Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. Founded in the late 19th century upon Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, Jerome is located over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level. It is virtually 100 miles (160 km) north of Phoenix along State Route 89A surrounded by Sedona and Prescott. Supported in its heyday by rich copper mines, it was house to over 10,000 people in the 1920s. As of the 2010 census, its population was 444. It is now known for its tourist attractions, such as its “ghost town” status and local wineries.

The town owes its existence mainly to two ore bodies that formed very nearly 1.75 billion years ago along a ring fault in the caldera of an undersea volcano. Tectonic plate movements, plate collisions, uplift, deposition, erosion, and further geologic processes eventually exposed the tip of one of the ore bodies and pushed the other near to the surface, both close Jerome. In the late 19th century, the United Verde Mine, developed by William A. Clark, extracted ore bearing copper, gold, silver, and further metals from the larger of the two. The United Verde Extension UVX Mine, owned by James Douglas Jr., depended on the other huge deposit. In total, the copper deposits discovered in the vicinity of Jerome were accompanied by the richest ever found.

Jerome made news in 1917 later labor unrest involving the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) led to the expulsion at gunpoint of nearly 60 IWW members, who were loaded upon a cattle car and shipped west. Production at the mines, always subject to fluctuations, boomed during World War I, fell thereafter, rose again, then fell over during and after the Great Depression. As the ore deposits ran out, the mines closed for good in 1953, and the population dwindled to fewer than 100. Efforts to save the town from oblivion succeeded in the same way as residents turned to tourism and retail sales. Jerome became a National Historic Landmark in 1967. By the in advance 21st century, Jerome had art galleries, coffee houses, restaurants, a let pass park, and a local museum devoted to mining history.

Jerome is just about 100 miles (160 km) north of Phoenix and 45 miles (72 km) southwest of Flagstaff along Arizona State Route 89A in the middle of Sedona to the east and Prescott to the west. The town is in Arizona’s Black Hills, which trend north–south. The town lies within the Prescott National Forest at an elevation of more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m). Woodchute Wilderness is roughly 3 miles (5 km) west of Jerome, and Mingus Mountain, at 7,726 feet (2,355 m) above sea level, is practically 4 miles (6 km) south of town. Jerome State Historic Park is in the town itself. Bitter Creek, a tributary of the Verde River, flows intermittently through Jerome. East of Jerome at the base of the hills are the Verde Valley and the communities of Clarkdale and Cottonwood, site of the nearest airport.