Maricopa, Arizona

Life in Maricopa, Arizona, explained by people who’ve lived in Maricopa:

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Maricopa Favorites

What’s your favorite thing about living in Maricopa?

Sunsets. (Dakota, 1 year)
Quiet. (Primavera, 1 year)
The housing is cheap, the night sky is beautiful without all the street lights to interfere, it’s quiet. (Erin, 1 year)
The people. (Samantha, 1 year)
How it’s growing. (Jason, 2 years)
Small town feel, quiet, no street lights in residential areas. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
Affordable housing. (Tiera, 2 years)
Small knit community. (Laura, 3 years)
Sunsets and the paramotors flying around. (Jon, 3 years)
Simple. (Amber, 3 years)
It’s very quiet. (Dawn, 3 years)
The weather in the spring and fall. (Bobbi, 3 years)
Our house. (Robert, 4 years)
Inexpensive mortgage. (Smith, 4 years)
Low crime. (Chris, 4 years)
Inexpensive housing. (Andrew, 4 years)
The higher percentage of faith based families living in Maricopa. (Dale, 4 years)
Home prices. (Julia, 5 years)
The constant expansion. (Rachael, 6 years)
Nothing. (Katherine, 6 years)
Community. (Donna, 7 years)
Quiet town. (Shari, 7 years)
The nice, clean and friendly neighborhoods. That small town feel. (Michelle, 7 years)
That it’s a small town, good neighbors, no much crime. (Yareli, 8 years)
Rural. (DOUG, 8 years)
Away from the “big” city, but close enough to visit. (Amber, 8 years)
The people. (Don, 8 years)
Family friendly. (Vicki, 8 years)
Single Family Housing Community. (Shelley, 8 years)
How community oriented it is. Everyone looks out for one another. (Cara, 8 years)
Small town feel. (Jennifer, 9 years)
Small town feel. (Anne, 9 years)
All the polite helpful people. (Jacki, 9 years)
Quiet and peaceful, great people. (Rita, 10 years)
Still a small town. (Kathy, 11 years)
Small town atmosphere. (Kindra, 11 years)
Small town feel. (Jeff, 12 years)
Not too many people. (Brady, 12 years)
The small town feeling. Running into friends every where. (Tiffany, 12 years)
Cost of living, house/yard for the money. (Chris, 13 years)
Home prices. (Rita, 14 years)
Small town feel. (Lisa, 14 years)
The stars…my community is quiet at night! (Jenn, 15 years)
Small town. (Matthew, 29 years)

Maricopa Least Favorites

What’s your least favorite thing about living in Maricopa?

How people drive. (Dakota, 1 year)
Not enough stores for shopping. (Primavera, 1 year)
Traffic out of Maricopa. (Erin, 1 year)
It’s the desert. (Samantha, 1 year)
Traffic. (Jason, 2 years)
Nasty water, terrible water company, internet options, proximity to good stores, the amount of accidents on the Highway 347. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
Traffic. (Tiera, 2 years)
Its 30 minutes from nearest hospital. (Laura, 3 years)
Roads in and out and the chicken barns smell. (Jon, 3 years)
Driving/traffic in town. (Amber, 3 years)
The Highway 347. (Dawn, 3 years)
Getting jumped by five guys. (Bobbi, 3 years)
Traffic. (Robert, 4 years)
Traffic. (Chris, 4 years)
No hospital. (Andrew, 4 years)
Traffic is horrendous. (Yolonda, 4 years)
Highway 347 traffic jams. (Dale, 4 years)
Horrible drivers/traffic. (Rachael, 6 years)
Terrible people, commute, and availability of businesses. (Katherine, 6 years)
Traffic. (Donna, 7 years)
Traffic. (Shari, 7 years)
The one way in one way out, aka Highway 347. (Michelle, 7 years)
The train. (Yareli, 8 years)
Maricopa Meadows, stray animals. (DOUG, 8 years)
Traffic. (Amber, 8 years)
The traffic on Highway 347. (Don, 8 years)
Stealing. (Vicki, 8 years)
Utility Bills. (Shelley, 8 years)
Having to commute out of town on the Highway 347 for things we don’t have access to out here. (Cara, 8 years)
Traffic. (Jennifer, 9 years)
The media we have. (Anne, 9 years)
Not enough resources. (Jacki, 9 years)
Traffic. (Rita, 10 years)
High Utility bills. (Kathy, 11 years)
Highway 347 traffic in/out of town. (Kindra, 11 years)
Lack of shopping. (Jeff, 12 years)
Job market. (Brady, 12 years)
Highway 347. (Tiffany, 12 years)
Highway 347 traffic. (Chris, 13 years)
Highway 347. (Rita, 14 years)
That it is getting bigger. (Lisa, 14 years)
So many disrespectful kids. (Jenn, 15 years)
The town is getting bigger. (Matthew, 29 years)

Maricopa Things To Do

What are fun things to do in Maricopa?

