Virginia Auto Service is located on 7th St. between McDowell and Thomas in Phoenix, Arizona. We must say, we love calling this city home and being of service to such an amazing community. To celebrate this glorious city, here are 25 interesting facts about Phoenix.
- With a population of over 1.6 million, Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the United States.
- Covering 2,000 square miles, the Greater Phoenix area (which includes the cities of Chandler, Glendale, Scottsdale, and Tempe, among others) has a population of nearly 4.5 million.
- Phoenix is in the Sonoran Desert, one of the wettest and greenest deserts in the United States. It receives between three to fifteen inches of rainfall annually. The Sonoran Desert is the only place in the world that you can find the Saguaro cactus.
- Phoenix gets sunshine more often than any other major metropolitan area in the United States according to the National Climatic Data Center. Phoenix gets sunshine for around 85 percent of its daylight hours.
- The annual high temperature in Phoenix is 86.7 degrees. The average high temperature for Phoenix in the winter is 67 degrees.
- The average annual rainfall in Phoenix is 8.04 inches.
- According to VisitPhoenix.com, Phoenix is believed to have gotten its name from Cambridge-educated pioneer Darrell Duppa, who saw the ruins and prehistoric canals of the Hohokam and believed another civilization would rise from the ashes.
- The major industries of the Greater Phoenix area are (1) high-tech manufacturing, (2) tourism and (3) construction.
- There are more than 200 golf courses in the Greater Phoenix area.
- Over 37 million people visit Arizona every year. Around 16 million visit metropolitan Phoenix every year.
- There aren’t many cities that have franchises in all four major professional sports leagues, but Phoenix does. Phoenix Suns (NBA), Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB), Arizona Cardinals (NFL) and Arizona Coyotes (NHL).
- Sky Harbor Airport, the main airport for the Greater Phoenix area, serves over 40 million passengers a year. It is one of the 10 busiest airports in the nation and goes to over 100 domestic and international destinations. It is the center for two of the major low-fare carriers, US Airways and Southwest Airlines.
- The Greater Phoenix area has hosted three Super Bowls; Super Bowl XXX in 1996, Super Bowl XLII in 2008 and Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.
- The NBA playoffs have been held at the Talking Stick Resort Arena (formerly US Airways Center) 29 times.
- There are 15 Major League Baseball teams (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies) that conduct spring training in the Cactus League here in Phoenix.
- There are two NASCAR events held at the Phoenix International Raceway each racing season.
- There are four Fortune 500 companies that have their corporate headquarters in the Greater Phoenix area: Avnet, Freeport-McMoRan, Insight Enterprises, and Republic Services.
- South Mountain Park and Preserve covers more than 16,000 acres and has more than 50 miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails. It is the largest municipal park in the US.
- The largest kachina doll collection (donated in part by the late Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater) of any museum in the country can be found at the Heard Museum.
- The world’s largest collection of desert plants can be found in Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden.
- The Hall of Flame has the world’s largest collection of fire-fighting equipment.
- Travel and Leisure named Phoenix one of its top 30 cities for food in the US.
- Phoenix was home to previous civilizations, such as the Hohokam. Parts of Downtown Phoenix were built over 3,000-year-old ruins, as discovered by archaeologists in 2006 while the Phoenix Convention Center was under construction.
- According to Census Bureau stats, only about 40 percent of Phoenix residents were born in Arizona.
- The Greater Phoenix area is often referred to as “the Valley.” The reason behind this is that it is partially surrounded by various mountain ranges like the Superstitions in the East, the White Tanks to the West, the McDowell’s to the Northeast, and the Sierra Estrella’s to the Southwest.
What did we miss? What are some interesting facts that you know about the great city of Phoenix? We would love to hear from you.