Gilbert

Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located southeast of Phoenix within the city's metropolitan area. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, Gilbert was once known as the "Hay Shipping Capital of the World". It is the fifth-largest municipality in Arizona, and the fourth-largest in the Phoenix metro area. It has grown at an extremely high rate over the last three decades, increasing in population from 5,717 in 1980 to 267,918 as of the 2020 census. The town grew at an average annual rate of over 10% during this 40-year period. In 2019, the town ranked highly on three national surveys, related to safety, livability and family life; it was named the fourth most livable town in the United States and the seventh-best place to raise a family in the U.S. Gilbert has a subtropical, hot desert type of climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) with dry and hot summers, and mild to warm winters, with little rainfall. As of the census of 2010, there were 208,453 people, 74,147 housing units, and 3.01 persons per household. In 2009 the estimated racial makeup of the town was: 15.4% Hispanics or Latinos, 3.1% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 4.7% Asian, and 0.2% Pacific Islander. By 2019 the average age was reported as 33.6 years old.

History

The town of Gilbert, Arizona was founded in 1910. It was known as the "Hay Capital of the World" from 1911 until the late 1920s. In 2019, it was named the fourth-safest town in the U.S. and the seventh-best place to raise a family in the United States. The town is located on the east side of the Yavapai River, which runs through the center of the city. It is also known as "Gilbert, Arizona" because of the town's location on the west bank of the Arizona River, where the city is located. The city's name is derived from the word "gilbert" which means "town" or "city" in Spanish. It also means "home" in English, which is the name given to the area where the town was founded. The name "Gilberts" is also used to refer to the first store in the town, which was opened in 1912. The first store was called "Ayer's Grocery Store" and it was located in the same location as the present-day Gilbert Elementary School. It has since been moved several times, including to the current location of the Gilbert High School, where it still stands. The school was established in 1915 and is still in use today. The community was founded by the Mormon church, which had moved to Gilbert after the fall of the Spanish-American War in 1914. In 1918, the town became the site of the first public library in the country.

Geography

Gilbert is located in the southeast portion of the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is south of Mesa, northeast of Chandler, and northwest of Queen Creek. The town has a subtropical, hot desert type of climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) with dry and hot summers, and mild to warm winters, with little rainfall. In the 2000 Census, the town had an estimated area of 40 square miles (104 km²). As of 2021 the town is expected to have a total area of 68.8 sq miles (178 km²) of which 0.2 sq miles is water. It has an estimated population of 2,000, with the majority of residents living in the central part of the town, which has a population of 1,000. The city is located on the Arizona Turnpike, which runs from south of the city to north of it. The turnpike is one of the busiest roads in the United States, with more than 1.5 million vehicles per day. It was built in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a way to connect the Phoenix area with the rest of the state. The Turnpikes were the first road to connect Phoenix with other parts of the U.S., and the first one to cross the Arizona/Arizona border. The Phoenix area has a long history of being a hot desert town, with hot summers and mild winters. It also has a hot, dry, and dry desert climate, with dry winters and mild summers.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 208,453 people, 74,147 housing units, and 3.01 persons per household. Between 2000 and 2010, the town of Gilbert was the fastest-growing incorporated place among populations of 100,000 or more in the United States. The town has been known for its high population of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a fact evidenced by the building of the Gilbert Arizona Temple, which was dedicated on March 2, 2014. In 2009 the estimated racial makeup of the town was: 81.5% White, 15.4% Hispanics or Latinos, 3.1% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 4.7% Asian, and 6.0% Pacific Islander. A 2019 report put the rate at close to 50% for residents over the age of 25. The average age was reported as 33.6. by 2019, the average age of Gilbert residents is 33.8 years old. The median household income is $89,077, as compared to a state-wide median of $53,000. The highest household median income in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area with population 50,000+ is $35,559 per capita. In 2008, CNN's Money magazine ranked Gilbert as one of the best places to live in the U.S., with a rating of 9.9 out of 10. It was also ranked one of top 25 safest cities in the country.

Economy

According to the town's 2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: Dignity Health, employing about 1,000; and Isagenix International, a marketing company employing >700.Additional employers noted in a 2019 report were Dignity Care, employing 1,100, and Dignity Life, employing 2,000. The city's economy is based on a combination of manufacturing, construction, and health care, according to the 2013 report. The town's unemployment rate is 3.7 percent, the lowest in the state. The unemployment rate for the state is 2.9 percent. The state's economy has grown at a rate of about 1.5 percent per year, the report says. The U.S. economy is growing at an average of 1.8 percent a year. The economy is expected to grow at 2.4 percent in the next few years, the city's 2013 report says, and the unemployment rate could rise to 2.7 per cent in the coming years. It's estimated that the city will have a population of 2.6 million by the end of the year, up from 2.3 million in 2012. The population is currently 1.7 million. The rate of growth is projected to be 2.2 percent by the year's end, the 2013 Report says. It says the economy will grow by 1.6 percent in 2014 and 2.1 percent in 2015, and 1.3 percent in 2016. The top employers are Dignity Healthcare, DignityCare, Isagenx International, and isagenix.