Casino. (Primavera, 1 year)
Copper sky, casino. (Erin, 1 year)
AK-chin, local events. (Samantha, 1 year)
Copper Sky….nothing. (Jason, 2 years)
Dog park and .25 wings. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
The community hosts a few fun events, farmers markets, nice communities to walk and play in. (Tiera, 2 years)
Ultrastar, copper sky. (Laura, 3 years)
The paramotor rides by the airport the annual Arizona Flying Circus and the Library events for kids and of course Harrah’s. (Jon, 3 years)
Ultra star. (Amber, 3 years)
Hiking, horseback riding, riding sand toys. (Dawn, 3 years)
Mountain hiking. (Bobbi, 3 years)
Ultrastar, Copper Sky Park. (Robert, 4 years)
walking, gardening and avoiding crowds. (Smith, 4 years)
Salsa fest. (Chris, 4 years)
Explore. (Andrew, 4 years)
Salsa festival. (Yolonda, 4 years)
Go to parks, Ak-Chin theater, church activities. (Dale, 4 years)
copper sky and casino. (Julia, 5 years)
Ultrastar. That’s really it. (Rachael, 6 years)
They finally got the entertainment center and then the pool plus park. (Katherine, 6 years)
Ultrastar. (Donna, 7 years)
Walk, Movies & Ak Chin Ultrastar, Stagecoach Days and other city events. (Michelle, 7 years)
Copper sky, Ak Chin arcade casino. (Yareli, 8 years)
Movies, Copper Sky park activities. (Amber, 8 years)
Casino, Ultra Star. (Don, 8 years)
Sports, festivals, carnivals. (Vicki, 8 years)
Walking, Casino, Ultra Star. (Shelley, 8 years)
Fairs/festivals, Coppersky has many amenities, Ultrastar, the local Library has many fun events and programs too. (Cara, 8 years)
Lots of parks to visit. (Jennifer, 9 years)
Rockstar Cheer, Copper Sky, Ultrastar. (Anne, 9 years)
Copa events. (Jacki, 9 years)
Copper Sky events, not to far for some sightseeing, hiking. (Rita, 10 years)
High School sports, festivals, movies. (Kathy, 11 years)
Maricopa days, Chili festival, Family fishing derby, library events, movies in the park, copper sky park to play. (Kindra, 11 years)
Watch high school baseball. (Jeff, 12 years)
Skydive. (Brady, 12 years)
Parks, movies, bowling. (Tiffany, 12 years)
Ultra star, fishing lakes. (Chris, 13 years)
Native. (Rita, 14 years)
Ultra star. (Lisa, 14 years)
Swimming, gym. (Matthew, 29 years)

Maricopa’s Reputation

What’s Maricopa known for?

Brake lights / crazy Highway 347 drivers. (Dakota, 1 year)
Because John Wayne had property here. (Primavera, 1 year)
Casino. (Erin, 1 year)
Casino, and festivals. (Samantha, 1 year)
Bad traffic. (Jason, 2 years)
The Highway 347 and being far away. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
Affordable housing, Amtrak. (Tiera, 2 years)
The Amtrak. (Laura, 3 years)
Ufo sightings and global water scams. (Jon, 3 years)
Ak chin casino. (Amber, 3 years)
I don’t know. (Bobbi, 3 years)
Casino. (Robert, 4 years)
Tight-knit community. (Chris, 4 years)
Small town. (Andrew, 4 years)
Idiot drivers. (Yolonda, 4 years)
Small time living atmosphere with a higher percentage of population with a College education. (Dale, 4 years)
Smelling bad. (Julia, 5 years)
The Highway 347. (Rachael, 6 years)
Smelling like cow manure and awful air quality. (Katherine, 6 years)
Cow smell. (Donna, 7 years)
Casino. (Shari, 7 years)
Reasonably priced houses. Friendly people. (Michelle, 7 years)
Being small. (Yareli, 8 years)
Low Rent Housing. (DOUG, 8 years)
Cow smell. (Amber, 8 years)
Small town living. (Don, 8 years)
Dairy farms. (Vicki, 8 years)
Less Expensive Housing. (Shelley, 8 years)
Being a small town. (Cara, 8 years)
Highway 347 traffic. (Jennifer, 9 years)
Cows. (Anne, 9 years)
Being a small town in the middle of no where. (Jacki, 9 years)
Cotton. (Rita, 10 years)
Harrah’s. (Kathy, 11 years)
Derriere! The smell of the Dairy cows, in the air LOL. (Kindra, 11 years)
Traffic. (Jeff, 12 years)
Cows. (Brady, 12 years)
Being far away. (Tiffany, 12 years)
Cows. (Chris, 13 years)
Highway 347. (Rita, 14 years)
Agriculture. (Lisa, 14 years)
Sense of community, Facebook trolls, and lost dogs. And all of the above. (Jenn, 15 years)
Small town and the smell. (Matthew, 29 years)

