 (48)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)	67 (19)	71 (22)	77 (25)	85 (29)	94 (34)	104 (40)	106 (41)	104 (40)	99 (37)	89 (32)	75 (24)	67 (19)	87 (30)
Daily mean °F (°C)	54 (12)	58 (14)	63 (17)	70 (21)	78 (26)	87 (31)	92 (33)	90 (32)	85 (29)	74 (23)	61 (16)	54 (12)	72 (22)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)	41 (5)	45 (7)	49 (9)	54 (12)	61 (16)	70 (21)	77 (25)	76 (24)	70 (21)	59 (15)	47 (8)	40 (4)	57 (14)
Record low °F (°C)	15 (−9)	19 (−7)	24 (−4)	30 (−1)	37 (3)	43 (6)	54 (12)	51 (11)	40 (4)	30 (−1)	22 (−6)	17 (−8)	15 (−9)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	1.01 (26)	1.03 (26)	1.19 (30)	0.33 (8.4)	0.17 (4.3)	0.06 (1.5)	0.89 (23)	1.14 (29)	0.89 (23)	0.81 (21)	0.77 (20)	0.98 (25)	9.20 (234)
Source: The Weather Channel^[7]

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1930	1,378		—
1940	1,239		−10.1%
1950	3,799		206.6%
1960	9,531		150.9%
1970	13,763		44.4%
1980	29,673		115.6%
1990	89,862		202.8%
2000	176,581		96.5%
2010	236,123		33.7%
2020	275,987		16.9%
2022 (est.)	280,711	^[8]	1.7%
U.S. Decennial Census^[9]

2020 census

**Chandler, Arizona – Racial and ethnic composition**
*Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.*
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000^[10]	Pop 2010^[11]	Pop 2020^[12]	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	121,168	145,724	147,119	68.62%	61.72%	53.31%
Black or African American alone (NH)	5,821	10,580	15,564	3.30%	4.48%	5.64%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	1,628	2,715	3,850	0.92%	1.15%	1.39%
Asian alone (NH)	7,345	19,119	32,710	4.16%	8.10%	11.85%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	222	365	571	0.13%	0.15%	0.21%
Some Other Race alone (NH)	301	369	1,237	0.17%	0.16%	0.45%
Mixed Race or Multi-Racial (NH)	3,037	5,443	12,679	1.72%	2.31%	4.59%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	37,059	51,808	62,257	20.99%	21.94%	22.56%
Total	176,581	236,123	275,987	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

At the time of the 2010 Census, there were 236,123 people, 86,924 households, and 60,212 families in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 73.3% White, 4.8% Black or African American, 1.5% Native American, 8.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 8.3% of other races. 21.9% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.^[4]

There were 62,377 households, out of which 41.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.5% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. Of all households 19.3% were made up of individuals, and 3.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.8% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 38.0% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 5.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9 males.

There were 101,229 housing units as of May 2016.^[13] The median income for a household in the city was $70,456, and the median income for a family was $81,720. Males had a median income of $44,578 versus $31,763 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,904. About 4.6% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.7% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Computer chip manufacturer Intel has two locations in Chandler. Other high-technology manufacturing firms have partnerships with Chandler,^[14] their operations employing approximately 25% of non-government workers in 2007.^[15]

Since 2003, more than 2,900 jobs and investments totalling $3 billion have been created along the Price and Santan freeways,^[16] in the Price Road Corridor.^[17] The 1,300,000-square-foot (120,000 m²) Chandler Fashion Center, opened in 2001.

Companies headquartered in Chandler include Keap, Microchip, and Rogers. Bashas' headquarters is in a county island surrounded by Chandler.

Top employers

According to the City of Chandler Economic Development Division,^[18] leading employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	Intel	12,000
2	Wells Fargo	5,500
3	Chandler Unified School District	4,900
4	Bank of America	3,600
5	Chandler Regional Medical Center / Dignity Health	2,500
6	Northrop Grumman	2,150
7	Chandler–Gilbert Community College	1,900
8	City of Chandler	1,800
9	Microchip Technology (HQ)	1,700
10	NXP Semiconductors	1,700
11	PayPal	1,500
12	Insight Enterprises	1,400
13	Microchip Technology	1,500
14	Verizon	1,400
15	Bashas' (HQ and Distribution Center)	1,100

Arts and culture

Chandler holds an annual Ostrich Festival at Tumbleweed Park^[19] to commemorate when ostrich farms in the area produced plumes for women's hats during the 1910s.^{[citation needed]}

Chandler also holds an annual ceremony to light a tree made from tumbleweeds; a ceremony founded in 1957 when Chandler sought an alternative way to decorate the city during the Christmas holidays.^[20]

Venues, galleries and museums include:

Chandler Center for the Arts, a 1,500-seat regional performing arts venue, which is shared by the City of Chandler and the Chandler Unified School District.
The Vision Gallery, a fine arts gallery featuring regional artists.^[21]
The Arizona Railway Museum, located at Tumbleweed Park.

Several sites in Chandler are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the McCullough–Price House and the San Marcos Hotel.^[22]

The Chandler Public Library serves Chandler and the greater East Valley. The main library is in Downtown Chandler, with two branches elsewhere in the city: Sunset, Basha (shared with Basha High School), and Hamilton (shared with Hamilton High School).

Parks and recreation

Tumbleweed Park hosts the annual Ostrich Festival, the Fourth of July Fireworks Festival and the annual Day of Play. It features a recreational center with equipment suited for fitness.^[23]

Hamilton Aquatic Center is a shared-use aquatic facility, located within Hamilton High School's campus.^[24]

Nozomi Aquatic Center is a shared-use aquatic facility which includes a 25 yard, 8-lane competition pool.^[25]

Veterans Oasis Park is located at the city's highest point, at 1,311 feet (400 m).^[26] It includes a wildlife preservation and designated horse and walking trails.^[27]

Government

City government

Chandler is represented by a mayor, a vice mayor and five city council members. The vice mayor is elected by the city council from among its members. The mayor, vice mayor and council members represent the entire city and are not elected from districts or wards.^[28]

Kevin Hartke was elected mayor in 2017.^[28]

Federal representation

The north central section of the city and the western "leg" of the city are within Arizona's 4th congressional district, served by Representative Greg Stanton, a Democrat. The rest of Chandler is within Arizona's 5th congressional district, served by Representative Andy Biggs, a Republican.

State representation

Chandler's western "leg" and a small, narrow portion of the adjacent northern part of the city are within Arizona's 18th Legislative District, served by Representatives Denise Epstein and Jennifer Jermaine, and Senator Sean Bowie, all Democrats. The rest of the city is in Arizona's 17th Legislative District, served by Representatives Jennifer Pawlik and Jeff Weninger, and Senator J. D. Mesnard, one Democrat and two Republicans.

Education

Elementary and secondary

Chandler is served by the Chandler Unified School District, Kyrene Elementary School District, Tempe Union High School District, Mesa Public Schools, and Gilbert Public Schools.^{[citation needed]}

Catholic and charter schools include Basis Schools, Seton Catholic Preparatory, and Legacy Traditional Schools.^[29]

Post-secondary

Post-secondary educational institutions located in Chandler include: The University of Arizona Chandler,^[30] International Baptist College, and the two-year Chandler-Gilbert Community College, which serves 13,000 students.^[29]