Scottsdale, AZ
| U.S. News Ratings | |
| Population: | 230,293 |
| Crime: | Average |
| Cost of Living: | Average |
| Health Care: | Comprehensive |
| Housing Price: | High |
| Income: | High |
A golf oasis in the Sonoran Desert, Scottsdale exudes striking natural beauty, consistently warm, dry weather, and plenty of sunshine. It's no surprise that the primary economic driver of this artists' colony of 230,293 is tourism. Just 19 miles from Phoenix, Scottsdale boasts sleek luxury hotels, more than 300 spa treatment rooms, and plenty of trendy, upscale restaurants.
The city is named for Army Chaplain Winfield Scott, who in 1888 purchased a 640-acre tract of land for just $2.50 an acre. But the Scottsdale area is thought to have been inhabited for at least 12,000 years. The earliest known occupants were the Hohokam, a society that constructed an extensive web of irrigation channels sometime between A.D. 1 and A.D. 1450. After the Hohokam inexplicably disappeared, the Pima Indians lived in the area.
Cutting through the desert landscape are 40 miles of hiking and riding trails and 58 miles of bike paths. Scottsdale has more than 50 golf courses, and the surrounding area has 207, including the 7,216-yard Tournament Players Club, a PGA stop that hosts the FBR Open golf tournament. Scottsdale is also the spring training home of the San Francisco Giants.
This area boasts more than 125 art galleries, studios, and museums including the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and the Faust Gallery, which features American Indian art. The Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, opened in 1975, holds more than 1,000 events and performances each year, including music, theater, and comedy. Popular events include the annual Scottsdale Arts Festival, the Scottsdale Culinary Festival, and the weekly Scottsdale Artwalk.
Another attraction is the recently completed SkySong, an Arizona State University Innovation Center, which has 1.2 million square feet of office, research, retail, and hotel and conference center space.
Scottsdale Community College is the city's main institution of higher education. Many residents commute to Arizona State University in Tempe (ranked No. 60 in U.S. News's Top Public National Universities), which is 10 miles away.
The nonprofit Scottsdale Healthcare houses more than 6,700 physicians and staff, and the city is home to one of three major branches of the Mayo Clinic.
Scottsdale's economy is heavily dominated by the tourism industry, which provides approximately 16 percent of the city's jobs. Other top employers include Scottsdale Healthcare, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, General Dynamics-Decision Systems, Scottsdale Unified School District, Caremark/CVS, the City of Scottsdale, the Phoenician resort, and the Vanguard Group.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his apprentices built his personal retreat, Taliesin West, at the foot of the McDowell Mountains in Scottsdale in 1937, using mostly local materials from the desert. Wright's apprentice, Paolo Soleri, also settled in Scottsdale, and his residence and sculpture studio, Cosanti, is an Arizona historic site. Soleri also formed the Cosanti Foundation, which aims to design a prototype town, Arcosanti, a fusion of architecture and ecology. Living among such grand architecture and luxury resorts doesn't come cheap: The median home price in Scottsdale is $385,000.
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