Maricopa Crime

What’s the crime like in Maricopa?

Stealing from places. (Dakota, 1 year)
I don’t know of any hot spots. (Erin, 1 year)
Not bad. (Samantha, 1 year)
Drugs, domestic violence. (Jason, 2 years)
I hear some pretty terrible things in Rancho and passed the train tracks. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
I hear a lot about crime in mine and other neighborhoods (on Facebook), but I have not experienced any crimes to myself, property and family. I feel safe in my community. (Tiera, 2 years)
Rancho. (Laura, 3 years)
Low crime area. (Jon, 3 years)
Low crime. (Amber, 3 years)
I live way out so I haven’t heard of much crime in my area. (Dawn, 3 years)
In Glendale, bad. (Bobbi, 3 years)
Moderate in Meadows. (Robert, 4 years)
Rare. With a cop shop as big as here, crime has to be under control, right? (Smith, 4 years)
Very little. (Chris, 4 years)
Nearly 0. (Andrew, 4 years)
Light. (Yolonda, 4 years)
Very low, but crime does happen. Unlike some Communities within the Phoenix valley, Maricopa and Ak-Chin police work in partnership to protect both Communities while maintaining the high level of trust and customer relations with the Community. (Dale, 4 years)
Getting worse, lots of DV and theft. (Julia, 5 years)
Copper sky is just constantly full of drugs. (Rachael, 6 years)
Teenagers stealing from Walmart. (Katherine, 6 years)
Every town has crime, but when it fits on 4 pages and is readily available, it can’t be that bad. (Donna, 7 years)
Its low over all. I have noticed small crime is higher in Maricopa Meadows. (Michelle, 7 years)
Kind of low so that’s good. (Yareli, 8 years)
Depends on where you live. (DOUG, 8 years)
Mostly petty things nothing that makes me think I shouldn’t live here. (Amber, 8 years)
Seems to be a safe place. (Don, 8 years)
Stealing. (Vicki, 8 years)
Not Scared at all. (Shelley, 8 years)
Not bad. Been warned that south end of town can be rough. (Cara, 8 years)
Minimal. (Jennifer, 9 years)
I think it’s very low – although Rancho and Villages seems to have a lot. (Anne, 9 years)
Not much I’d say. (Jacki, 9 years)
Low crime rate. (Rita, 10 years)
Little crime. (Kathy, 11 years)
Theft, domestic violence. (Kindra, 11 years)
Minimal. (Jeff, 12 years)
Rail road tracks, Papago farms. (Brady, 12 years)
I think the crime is low. (Tiffany, 12 years)
Too many burglaries. (Rita, 14 years)
Extremely low. (Lisa, 14 years)
Increasing. (Jenn, 15 years)
It’s ok. Used to be no crime. (Matthew, 29 years)

Maricopa Advice

Any advice for people moving to Maricopa?

