Phoenix metropolitan area, also known as the Valley of the Sun, is a metropolitan area that includes Phoenix, Arizona. The population of the Phoenix metropolitan area has increased by 54% from 1990 through 2000, compared to the average United States rate of only 15%, making Arizona the second fastest growing state in the nation throughout the 1990’s (The fastest was Nevada). In 1950 the population of the Phoenix metropolitan area stood at 332,000 (one-tenth of the 2000 figure), a figure that doubled by 1960.
