The Phoenix metropolitan area, often referred to as The Valley of the Sun, is a metropolitan area, centered on the city of Phoenix which includes much of the central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. The United States Census Bureau designates the area as the Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale Metropolitan Statistical Area, defining it as Maricopa and Pinal counties.

The population of the Phoenix metropolitan area increased by 45.3% from 1990 through 2000, compared to the average United States rate of 15%, helping to make Arizona the second fastest growing state in the nation in the 1990s (the fastest was Nevada). The 2000 Census reported the population of the metropolitan area to be 3,251,876.

As of April 1, 2010 the Census Bureau reported that the two-county metropolitan area had a population of 4,192,887, making it the 14th largest metro area in the United States, just behind the Inland Empire of California and ahead of Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area of Washington. Metro Phoenix grew by 941,011 people from April 2000 to April 2010. It is home to more than two-thirds of Arizona's population.