Don’t move here unless you want to be stuck on Highway 347 and deal with crazy people. (Dakota, 1 year)
It’s cheap and quiet. (Primavera, 1 year)
Traffic will make any sane person go crazy really quickly. (Erin, 1 year)
Look at job market and drive time. (Samantha, 1 year)
Commute = your new pastime. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
Please consider the commute to the city to work, do your research and make sure that this is the right place for you and your families needs. Otherwise don’t take much of what is said about this nice city to heart, there are a lot of good people here. (Tiera, 2 years)
Be prepared to travel. (Laura, 3 years)
If you’re from California don’t come Maricopa is a terrible place to live downtown Phoenix is a nice gun-free zone. (Jon, 3 years)
Research electric and water. (Amber, 3 years)
Be prepared for the drive. (Dawn, 3 years)
Be careful. (Bobbi, 3 years)
The schools under perform. (Robert, 4 years)
Buy now! (Chris, 4 years)
At night it smells like manure shut your windows. (Andrew, 4 years)
Move somewhere else. (Yolonda, 4 years)
Rent for first year, get used to the different neighborhoods then purchase a home. (Dale, 4 years)
Put away your shopping cart. (Julia, 5 years)
If you can’t drive, then this isn’t the place for you. (Rachael, 6 years)
It’s a quiet town near everything you need or want. (Donna, 7 years)
Stay north of the tracks. (Shari, 7 years)
Stay off of Facebook! (Michelle, 7 years)
Know your train times. (Yareli, 8 years)
Research the utilities first. You can even ask fir averages for your potential address. Know what you are getting yourself into especially with ED#3 for larger homes running A/C in the summer. (Amber, 8 years)
Drive safe on the Highway 347. (Vicki, 8 years)
Be aware of utility costs. (Shelley, 8 years)
Stay north of tracks until the overpass is built when house hunting. (Cara, 8 years)
Work from home or in town. (Jennifer, 9 years)
Look into everything before moving. If you can live without big box stores, and a like a small-town vibe it’s perfect. (Anne, 9 years)
If you like a small town feel and people helping people then its for you. (Jacki, 9 years)
It’s a great place to live. (Rita, 10 years)
Be prepared for very high utility bills. (Kathy, 11 years)
Be patient. Small town, but heavily populated. (Kindra, 11 years)
Be patient. (Jeff, 12 years)
No. (Brady, 12 years)
It’s a great small town full of amazing people. Just be prepared if there is an accident on the Highway 347 you are stuck. (Tiffany, 12 years)
Prepare for an unpredictable commute. (Chris, 13 years)
Meet your neighbors. Be involved in the community. (Lisa, 14 years)
Yes, Highway 347 is closed. No, you cannot take Riggs. Go around… don’t worry 74 other people will tell you how to go around. (Jenn, 15 years)
Good luck on traffic. (Matthew, 29 years)

Maricopa Stories

Share an experience you’ve had in Maricopa (fun, crazy, dangerous, etc.).

When a semi truck hit me while turning. (Dakota, 1 year)
Nothing yet. (Primavera, 1 year)
Loved the holidays decor! (Samantha, 1 year)
The dog park and all the people there are great. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
I was in Walmart on day and my check was declined for just over $100 in groceries. I didn’t have my debit card with me and had to ask the cashier to put my items back because I could not come back for them right away. The man behind me overheard and paid for my groceries! It was amazing and just what I needed at the time! It was truly a miracle. (Tiera, 2 years)
The events at Coppersky, Movie in the park, Community carnival, Maricopa Santa. (Laura, 3 years)
Went flying with airparamo in a T-Rex suit. (Jon, 3 years)
Cars broken into and change taken our first summer here. (Amber, 3 years)
Getting stuck in monsoon storms. (Dawn, 3 years)
Nothing good. (Bobbi, 3 years)
Copper Sky fireworks. (Robert, 4 years)
Took our son to agriculture center, very fun (fun). Took our son to library for scheduled free event and could not even find parking space (crazy). Voted against tax increase to build Copper Sky, not free, then took our son to Ak-Chin reservation carnival, free. (Smith, 4 years)
The citizens of Maricopa tend to help each other out! (Chris, 4 years)
A 5-hour commute that should have taken only one hour. (Yolonda, 4 years)
Just moved in with transport rental truck full of furniture and other boxes from old home. It was just me and my wife, I was sick and just got out of hospital from surgery. Without notifying anyone, LDS church members showed up to help unpack the truck, made lunch for us and helped assemble all the beds. (Dale, 4 years)
When I first visited here I told the Walgreens clerk something must be wrong with the sewer because the building smelled like poop. Oops little did I know…. (Julia, 5 years)
Mud Run. (Rachael, 6 years)
I got stuck waiting for a train for hours because it had passengers. (Katherine, 6 years)
I’ve met so many wonderful people. Going to coppersky classes are the best. (Donna, 7 years)
Fun, beautiful, nice. (Yareli, 8 years)
I saw the craziest one car accident once on the Maricopa/ Casa Grande Highway. Somehow the car had gone up the embankment and got stuck trying to get over the railroad tracks. Who does that? (Amber, 8 years)
Seeing two rocket launches at night! Star Gazing, swimming at night, walking the dogs at night, the fireworks! (Shelley, 8 years)
We had something tragic happen and a friend created a meal train link and all sorts of people in town signed up and helped us through our grief. (Cara, 8 years)
My daughter is a multi-year national champion with Rockstar Cheer. (Anne, 9 years)
People get sick and they start meal trains up for them. Personally, someone came right over when my son’s car handles fell off and he needed help getting into his car. (Jacki, 9 years)
4th July fun. (Rita, 10 years)
Watch fireworks for Maricopa and Ak Chin at same time. (Jeff, 12 years)
Salsa festival. (Chris, 13 years)

Maricopa’s Future

How do you think Maricopa will change over the next 10 years?

