Peoria is a city located in Maricopa County Arizona. With a 2020 population of 198,369, it is the 8th largest city in Arizona and the 136th largest city in the United States. Peoria is currently growing at a rate of 1.90% annually and its population has increased by 3.87% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 190,985 in 2020. Spanning over 179 miles, Peoria has a population density of 1,127 people per square mile.
The average household income in Peoria is $92,916 with a poverty rate of 8.55%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to $1,340 per month, and the median house value is $282,200. The median age in Peoria is 39.8 years, 38.3 years for males, and 41.3 years for females.
Located mostly in Maricopa Arizona, Peoria is a major Phoenix suburb located about 14 miles northwest of the city. Peoria, a name which is a corrupted version of an Illini word for "prairie fire," is the 9th largest city in Arizona in terms of population and the 8th largest in Metro Phoenix. Maricopa County is Arizona's population center with 61% of the state's population.
Diversity
Peoria is less diverse than Metro Phoenix as a whole as Arizona has the 3rd highest number of American Indians of any state at more than 10% of the U.S. American Indian population. Phoenix borders an American Indian reservation. The American Indian population of Peoria is just 0.7%, however.
In the Phoenix Metro area, the most common ancestry groups include Mexican, German, English, and Irish. Almost 12% of people in Peoria claim Irish ancestry. The largest Asian-American subgroup in Peoria is Filipino Americans.
About 8.7% of Peoria's residents were born outside of the U.S. The city has a notable gender disparity: for every 100 females over the age of 18, there are only 88 males.
Population Growth
Arizona's population has been surging in recent year. In 2019, it was ranked as the 4th fastest growing state in the U.S. Maricopa County, which includes most of Peoria, is believed to have hit 4 million people in 2016. The growth of Metro Phoenix has averaged over 40% per decade between 1950 and 2000 but its growth slowed to 20% between 2000 and 2010 due to water restraints and other resources. It's predicted that the Metro Phoenix area will reach 6-7 million within 20 years, up from 4.6 million in 2019. Peoria is certain to enjoy some of this growth.
The history of Peoria as a city dates back to 1886. William John Murphy, who worked on the major Arizona Canal project, recruited settlers to create a community in Arizona. Many of the first settlers were from Peoria, Illinois. After a year, a new road called Grand Avenue was laid out to connect the new town sites of Peoria, Glendale, and Alhambra and it became the primary route from Phoenix to Vulture Mine, a gold mine and major settlement in Maricopa County. The town was incorporated as Peoria in 1887.
Within 10 years, a spur line of the Santa, Prescott, and Phoenix Railroad was installed to connect Peoria to Phoenix as well as Hesperia, Alhambra, Glendale, and Marinette. This helped the new town grow steadily. Eventually, the Luke Air Force Base and a growing economy -- as well as mass-produced air conditioning -- allowed Peoria to grow faster than ever. Peoria became a major suburb of Phoenix after WWII thaks to a construction boom.
