The Economic and Business Research Center (EBRC) celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. As we look back over the three-quarters of a century that the Center has been in existence, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at Tucson then and now and how the city has changed in that time. When the Bureau of Business Research (now the Economic and Business Research Center) began in the summer of 1949, Tucson city had less than 50,000 residents, and fewer people lived in Arizona than in Pima County today.
This article will compare the Tucson Metropolitan Area (which is Pima County) and the city of Tucson using the 1950 Census of Population through the 2020 Census and the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS) one-year estimates, which are the closest available demographic data within the timeframe of 1949 and 2024. When referencing Tucson in this article, we are referring to the city, not the metropolitan area (which would be the county). Arizona and the U.S. data for these two periods will also be included for a broader perspective and other geographies within the state will be highlighted when noteworthy. Here is a look at what the population and economy of our area looked like then and now.
Population and Growth Over Time…