Arizona Real Estate Since 1977

History

In 1891, Miss Rachie, the first veterinary surgeon in Arizona Territory, settled on a ranch south of Mesa, studying irrigation engineering. By 1900, he had acquired 18,000 acres (73 km²) of land, and began drawing up plans for a townsite on what was then known as the Chandler Ranch. The townsite office opened on May 17, 1912, the same year that Chandler High School was established. By 1913, a town center had become established, featuring the luxurious Hotel San Marcos, the first golf resort in the state.

Most of Chandler's economy was successfully sustained during the Great Depression (a second San Marcos hotel was canceled due to the Depression however), but the cotton crash a few years later had a much deeper impact on the city's residents. 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. By 1980, it had grown to 30,000, and it has since paced the Phoenix metropolitan area's high rate of growth, with vast suburban residential areas swallowing former agricultural plots. Some of this growth was fueled by the establishment of manufacturing plants for communications and computing firms such as Motorola and Intel, but despite the inclusion of many large businesses, Chandler is often considered a bedroom community for the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 176,581 people, 62,377 households, and 45,410 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,050.5 people per square mile (1,177.7/km²). There were 66,592 housing units at an average density of 1,150.4/sq mi (444.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 76.19% White, 3.48% Black or African American, 1.20% Native American, 4.22% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 10.76% from other races, and 3.01% from two or more races. 21.99% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Following the 2000 census, Chandler has remained one of the fastest growing cities in America, reaching population growth above 20% since this time. Growth is expected to subside within the next ten years due to fixed borders with Pinal County and the Gila River Indian Community to the south, Mesa and Tempe to the north, Phoenix to the west, and Gilbert to the northeast.

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. 19.3% of all households 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.

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 an influential role in city growth strategies with four locations in the municipal area, including its first factory to be designated "environmentally sustainable" under current Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design criteria. Other high-technology manufacturing firms have partnerships with the local government, their operations employing approximately twenty-five percent of non-government workers in 2007. Although per capita employment growth in the sector has been in decline in Arizona since 2000, semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing was largely unaffected; a series of customized grants for the training of net new employees, incorporating the Phoenix urbanized area (twenty-seven thousand workers now commute to work in other communities), resulted in a larger market share of (Californian) industry.

Since 2003, more than 2,900 jobs and investments totalling $3 billion have been created along the Price and Santan freeways, between Arizona Avenue and Gilbert Road in the so-called South Arizona Avenue Corridor. Three shopping malls provide a "strong attraction" to such an open-ended, high exposure trade area: the 1,300,000-square-foot (121,000 m2) Chandler Fashion Center, opened in 2001, has spurred on several courts and laneway developments. In the southern end of the Corridor, Wal-Mart is expected to draw business from as far south as the Hunt Highway, bringing with it a "large consumer population" which will improve "the image and perception of the area" in the mindset of many Greater Phoenix residents and state commercial retailers. The northern portion is "attractive and possesses the historic character" for success, which "can be grown to the south".

Education

Elementary and Secondary

Most of Chandler is served by the Chandler Unified School District. Chandler west of Loop 101 is served by the Kyrene Elementary School District and the Tempe Union High School District. The area east of Loop 101 and north of Warner Road is served by Mesa Public Schools. The San Vincente neighborhood in Chandler is served by Gilbert Public Schools.

Education alternatives include charter schools, Christian schools, parochial schools, magnet schools, as well as "traditional" academies.

Post-secondary

The two-year Chandler-Gilbert Community College, serving 13,000 students, is located in the east of the city near the Gilbert border. Private educational institutions Western International University and Apollo Group subsidiary University of Phoenix have locations here. Chandler is located 14 miles (23 km) from Arizona State University in downtown Tempe.

Chandler Public Library

The Chandler Public Library serves Chandler and the greater Phoenix East Valley. The main library is located in downtown Chandler, with three branches located elsewhere in the city: Sunset, Basha (shared with Basha High School), and Hamilton (shared with Hamilton High School).

As part of a family literacy project to encourage literacy and library use among families who live in public housing, the Chandler Public Library visited three public housing locations to offer a four-week series of programs at each.