Arizona Flag on Our Flagpole

Arizona – The Grand Canyon State

Arizona Copper Mine
Arizona Copper Mine

The state government is Arizona’s largest employer, while Banner Health is the state’s largest private employer, with over 39,000 employees (2016).

The top employment sectors in Arizona are, as of August 2014, excluding agriculture:

Sector                                                                   Employees (thousands)

  • Trade, transportation, and utilities           488.6
  • Government                                     408.5
  • Education and health services                  392.1
  • Professional and business services             384.2
  • Leisure and hospitality                        286.4
  • Financial activities                           193.2
  • Manufacturing                                  156.0
  • Construction                                   118.2
  • Other services                                  88.2
  • Information                                     41.8
  • Mining and logging                              13.7

Transportation:

Road:

Major Interstate highways in Arizona include:

Arizona Transportation Map
Arizona Transportation Map

The Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas are served by public bus transit systems.  Yuma and Flagstaff also have public bus systems.  Greyhound Lines serves Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and several smaller communities statewide.

Rail:

A light rail system, called Valley Metro Rail, was completed in December 2008; it connects Central Phoenix with the nearby cities of Mesa and Tempe.

Valley Metro
Valley Metro

In Tucson, the Sun Link streetcar system travels through the downtown area, connecting the main University of Arizona campus with Mercado San Agustin on the western edge of downtown Tucson.  Sun Link, loosely based on the Portland Streetcar, launched in July 2014.

Amtrak Southwest Chief route serves the northern part of the state, stopping at Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams and Kingman.  The Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited routes serve South-Central Arizona, stopping at Tucson, Maricopa, Yuma and Benson.  Phoenix lost Amtrak service in 1996 with the discontinuation of the Desert Wind, and now an Amtrak bus runs between Phoenix and the station in Maricopa.

Air:

Airports with regularly scheduled commercial flights include:

Flag of Arizona:

The flag of Arizona consists of 13 rays of red and weld-yellow on the top half, the colors of the flag of Spain, representing the 13 original U.S. states.  The red and yellow also symbolize Arizona’s picturesque sunsets.  The copper star represents the copper mining industry in Arizona. The rest of the flag is colored blue, representing the Colorado River.

Scroll to Top