DEMOGRAPHICS / ECONOMY

Manufacturing and tourism, traditionally the base of the city’s economy, continue to be important to the Valley. Major industrial products manufactured by companies located in the metropolitan area include aircraft parts, electronic equipment, agricultural chemicals, radios, air-conditioning equipment, leather goods, and native American crafts.

Tourism is an especially vital part of the economy. With more than 10 million visitors from the throughout the United States and Canada annually visiting for the warm weather and sunshine in the Valley of the Sun, Greater Phoenix continues to be an important resort center.

As the result of the population boom, the economy of Valley has taken on new dimensions in recent decades by moving into technology and service industries. Tourism and business services in particular account for three quarters of the area’s total employment. Another sector of growth has been financial services and banking as several significant processing and/or regional headquarters operations call Phoenix home: American Express, Chase Bank, Bank of America, Discover Card Services, and Wells Fargo Bank. High technology and aerospace firms hold a considerable share of the manufacturing jobs throughout the state.

Population and economic growth have made Greater Phoenix the center of the state’s economy. More than a third of the state’s entire labor force works in the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area. Further, many Fortune 500 companies operate within the area such as Boeing, Bank of America, Time Warner Telecom, IBM, and Intel.