Chandler, AZ

Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the fourth-most populous city in Arizona, after Mesa, Tucson, and Phoenix. Chandler is considered to be a part of the East Valley.

As of the 2020 census, the population of Chandler was 275,987, up from 236,123 at the 2010 census. Chandler is a commercial and tech hub for corporations like Intel, Northrop Grumman, Wells Fargo, PayPal and Boeing.

History

In 1891, Dr. Alexander John Chandler, a Canadian and the first veterinary surgeon in the Arizona Territory, settled on a ranch south of Mesa and studied irrigation engineering. By 1900, he had acquired of land and began drawing up plans for a town-site on what was then known as the Chandler Ranch. The town-site office opened on May 16, 1912.

The original town-site was bounded by Galveston Street to the north, Frye Road to the south, Hartford Street to the west, and Hamilton Street to the east. By 1913, a town center was established, featuring the Hotel San Marcos, which also had the first grass golf course in the state. Chandler High School was established in 1914. Chandler was officially incorporated on February 16, 1920, after 186 residents petitioned the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to approve incorporation.

Most of Chandler's economy was sustained during the Great Depression (though the Depression was to blame for the cancellation of a second San Marcos hotel), but the cotton crash a few years later had a much deeper impact on the city's residents. A. J. Chandler lost his San Marcos hotel to creditors as a result. Later, the founding of Williams Air Force Base in 1941 led to a small surge in population, but Chandler still only held 3,800 people by 1950.

By 1980, the population had grown to 30,000, and it has since paced the Phoenix metropolitan area's high rate of growth, with suburban residential areas and commercial use areas swallowing former agricultural plots. The population has nearly doubled in the last twenty years. Some of this growth was fueled by the establishment of manufacturing plants for communications and computing firms such as Microchip, Motorola and Intel.

Geography

According to the 2020 census, Chandler has a total area of , of which , or 0.11%, are listed as water. The center of the city, along Arizona State Route 87, is southeast of Downtown Phoenix.

Chandler is in proximity to/borders the San-Tan mountain range. The San-Tan mountains are in the jurisdiction of the Gila River Indian Community.

Chandler is divided into three parts: North Chandler, West Chandler and South Chandler, each being divided by the Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) and Loop 101 (Price Freeway).

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

American Community Survey estimates, there were people and households. The population density was . There were housing units at an average density of .To calculate density we use the land area figure from the places file in The racial makeup of the city was 56.0% White, 13.4% Asian, 7.6% Black or African American, 4.4% some other race, 1.0% Native American or Alaskan Native, and 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, with 17.5% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 21.2% of the population.

Of the households, 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 24.2% had seniors 65 years or older living with them, 50.7% were married couples living together, 7.4% were couples cohabitating, 18.3% had a male householder with no partner present, and 23.6% had a female householder with no partner present. The median household size was and the median family size was .

The age distribution was 23.8% under 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 26.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.0% who were 65 or older. The median age was years. For every 100 females, there were males.

The median income for a household was $, with family households having a median income of $ and non-family households $. The per capita income was $. Out of the people with a determined poverty status, 7.6% were below the poverty line. Further, 9.3% of minors and 7.6% of seniors were below the poverty line.

In the survey, residents self-identified with various ethnic ancestries. People of German descent made up 13.0% of the population of the city, followed by Irish at 10.1%, English at 8.5%, American at 5.7%, Italian at 4.5%, Polish at 1.9%, Scottish at 1.7%, French at 1.6%, Arab at 1.5%, Sub-Saharan African at 1.5%, Norwegian at 1.2%, Dutch at 1.1%, Swedish at 1.0%, French Canadian at 0.6%, Russian at 0.6%, Scotch-Irish at 0.5%, and Greek at 0.5%.

Economy

Computer chip manufacturer Intel has two locations in Chandler. Other high-technology manufacturing firms have partnerships with Chandler,

their operations employing approximately 25% of non-government workers in 2007.

Since 2003, more than 2,900 jobs and investments totalling $3 billion have been created along the Price and Santan freeways,

in the Price Road Corridor. The Chandler Fashion Center, opened in 2001.

Companies headquartered in Chandler include Keap, Microchip, and Rogers. Bashas' headquarters is in a county island surrounded by Chandler.

Top employers

According to the City of Chandler Economic Development Division, leading employers in the city are:

Arts and culture

Chandler holds an annual Ostrich Festival at Tumbleweed Park to commemorate when ostrich farms in the area produced plumes for women's hats during the 1910s.

Chandler also holds an annual ceremony to light a tree made from tumbleweeds; a ceremony founded in 1957 when Chandler sought an alternative way to decorate the city during the Christmas holidays.

Venues, galleries and museums include:
*Chandler Center for the Arts, a 1,500-seat regional performing arts venue, which is shared by the City of Chandler and the Chandler Unified School District