Apache Junction and Gold Canyon residents enjoy an attractive lifestyle and a fantastic quality of life.

Apache Junction

Apache Junction is a desert community at an elevation 2,070 feet above sea level and located 35 miles directly east of Phoenix on Highway 60 (the Superstition Freeway). It is the easternmost community in the Phoenix-Mesa metropolitan area. Incorporated in 1978, the city currently encompasses approximately 36.5 square miles. It is home to the legendary Superstition Mountains and is the gateway to a wonderful outdoor recreational area.

With a hometown feel, Apache Junction continues to value and respect the natural environment, with lifestyles and activities everyone can enjoy.

The year-round population of Apache Junction in 2004 is estimated at 41,104. Each year the city welcomes over 35,000 seasonal residents, increasing the population of the city from mid-October to mid-April to over 76,000 residents. The area
is fast becoming a popular destination for families, vacationers and business. Surrounded by every natural beauty the southwest can offer, Apache Junction is a growing city with an exciting historic past.

Having celebrated its 25th year of incorporation, Apache Junction does have a place is Arizona history as the point of convergence for supplies and labor during the construction of the Roosevelt Dam, 30 miles east on the historic Apache Trail.

Apache Junction, with mining and transportation roots in the late 19th- and early 20th-century, has never had the traditional downtown amenities found in more established communities. The earliest residential and commercial development in Apache Junction occurred in the 1950s and 1960s along the Apache Trail and was centered around the Superstition Inn (the current
Grand Hotel Triangle / Basha’s Plaza sites). This is the area that the city is actively working to develop as a 21st-century downtown for the community.

In the past ten years Apache Junction has been experiencing moderate residential growth with over 8,000 new homes constructed. The purchasers of these new homes are primarily young dual-income families with children. The cost of living index for Apache Junction is 73 (100 is the national average).

Close to it all, but far enough away from the hustle and bustle, Apache Junction still has the wide open spaces that people come west to find. With all the amenities found locally or very close by, the Apache Junction area is an inviting oasis in the stress-filled environment of today.

Gold Canyon

Gold Canyon Ranch was created from a working cattle ranch at the foot of the southeastern region of the Superstition Mountains. In the 1970s Dinamount Development Corp. assembled the property, and in the 1980s it built the Gold Canyon Resort Hotel that today is the home of two of Arizona’s most notable golf courses, Dinosaur Mountain and Sidewinder.

Gold Canyon has attracted residents from all over the world who call this unincorporated piece of Pinal County home. Over 10,000 people live in the area and love having the historic Superstition Mountains in their back yard. Gold Canyon offers a change of pace from the hectic lifestyle found in most urban centers of the valley.

Some wonderful hiking trails are accessible from Kings Ranch Road and Peralta Trail. Horseback riding is allowed and the area is still rural enough so that nature is the attraction.

Weather

The area experiences approximately nine inches of rain, and an average of 214 totally cloudless days per year. The average January temperature is 53 degrees F, and the average July temperature is 93 degrees F.

Taxes
Sales   
State of Arizona  5.6% 
Pinal County  1.0% 
City of Apache Junction  2.2% 

Property (per $100 assessed valuation), 2001 
City of Apache Junction  0.0 
Pinal County  7.64 
Apache Unified School District  8.07 
    
Income   
City of Apache Junction  none 
State of Arizona  $900* 
* Based on a median family income of $37,726.
Sources: League of Arizona Cities and Towns, Arizona Department of Revenue 

Market Area

The Apache Junction Primary Market Area, extending from Mesa on the west to past Gold Canyon to the east, consists of approximately 150 square miles. This market area has a year-round population of over 140,000 residents. Gold Canyon, although part of the city’s market area, is in unincorporated Pinal County. This area generally includes the residential subdivisions of Superstition Mountain, Mountain Brook Village, Gold Canyon, Peralta Road, and Queen Valley.

Demographics
                                    Apache         Gold            Queen 
                                    Junction        Canyon        Valley 
Population                      41,104           6,029           820 
Median age                   44 years       56 years        65 years 
Households                    17,923           2,785             417 
Median family income     $40,516        $60,438       $44,213 
Source: U.S. Census, 2000
        
Health Care

Quality of life values the availability of quality medical facilities.The Superstition Mountain communities offer it all including –

Banner Baywood Hospitals/Medical Centers
Cardiac Specialists
Long-term and Alzheimer’s care
Professional Registry
Urgent Care
Doctors
Dentists
Physical Therapy
Chiropractic
Drug Services
Hospice
Imaging
Oncology