Will grow. (Primavera, 1 year)
I hope it will continue to expand, as will the ways in/out of Maricopa. (Erin, 1 year)
It will get more lower income people and crime will go up. (Samantha, 1 year)
Growing, traffic worse. (Jason, 2 years)
Hopefully a better water company and water, better shopping and restaurants, events. (Kaitlyn, 2 years)
Yes! It will keep growing, the question is, will the infrastructure keep up? (Tiera, 2 years)
Expand. (Laura, 3 years)
Expand grow and become much more expensive place to live. (Jon, 3 years)
Major growth. (Amber, 3 years)
More crowed. (Dawn, 3 years)
Don’t know. (Bobbi, 3 years)
Residential development growth. (Robert, 4 years)
It will grow. (Chris, 4 years)
Real estate is exploding, I think we’ll see a correction. (Andrew, 4 years)
Probably not we’re on the reservation and so it takes everything that we want to do approval from the reservation. (Yolonda, 4 years)
It’s growing extremely fast and I hope personal faith, the church and a desire for higher education remain the primary importance within the families that move to Maricopa. (Dale, 4 years)
I hope business will grow and it will turn into a normal community not a bedroom community. I hope the things in Casa Grand that I supposed to happen do and I hope that property values go through the roof. (Julia, 5 years)
More people, more business. (Rachael, 6 years)
More growth for businesses. (Donna, 7 years)
More traffic. (Shari, 7 years)
It will become more crowded. (Michelle, 7 years)
It will grow into bigger town. (Yareli, 8 years)
More low rent families, crime and stray pets. (DOUG, 8 years)
Definitely more growth. Hopefully we will get more sit-down restaurants, we already have enough fast food. (Amber, 8 years)
May grow too fast. (Don, 8 years)
Continue to grow. (Vicki, 8 years)
It will probably grow. (Shelley, 8 years)
More stores and hopefully a hospital will open. (Cara, 8 years)
More business opportunities. (Jennifer, 9 years)
Not much. Maybe a few more big companies. (Anne, 9 years)
Too much lower class, because they find out how giving we are here. (Jacki, 9 years)
More industry, stores. (Rita, 10 years)
It will get bigger. (Kathy, 11 years)
Yes, it’s growing. More business means more employment opportunities. We also need to have jobs, which create midlevel income for our residents. The city infrastructure needs to grow too. (Kindra, 11 years)
More shopping. (Jeff, 12 years)
Moving towards upper middle-class community. (Brady, 12 years)
I hope the roads grow and improve as the community continues to grow. (Tiffany, 12 years)
Grow, increase population, more congestion/traffic. (Chris, 13 years)
Chaos…more bickering…more accidents. Less of a tight- community feeling. (Jenn, 15 years)

Maricopa Facts

Any other interesting facts about Maricopa?

Building more places in town just to make it more crowded. (Dakota, 1 year)
The train. (Primavera, 1 year)
The wild horses coming into Maricopa from the freeway. (Laura, 3 years)
Ray Neives is an awesome local celebrity. (Jon, 3 years)
Most people are very friendly and helpful. (Dawn, 3 years)
Train station. (Robert, 4 years)
There are 8 elementary schools, 3 junior high schools and only 1 high school in Maricopa. (Smith, 4 years)
John Wayne didn’t actually own a ranch here. It was south of town. (Andrew, 4 years)
Smells like cow poo 99% of the time. (Yolonda, 4 years)
It’s really close to Chandler and Phoenix so those with teens are still able to have a family day at the Malls or nice restaurants. (Dale, 4 years)
John Wayne once walked this ground (have no idea if that is true). (Julia, 5 years)
Lots of skunks. (Rachael, 6 years)
If you are outgoing and friendly you will be hard pressed to not find someone everywhere you go to chat with. (Amber, 8 years)
I like it just the way it is. Small town, lots of families, very friendly. (Shelley, 8 years)
The library is the know all place to go about things to do in town. (Cara, 8 years)
John Wayne had influence over Maricopa. (Jeff, 12 years)
It’s three hours from Mexico without the smuggling. (Brady, 12 years)
It often smells like cow poop. (Chris, 13 years)