Surprise, Arizona
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Phoenix census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85378. The Survey maps it on the Calderwood Butte quadrangle. 143,148 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,175 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSurprise grew from 117,517 to 143,148 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 117,517 | |
| 2020 | 143,148 | +25,631 (+22%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 20 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1954 USGS Phoenix quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS Calderwood Butte quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS Phoenix quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Phoenix quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Phoenix quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Phoenix quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1971 USGS Calderwood Butte quadrangle1:24000
- 1971 USGS Phoenix quadrangle1:250000
- 1988 USGS Phoenix North quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
578 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 578 fires within 5 miles of Surprise between 1992 and 2020, burning about 88 acres in total. 6 started naturally. 21 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/undetermined | 531 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 21 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Natural | 6 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | AZ-110821 |
| 6 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | El Mirage Fire Department | NOT NAMED |
| 6 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sun City Fire Department | NOT NAMED |
| 6 September 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | AZ-133152 |
| 4 September 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | El Mirage Fire Department | 3065 |
| 4 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | AZ-111961 |
| 4 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Office | AZ-111960 |
| 30 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Sun City Fire Department | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Surprise: 4 producers, 2 past producers. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Halite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agua Fria Pit Sun Valley Crushing | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unidentified Halite Occurrence | Halite | Past Producer | Halite | |
| Arizona Sand & Rock, Agua Fria Plan | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Sun City Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Union Rock & Materials, El Mirage | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| United Metro Pit & Plant #2 Glendal | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Surprise in 3 storm reports between 1996 and 2009: 1 funnel cloud, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2009 | Lightning | Surprise | $200,000 | Lightning was blamed on starting a house fire in Surprise. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Surprise | - | Winds damaged trees tearing off branches along Bell Road from Grand Ave to McMicken Dam, and a tree downed on Parkview Place south of Grand. Electrical power disrupted to homes in Happy Trails and Arizona Traditions. |
| July 1996 | Funnel Cloud | Surprise | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lizard | 0.7 miles | 20 | |
| Dysart (historical) | 1.2 miles | 19 | |
| Lizard Acres | 1.2 miles | 20 | |
| Goldbadge | 1.4 miles | 19 | |
| Agua Fria | 2.0 miles | 19 | |
| Sun City West | 2.2 miles | 20 | |
| White Tanks | 2.6 miles | 19 | |
| Youngtown | 3.0 miles | 19 |
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 Surprise | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q51687 | The 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 12009. 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.








