Tucson Map
Five mountain ranges enclose the basin Tucson sits in, and at about 2,400 feet the city runs several degrees cooler than Phoenix — roughly 554,000 residents in 2024.
Where is Tucson?
Tucson is in southern Arizona, in the valley of the Santa Cruz River, about 60 miles north of the Mexican border at Nogales. It is roughly 110 miles southeast of Phoenix, about 320 miles west of El Paso, and some 400 miles east of San Diego — closer to Mexico than to any other large American city. Like the rest of Arizona it stays on standard time through the summer, unlike neighboring Mountain Time states.
Tucson at a glance
| State | Arizona |
| County | Pima County |
| Population | 554,013 (2024 Census estimate) |
| Rank among US cities | No. 33 of the 100 largest |
| Time zone | Mountain Time |
| Region | West (Mountain division) |
Tucson sits at No. 33 in the 2024 estimates, 6,313 people behind Albuquerque and 3,908 ahead of Fresno. Within Arizona it comes second of seven, behind Phoenix. Against Arizona's 7.58 million residents, though, that is only about 7%. It holds about 51% of Pima County's 1,080,149 residents.
Tucson in Arizona
Tucson is the seat of Pima County, the second most populous of Arizona's 15 counties and one of the largest in area, taking in a long stretch of border country and the Tohono O'odham Nation — the Arizona county map shows the scale. Arizona's population divides sharply between this valley and the Phoenix metro to the northwest, where Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert also sit; the capital, Phoenix, is a two-hour drive up Interstate 10. More at the Arizona state page.
Sky islands and a river that runs underground
The Santa Catalina, Rincon, Santa Rita, Tucson and Tortolita mountains surround the city, and because they rise thousands of feet out of the desert they carry pine forest on top and saguaro on the flanks — sky islands, biologically isolated from one another. Saguaro National Park protects a block of that cactus forest on each side of town. The Santa Cruz River is dry at the surface for most of the year; groundwater ran the city until the Central Arizona Project canal began delivering Colorado River water to its southern terminus here, more than 300 miles from the river itself.
Cities near Tucson
Related pages: Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, El Paso and Albuquerque. Test your placement of the western states with the West region quiz.