The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – often referred to as the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Phoenix Metro – is a metropolitan area, centered on the city of Phoenix, which includes much of the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. The United States Office of Management and Budget designates the area as the Phoenix-Mesa-ScottsdaleMetropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), defining it as Maricopa and Pinal counties. As of the Census Bureau’s 2017 population estimates, Metro Phoenix had 4,737,270 residents, making it the 11th largest Metropolitan Area in the nation by population.
