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Avondale, Arizona

23 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1946 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Phoenix census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85323. The Survey maps it on the Tolleson quadrangle. 89,334 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 974 feet above sea level.

Avondale within Maricopa County

On record in Avondale

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Avondale grew from 76,238 to 89,334 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201076,238
202089,334+13,096 (+17%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 23 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

701 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 701 fires within 5 miles of Avondale between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,733 acres in total. 11 started naturally. 52 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined627
Arson/incendiarism52
Natural11
Recreation and ceremony4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Fireworks1
Debris and open burning1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Smoking1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2018Arson/incendiarismunder an acreAvondale Fire and Medical Department232342
5 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAvondale Fire and Medical Department232270
4 September 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeAZ-141150
4 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeAZ-121872
30 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named
30 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office154016
3 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAvondale Fire and Medical DepartmentNOT NAMED
28 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreAvondale Fire and Medical Department232983

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Maricopa County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 19 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Avondale: 8 past producers, 7 unknowns, 2 producers, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Halite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Building Products Co.ClayPlant
Solid Salt OccurrenceHaliteOccurrence
Allied Concrete PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Allied Concrete,Sand & Gravel PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Blm Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Maricopa County

Storms near this place

12 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Avondale in 12 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 5 flood, 3 lightning, 2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 1993Thunderstorm WindAvondale1 hurt, $5,000,000Strong winds from nearby thunderstorms exceeded 50 mph in many areas of the Valley. Homes and businesses sustained damage, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed. Arizona Public Service reported 10,000 customers without power. An 8-year-old boy in Avondale was severely injured just after 1800 MST when a window burst and glass cut his jugular vein. The roof of a convenience store was blown off, as well as some damage to a church and an elementary school. A 1-mile section of a 69,000-volt power line near Perryville was knocked down. High winds blew tree limbs onto power poles and took shingles off several homes.
July 2025LightningAvondale$100,000Broadcast media showed a large house fire from a lightning strike along the area of 121st Avenue and Southern Avenue in Tolleson with the fire causing severe damage. No injuries were reported.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindAvondale$20,000Authorities in the Gila River Indian Community estimated winds as high as 80 mph.
October 2025LightningAvondale$10,000Lightning strike resulted in a small house fire near the area of El Mirage and Lower Buckeye Roads in Avondale. Timing estimated from radar. No injuries reported.
June 2008LightningAvondale$5,000The Ethan Fire was sparked by lightning on the 25th, and grew to over 5,000 acres several days later. Estimated cost to fight the fire was about $700,000.
July 2007Flash FloodAvondale$5,000A vehicle attempted to cross a flooded roadway and became stranded and quickly flipped over. Bystanders at nearby Phoenix International Raceway pulled four young people from the pickup. TV images showed the bystanders breaking out the windows, reaching inside the overturned pickup, and tossing the two young childrem to other rescuers.
March 2023FloodAvondale-According to MCDOT, the unbridged Gila River crossing along El Mirage Road between Southern Avenue and Indian Springs Road was closed due to flooding beginning on the 14th and continued into April. Timing based on water releases from Granite Reef Dam.
March 2023FloodAvondale-A man was swept away after attempting to walk through the flooded unbridged El Mirage Road crossing that goes through the normally dry Gila River between Southern Avenue and Indian Springs Road. The man was walking through the water while carrying his bicycle when he was swept away on the 17th. The man was successfully rescued with no injuries reported. Event timing is based on Granite Reef Dam releases.
March 2023FloodAvondale-Two people were rescued after driving around road closure barricades and attempting to drive through a flooded roadway with a recreational vehicle. While attempting to cross the flooded roadway, the recreational vehicle was swept off the road. The incident occurred around 2100 MST on the 30th at the unbridged El Mirage Road crossing that goes through the normally dry Gila River between Southern Avenue and Indian Springs Road. The two people were safely rescued by the fire department via helicopter. No injuries were reported. Event timing is based on Granite Reef Dam releases.
March 2023FloodAvondale-Buckeye Fire Department performed a water rescue at the unbridged Gila River crossing along El Mirage Road between Southern Avenue and Indian Springs Road on the 18th. The exact details surrounding the water rescue are unknown. The road had been closed since the 14th due to the elevated flow in the river. Event timing is based on releases from Granite Reef Dam.
April 2023FloodAvondale-According to MCDOT, the unbridged Gila River crossing along El Mirage Road between Southern Avenue and Indian Springs Road was closed due to flooding beginning on March 14th and continuing into April. End timing based on upstream FCDMC stream gauge along the Gila River at 116th Avenue.
August 2021Flash FloodAvondale-A streamflow gage on the Agua Fria River at Buckeye Road exceeded alarm stage at 0241MST with peak flow of 1932 cfs and a crest height of 0.79 feet. Impacts to the low water crossing at Lower Buckeye Road are common with this flow level, but no impacts were reported. No damages or injuries were reported.

Every storm recorded in Maricopa County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Goodyear0.5 miles23
Litchfield0.7 miles23
Country Villa0.7 miles23
Winnwood Homes1.0 miles23
Litchfield Junction1.1 miles23
Estrella Camp1.6 miles23
Cashion2.7 miles23
Litchfield Park4.0 miles23

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on AvondaleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q79449The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 895. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.