The
Phoenix Metropolitan Area – often referred to as the
Valley of the Sun, the
Salt River Valley or
Metro Phoenix – is a
metropolitan area, centered on the city of
Phoenix, that includes much of the central part of the
U.S. State of
Arizona. The
United States Census Bureau designates the area as the
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), defining it as
Maricopa and
Pinal counties. As of the Census Bureau's 2014 population estimates, the Valley had 4,489,109 residents, making it the 12th largest Metropolitan Area in the nation. It is also one of the fastest growing major metropolitan areas, gaining nearly 300,000 residents from 2010 to 2014, and more than 1.2 million since 2000.