Arts and culture

Gilbert is home to a 9/11 Memorial that features an eight-foot steel girder beam which held up the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Former Gilbert Fire Chief Collin DeWitt fund-raised extensively for three years to create the memorial. There was an unveiling ceremony of the memorial on the 10th anniversary of the attack on September 11, 2011. Gilbert Elementary School was built in 1913, and now houses the Gilbert Historical Museum. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is listed on the Arizona State Register of Historical Sites. The school is listed as a National Historic Landmark in the state's Register of Public Landmarks. It was also listed as one of the first schools in the United States to be built after the Civil War, and is now the site of the Gilbert Museum and Art Gallery. The elementary school was also the first school in the U.S. to have a gymnasium, which was opened in 1913. The gym was later converted into a museum, which is now listed as the National Museum of American History and Art, and houses a collection of photographs of the Arizona state and local historic sites. The museum is also home to the Gilbert Public Library, which opened in 1916. The library was the first public library in Arizona, and the first in the country to be opened after World War II. It has been open to the public for more than 100 years, and has a library collection of more than 4,000 books.

Parks and recreation

Gilbert Regional Park and Desert Sky Park were established in 2019 with multi-million dollar investments. Both parks are located in the town of Gilbert, Arizona. The parks are expected to be fully operational by the end of the year.

Government

Gilbert is an incorporated town in Arizona. It was named the "36th Best Place to Live in the nation" by GreatSchools.org in 2010. The town is part of Arizona's 5th congressional district, represented by Republican Andy Biggs. The mayor of Gilbert is Brigette Peterson. Gilbert is considered the "safest municipality in Arizona" and the 25th safest in the country by CQ Press. It is theoretically vulnerable to annexation by neighboring Mesa and Chandler, which are incorporated as cities. For instance, Arizona towns do not have as much power to regulate utilities and construction within their borders as cities possess. The city of Gilbert has a population of 3,000 people. It has an average income of $30,000 per year, and an average life expectancy of 54.5 years, according to the city's 2010 census. The average household income in the town is $28,000. The area has a crime rate of 1.2 per cent, and a murder rate of 0.7 per cent. The rate of crime in the city is 0.8 per cent; the city has a poverty rate of 2.4 per cent and a high school graduation rate of 8.5 per cent (2010). The town has a median household income of $26,000, compared to the national average of $26,500. The state's crime rate is 1.7 out of every 1,000; the state's poverty rate is 2.1 out of 1,100. Gilbert has an unemployment rate of 3.0.

Education

Most of Gilbert is zoned to schools in the Gilbert Public Schools, while other portions are zoning to districts including the Chandler Unified School District. Also in Gilbert are charter schools such as Eduprize (the first charter school in Arizona), American Leadership Academy, and Legacy Traditional School. The town is also home to Gilbert Christian Schools, a chain of private schools. In 2018, the Park University opened the Gilbert Campus Center after leasing 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2) at the University Building in the city's Heritage District. It is the first of its kind in the state of Arizona and is located in the heart of Gilbert's historic Heritage District, which is home to many historic buildings. The Park University Campus Center opened in 2018, and is in the center of the Heritage District and the University of Arizona's Gilbert campus. It has a campus of 1,700 sq ft (18,000 sq m) and is on the second floor of the University building, which was built in the early 20th century. It was the first college campus in Arizona to be built in that time, and the first to be located in Arizona. The University of Phoenix is also located in Gilbert, and opened a new campus in the same area in the late 1990s. The campus is located on the first floor of a building that was once part of the Arizona National Guard base. It opened in the mid-1990s and is now the second tallest building in Arizona, behind the Arizona State Capitol.

Infrastructure

Gilbert is primarily served by one area freeway, the Santan Freeway portion of Loop 202. Several regional arterials also serve the area, including Williams Field Road, Chandler Boulevard, and Gilbert Road. Bus service is limited in Gilbert, with some northsouth routes in Mesa dead-ending at Baseline Road before entering Gilbert. In 2015, 1.9 percent of Gilbert households lacked a car, and the figure was virtually unchanged in 2016 (1.7 percent) The city of Gilbert has a low percentage of households without a car. Gilbert averaged 2.08 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8. In 2018 Waymo started testing in a small portion of the northwest portion of Gilbert. The town enjoys relative closeness to Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport, which is located in east Mesa, and is a 25-minute drive from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Recently, a park-and-ride facility was constructed in downtown Gilbert for bus service and future commuter rail service. Although the facility borders the Union Pacific (formerly Southern Pacific) tracks and has provisions for commuter railService, there is currently no such service. Sunday service is only available on Routes 108, 112, 156, and 184, with most of these routes operating at 30-minute frequency on weekdays. Gilbert is located on the Arizona Turnpike, which runs from Phoenix to Phoenix. It is a short drive from the Phoenix International Airport to the Phoenix/Mesa Gateway Airport.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Gilbert, Maricopa County, Arizona = 13.8. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 65. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Gilbert = 6.4 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 267,918 individuals with a median age of 30.5 age the population grows by 77.74% in Gilbert, Maricopa County, Arizona population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 3,906.25 residents per square mile of area (1,508.20/km²). There are average 3.14 people per household in the 62,026 households with an average household income of $86,500 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 4.90% of the available work force and has dropped -4.50% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 26.10%. The number of physicians in Gilbert per 100,000 population = 199.1.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Gilbert = 6.8 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 26. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 296. 104 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 36.1 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 45, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Gilbert, Maricopa County, Arizona which are owned by the occupant = 79.75%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 9 years with median home cost = $176,910 and home appreciation of -19.41%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $7.57 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $3,519 per student. There are 17.8 students for each teacher in the school, 352 students for each Librarian and 922 students for each Counselor. 10.26% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 24.15% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 11.21% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).