Clifton is a town in and is the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Greenlee County,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, United States, along the San Francisco River. The population of the town was 3,311 at the 2010 census, with a 2018 population estimate of 3,700. It was a place of the

Arizona copper mine strike of 1983 The 1983 Arizona copper mine strike began as a labour dispute between the Phelps Dodge Corporation and a group of trade union, union copper mining, copper miners and mill workers, led by the United Steelworkers. The subsequent strike action, stri ...

. Clifton and Morenci are thought to be an economic area by the Arizona Department of Commerce.Clifton–Morenci Community Profile
at Arizona Department of Commerce

Geography and climate

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.46%, is water. Clifton has a hot

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BSh'') that closely borders on both the hot

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

and the cool semi-arid climate. There is a large degree of

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

. Summers are very hot and sometimes humid, with most rainfall coming from the monsoon between July and October. The wettest year was 2004 with including in August, whilst the driest year with a full record was 1924 with only including a mere between July and October. Winters are mild (though with very cold nights) and dry, with snow only recorded in fourteen years since 1892.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,596 people, 919 households, and 685 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,087 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 67.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.0

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 2.3% Native American, <0.1% Asian, 26.7% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. 55.9% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 919 households, out of which 41.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 22.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.27. In the town, the population was spread out, with 32.3% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.0 males. The median income for a household in the town was $39,786, and the median income for a family was $41,820. Males had a median income of $39,813 versus $19,485 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $15,313. About 8.1% of families and 11.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 12.4% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The town of Clifton operates under a council-manager form of government with seven elected council members, including a mayor and vice-mayor, and a town manager appointed by the council. Each council member is elected to a four-year term. , the mayor since 2023 has been Laura Dorrell. In 2018, Town Manager Ian McGaughey left his position. His replacement, Heather Ruder, resigned six months later. The next year, Rudy H. Perez Jr. was selected. On 15 July 2024, Perez was fired.

Transportation

Clifton is served by U.S. Route 191, Greenlee County Airport, and the

Arizona Eastern Railway The Arizona Eastern Railway is a Class III railroad that operates of railroad between Clifton, Arizona, and Miami, Arizona, in the United States. This includes trackage rights over the Union Pacific Railroad between Lordsburg, New Mexico, and ...

Education

Since the closure of

Clifton Unified School District The Clifton Unified School District was the school district in Clifton, Arizona. It contained two schools, Laugharn Elementary School and Clifton High School until the closing of the district in 2010. Clifton High School Up until September 201 ...

in 2010, it is now in the Morenci Unified School District.

Gallery

File:Hoveys_Dance_Hall_in_Clifton_Arizona_1884.jpg, Hovey's Dance Hall in Clifton in 1884 File:Clifton in 1903.jpg, Clifton in 1903 File:Clifton Cliff Jail Clifton Arizona Circa 1900.jpg, The Clifton Cliff Jail, sometime before it closed in 1906 File:Clifton Hotsprings.jpg, Clifton Mineral Hot Springs Bathhouse, which was built in 1928 File:Clifton Townsite Historic District.jpg, Clifton Townsite Historic District in 1993

References

External links

* *
Clifton
at Western Mining History, includes photo gallery

– ghosttowns.com {{Authority control County seats in Arizona Mining communities in Arizona Towns in Greenlee County, Arizona Safford, Arizona micropolitan area Ghost towns in Arizona