Mar. 13, 2006

The "new" Scottsdale could be just an hour away in Pinal County.

So there are no shopping malls, resorts or nightclubs yet. With carloads of new residents arriving every day, Maricopa city officials contend a new demographics survey shows their young city most closely resembles the Valley city with a national reputation for affluence.

Survey results reveal a combination of youth, smarts and higher incomes. Officials hope this will help them attract knowledge-based jobs to the bedroom community.

"We want a self-sustaining city 100 years into the future," Maricopa City Manager Rick Buss said. "Rooftops won't do it."

The unscientific survey was mailed to 4,030 Maricopa households and 650, or 16 percent, responded, city officials said.

More than half of responding households have a bachelor's degree or higher. Less than half of Scottsdale's population has a bachelor's degree or higher. Household incomes and median ages in the two cities are similar.

Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross said that for years her city has been seen as a benchmark type of community that other cities around the country compare themselves to.

"The Number 1 thing (industries) look at in this new economy is education and environment," Manross said. "It's all interconnected."

Maricopa hopes the survey results will attract jobs related to science, engineering, biotech, computers and information technology, said Economic Development Director Ioanna Morfessis. Right now, most Maricopa residents battle daily gridlocked commutes along Interstate 10 to jobs in the Valley.

"With great authority, we can say we have one of the highest-educated populations in the state and maybe higher than other markets on a national level," Morfessis said. "It gives us a case to make to employers that we have a small but talented workforce already in place. As our population grows, the increases will mirror this survey."

Other Valley cities have successfully used their demographics to attract knowledge-based businesses in recent years. Intel recently expanded chip-making facilities at its Chandler campus. Tempe now has the Translational Genomics Research Institute. Scottsdale is home to the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University.

"We compare favorably, but it's not about competition with our neighbors," Buss said. "We want to show the state and the country we have a foundation for knowledge-based businesses. Economic development doesn't happen at points on a map, it happens regionally."

The survey is just part of Maricopa's push to attract new jobs.

Maricopa hired America West Airlines founder Ed Beauvais to develop a business airpark modeled after Scottsdale's. Morfessis, who founded the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, was hired as a consultant to oversee economic development. An ethanol plant that officials say could generate $100 million in annual revenue is under construction.