Welcome To Buckeye

Buckeye is a city where rich history, modern growth, and genuine community come together. Located just 35 miles west of downtown Phoenix, Buckeye offers residents the convenience of a major metropolitan area while preserving the charm and comfort of a small-town atmosphere.

Founded in 1888 and incorporated in 1929, Buckeye began as a small agricultural town centered around cotton and farming. While those roots remain visible today, Buckeye has grown into a thriving city spanning more than 639 square miles, making it the largest city by land area in Arizona.

Buckeye is consistently ranked among the fastest-growing cities in the nation, with a population now exceeding 120,000 residents and continuing to rise. Families, professionals, and entrepreneurs are drawn here by affordable housing, strong job growth, and a high quality of life.

Residents enjoy a wide range of shopping, dining, and entertainment options at destinations such as Sundance Town Center, Sundance Crossing, Buckeye Commons, and soon to open Verrado Marketplace, which feature a mix of local businesses and national retailers.

Monroe Avenue, once old U.S. Highway 80, is Buckeye’s historic main street. A stretch of the original roadbed is still in use where Monroe Avenue dead ends into Apache. Old U.S. Highway 80 was originally called the Dixie Overland Highway or the Broadway of America. Before 1926, developers and towns scrambled to be on a coast-to-coast route. The Dixie Overland Highway was the first all-year, coast-to-coast roadway. Since many of these highways shared the same roadbed through parts of the country, people began to be ​confused by the colorful names given these routes. In 1926, the Federal government stepped in and replaced the names with a numerical system. Old U.S. Highway 80 started at Tybee Island, Georgia and crossed the country entering Arizona near Douglas, continuing through Tucson, Phoenix and Buckeye, south to Gila Bend, and exiting the state at Yuma. Its western terminus was San Diego.

Arizona is a right to choose state for education. Parent’s are provided the right to choose from a wide variety of school options, including public, charter, private, online, or home education. Expanding school choice is the single best strategy for improving education for all children and the State of Arizona proudly supports this initiative. Arizona is a national leader in providing parents with these options.

And living in the City of Buckeye is no exception...offering 9 Public school districts, a variety of private and charter schools, and opportunities for career-directed education through Maricopa Community College District and West-Mec, it is obvious education is a priority in our community.

In spite of the heat and minimal rainfall, the Sonoran Desert is one of the most diverse ecosystems in North America. Among the wildlife living in the Sonoran Desert are mountain lions, bobcats, javelina, mule deer, coyotes, ring-tailed cats and even bighorn sheep. Smaller creatures such as gila monsters, desert tortoises, roadrunners, quail, jackrabbits and cottontails, many of which are easily spotted, thrive here.

A wide variety of desert plants ranging from mesquite and palo verde trees to brittlebrush, and of course the mighty saguaro, happily call the desert home. Cacti and creosote flourish, along with a wide array of wildflowers making their annual debut in early spring, and again occasionally after the beginning the monsoon.

The diversity and quantity of birds migrating through each year make bird watching one of the most popular activities in the desert. Riptarian areas provide the best backdrop for viewing raptors, cardinals, phainopepla, wrens, orioles, curve-billed thrashers, and of course doves. In Buckeye, you may see them at Robbin’s Butte Wildlife Area, White Tank Mountains Regional Park and Skyline Regional Park.

Living in the surroundings dominated by a desert climate is an adjustment for many new residents. Buckeye sits in a micro-climate somewhat different than Phoenix, with less rain than the Phoenix average, higher summer temperatures, cooler winter nights, and more days of sunshine.

Phoenix average spring temperatures range from 48 to 72 F and summer temperatures range from 85 to 108 F. Annual precipitation is 7.6 inches; and the average is 36.4 days with precipitation. The annual average is 325 days of sunshine. Monsoon season, bringing powerful rain and dust storms, occurs between mid-June and mid-September. Humidity ranges from a record low of two percent to as high as 78 percent, with the annual average at 50 percent in the mornings and 23 percent in the afternoons. July and August are the months of highest afternoon humidity due to monsoon.