Chandler, Arizona
City
Aerial view of Chandler
Seal
Location in Maricopa County, Arizona
Chandler Location in Arizona Show map of Arizona Chandler Location in the contiguous United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 33°18′N 111°50′W / 33.300°N 111.833°W / 33.300; -111.833
Country	United States
State	Arizona
County	Maricopa
Founded	May 17, 1912
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• Mayor	Kevin Hartke[1]
Area [2]
• City	65.55 sq mi (169.77 km2)
• Land	65.48 sq mi (169.58 km2)
• Water	0.07 sq mi (0.18 km2)
Elevation [3]	1,211 ft (370 m)
Population  (2020)[2]
• City	275,987
• Estimate  (2022)[2]	280,711
• Rank	US: 76th
• Density	4,226.4/sq mi (1,627.45/km2)
• Metro	4,948,203
• Demonym	Chandlerite
Time zone	UTC−7 (MST (no DST))
ZIP Codes	85224, 85225, 85226, 85286, 85248, 85249
Area code	480
FIPS code	04-12000
GNIS feature ID	2409433[3]
Website	www.chandleraz.gov

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

As of the 2020 census, the population of Chandler was 275,987,^[2] up from 236,123 at the 2010 census.^[4] 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 18,000 acres (73 km²) 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.^[5] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[6] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 were 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 65.55 square miles (169.8 km²), of which 0.07 square miles (0.18 km²), or 0.11%, are listed as water.^[2] The center of the city, along Arizona State Route 87, is 22 miles (35 km) 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

At the time of the 2010 Census, there were 236,123 people, 86,924 households, and 60,212 families in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 73.3% White, 4.8% Black or African American, 1.5% Native American, 8.2% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, and 8.3% of other races. 21.9% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.^[4]

There were 62,377 households, out of which 41.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.5% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. Of all households 19.3% were made up of individuals, and 3.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.8% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 38.0% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 5.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9 males.

There were 101,229 housing units as of May 2016.^[13] The median income for a household in the city was $70,456, and the median income for a family was $81,720. Males had a median income of $44,578 versus $31,763 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,904. About 4.6% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.7% of those under age 18 and 8.0% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Computer chip manufacturer Intel has two locations in Chandler. Other high-technology manufacturing firms have partnerships with Chandler,^[14] their operations employing approximately 25% of non-government workers in 2007.^[15]

Since 2003, more than 2,900 jobs and investments totalling $3 billion have been created along the Price and Santan freeways,^[16] in the Price Road Corridor.^[17] The 1,300,000-square-foot (120,000 m²) 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,^[18] leading employers in the city are: