Has Phoenix established itself as the #2 city of the western US? (Tucson: insurance, schools)

[gwillyfromphilly]

Phoenix has made huge strides of progress and improvements over the last 20-30 years. Over the last 30 years Phoenix has surpass many cities in the Western US when it comes to prominence and importance. Now the big question needs to be asked. Has the city of Phoenix now established itself as the #2 "de facto" city behind Los Angeles when it comes to prominence and importance?

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Phoenix has made huge strides of progress and improvements over the last 20-30 years. Over the last 30 years Phoenix has surpass many cities in the Western US when it comes to prominence and importance. Now the big question needs to be asked. Has the city of Phoenix now established itself as the #2 "de facto" city behind Los Angeles when it comes to prominence and importance?

Population wise, yes. Not so sure about prominence & importance. San Francisco (Bay Area) & Seattle seem to be more highly regarded due to being leaders in the big business world, especially the tech sector. Phoenix is up & coming in this area, but not quite there yet. Las Vegas is very well known in the entertainment sector, and seems to be tops on people's "must see/must do" list, so the spotlight shines brightly on Vegas, and gives that place more importance as far as top travel destinations. Unfortunately, Phoenix is still thought of as a sprawling desert oasis that largely attracts retirees. It's definitely more than just that, but old reputations are hard to shake.

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Population wise, yes. Not so sure about prominence & importance. San Francisco (Bay Area) & Seattle seem to be more highly regarded due to being leaders in the big business world, especially the tech sector. Phoenix is up & coming in this area, but not quite there yet. Las Vegas is very well known in the entertainment sector, and seems to be tops on people's "must see/must do" list, so the spotlight shines brightly on Vegas, and gives that place more importance as far as top travel destinations. Unfortunately, Phoenix is still thought of as a sprawling desert oasis that largely attracts retirees. It's definitely more than just that, but old reputations are hard to shake.

Well said and I agree.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Population wise, yes. Not so sure about prominence & importance. San Francisco (Bay Area) & Seattle seem to be more highly regarded due to being leaders in the big business world, especially the tech sector. Phoenix is up & coming in this area, but not quite there yet. Las Vegas is very well known in the entertainment sector, and seems to be tops on people's "must see/must do" list, so the spotlight shines brightly on Vegas, and gives that place more importance as far as top travel destinations. Unfortunately, Phoenix is still thought of as a sprawling desert oasis that largely attracts retirees. It's definitely more than just that, but old reputations are hard to shake.

I personally don't run into many people that think this about Phoenix. Most people ask me about hiking, sports, events, and resorts. A lot of people have heard about the massive semi-conductor manufacturing expansion as well, I've had people ask me what is driving Phoenix as the location for all this activity.

I do agree with where you rate Phoenix, behind Seattle, SF, LA and Vegas in terms of sheer popularity or prominence be it in popular or business culture. Also, using city and even metro population figures doesn't make a lot of sense OP. Yes, SF is technically a smaller city than Phoenix but the bay area region is way bigger with almost 10M in the bay area CSA. Phoenix just cracked 5 million last year. It's not very comparable.

[Ponderosa]

LOL. SF, San Diego, LA, Denver, Seattle, Las Vegas, even Tucson. We are not even close. Better than Albuquerque, though.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

LOL. SF, San Diego, LA, Denver, Seattle, Las Vegas, even Tucson. We are not even close. Better than Albuquerque, though.

I'd rank it like this, personally. I've spent a lot of time in all of these cities. Vegas has more entertainment but it's a tourism based economy, educational options are lacking, the area is adding pro sports now but Phoenix has been established in that space much longer. If you love gambling and smokey places it's the spot to be though.

LA
SF
SEA
DEN
PHX
LV
PDX
SLC
TUS
ABQ

[marinezac]

I think a number of cities Denver, Portland, Seattle, certainly Las Vegas, San Fran, San Diego have more tourism than us still though.

[Mike from back east]

I suspect Phoenix is #1 in one respect . . . snowbird cities.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by locolife

I'd rank it like this, personally. I've spent a lot of time in all of these cities. Vegas has more entertainment but it's a tourism based economy, educational options are lacking, the area is adding pro sports now but Phoenix has been established in that space much longer. If you love gambling and smokey places it's the spot to be though.

LA
SF
SEA
DEN
PHX
LV
PDX
SLC
TUS
ABQ

If you rank Denver ahead of Phoenix in this category, that's not something to be proud of. We should be ahead of Denver by now, and about equivalent with Seattle. I'm not a huge fan of Seattle, but perhaps we should take a serious look at what they've done to give them more prominence. Here's a hint: they focus less on weather & recreation, and more on industry, innovation, and brainpower. Vegas is an infant to the pro sports market, but they're already steps ahead of us by putting Allegiant Stadium in a much more desirable location than where State Farm Stadium is. And their teams have the city identity, unlike 75% of ours. But you are correct that Vegas has a long standing reputation as a casino town, and that's something which I think will always stick with them (whether that's good or bad).

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

I suspect Phoenix is #1 in one respect . . . snowbird cities.

That's because we've focused too heavily on being a retirement & snowbird haven. Unfortunately, it's part of our national reputation, and further proof that reputations are hard to shake.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

. . . That's because we've focused too heavily on being a retirement & snowbird haven. Unfortunately, it's part of our national reputation, and further proof that reputations are hard to shake.

The snowbird thing is more a plus than a minus for Phoenix. I've often posted in forums that retirees are the best business to attract. We don't require more schools be built which is about half of the cost of running most cities/counties; we don't do the old 9-to-5 schlep to/from work so we don't require more highway lanes to accommodate even more rush hour traffic; we don't require jobs so there's no need to give away our tax dollars as incentives to draw employers here; we have our own retirement income which is free money coming in from out of state pensions, IRAs, and stock dividends; we don't work so there's no pollution from the industrial smokestacks we left behind in the "old country" (Baltimore); we have our own medical insurance in the form of Medicare so there's no cost to local government for that; retirees are long past their rowdy stage so we don't need much in the way of police, courts and prisons. Snowbirds and retirees bring lots of free money to spend on medical facilities, eateries, all manner of retail, dwellings, motor vehicles, etc. and we pay for these things out of our own pockets, not the public trough, and the tax monies we contribute are gravy to the state and local governments.