Phoenix ( FEE-niks; Navajo: Hoozdo; Spanish: Fénix or Fínix, Walapai: Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, the most populous state capital in the country, and the without help U.S. state capital similar to a population of higher than one million residents.

Phoenix is the presenter of the Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, which in face is share of the Salt River Valley. The metropolitan Place is the 11th largest by population in the United States, with nearly 4.85 million people as of 2020. Phoenix, the seat of Maricopa County, has the largest area of whatever cities in Arizona, with an area of 517.9 square miles (1,341 km), and is in addition to the 11th largest city by Place in the United States. It is the largest metropolitan area, both by population and size, of the Arizona Sun Corridor megaregion.

Phoenix was granted in 1867 as an agricultural community close the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers and was incorporated as a city in 1881. It became the capital of Arizona Territory in 1889. It is in the northeastern reaches of the Sonoran Desert and has a warm desert climate. Despite this, its canal system led to a wealthy farming community taking into account the indigenous settlers’ crops steadfast important parts of the Phoenix economy for decades, such as alfalfa, cotton, citrus, and hay. Cotton, cattle, citrus, climate, and copper were known locally as the “Five C’s” anchoring Phoenix’s economy. These remained the driving forces of the city until after World War II, when high-tech companies began to disturb into the valley and expose conditioning made Phoenix’s hot summers more bearable.

The city averaged a four percent annual population growth rate higher than a 40-year times from the mid-1960s to the mid-2000s. This accumulation rate slowed during the Great Recession of 2007–09, and has rebounded slowly. Phoenix is the cultural center of the welcome of Arizona.