Phoenix

People

In the decades following World War II (1939–45), Phoenix, together with other areas of the Southwest, enjoyed a dramatic population increase as residents of northern cities moved westward. Phoenix itself has a population of 1,246,712, up from 983,403 (487,589 males and 495,814 females) in 1990; its rank has risen from ninth-to sixth-largest city in the nation. The population of the Phoenix-Mesa Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was 2,238,498 in 1990, and an estimated 2,839,539 in 1997—an increase of over 25 percent—making it the fifteenth-largest MSA in the United States.

In 1990, minorities represented in Phoenix's population were Hispanics (20 percent), blacks (5.2 percent), American Indians (1.9 percent), and Asians (1.7 percent). As of 1996, the Phoenix-Mesa MSA was 91.4 percent white, four percent black, and 2.2 percent Asian. Hispanics (an ethnic category that crosses racial lines) make up about 20 percent of Phoenix's population. Because of its large Hispanic presence, Phoenix has traditionally been a heavily Catholic city. Catholics still make up between one-fourth and one-third of the population, although this percentage has been declining. The next largest denominations are the Church of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons (Phoenix has the nation's third-highest Mormon population), Southern Baptists, and United Methodists.