Arizona: The Nation's Hottest Tech Zone

Whatever your perception of Arizona – hot desert, Arizona Highways, retirement communities, Native peoples, rattlesnakes, the Grand Canyon – think again.

- Robert Yehling

All of these are true, yes, but a business boom has transformed The Grand Canyon State into the nation’s fastest-growing economic force.

Since 2010, the state’s population has added one million people to now sit at nearly 7.3 million. Its largest county, Maricopa, is the nation’s fastest growing in both population and business. Furthermore, the workforce driving the state’s many industries is young, the opposite of how Arizona is traditionally seen. In Tempe, home to the nation’s largest university, Arizona State, the median age is 28.1 years. Statewide, that number is 37.4.

“If you look at sheer growth, we’re growing at one million people per decade, a trend that is expected to continue,” says Chris Camacho, Executive Director of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC). “Our standard statewide business is augmented by tech, IT, software, manufacturing, and financial services, creating opportunity for young people educated here to access the job market. Our young, educated workers not only grow up in this market, but they want to stay here.

“When a region gets hot, it becomes really contagious. That’s what we’re experiencing now,” he added.