Buying in Maricopa County, Arizona

Maricopa County at a glance

Maricopa County is one of 15 counties and county-equivalents in Arizona. Its county seat is Phoenix. County government publishes its offices and parcel tools online. Official county website. With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 4,673,096, it is the most populous county in Arizona. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 107,556 offenses — 23.02 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

Records to check before you buy in Maricopa County

• Property record card — the Maricopa County assessor / appraisal office. Pull the parcel's assessed-value history, exemption status, and last sale. This is the file your future tax bill is calculated from, and it shows whether the current owner is enjoying exemptions you will not inherit. County government sits in Phoenix; the official county website is the reliable route to the parcel search and the office directory.
• Deeds & liens — the Maricopa County recorder / land-records office. Read the deed chain, open liens, easements, and plat maps — the file a listing never mentions.
• Official flood determination. Check the exact parcel on FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer — not the listing site's licensed model. Zone boundaries cut through streets; the house next door can be in a different zone. Maricopa County is the primary county for 135 ZIP codes in the Census Bureau's ZIP-to-county crosswalk — and zone lines ignore every one of them.
• The county's reported-crime record. In the FBI's 2024 file, agencies in Maricopa County reported 107,556 offenses — 23.02 per 1,000 residents; the largest single category was larceny-theft (62,267). The crime section below sets that beside the Arizona county median.
• Registry check. Run the address through Arizona Sex Offender Registry (Sex Offender Compliance) (Arizona Department of Public Safety) and note the counts within a mile — then check again the week you close.
• Permits & code history — the Maricopa building department. Open permits, expired permits, and code cases tell you whether the renovation in the photos was ever inspected. County permitting is run out of Phoenix.
• School assignment — the district office, not the listing. Only the district's own boundary lookup confirms which school an address is actually zoned for.

County list, land area and population: U.S. Census Bureau (population: 2024 PEP estimate). County seat and official website: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-11-04. Flood determinations: FEMA. Registry: Arizona.

Reported crime in Maricopa County — FBI 2024

Agencies in Maricopa County reported 107,556 offenses to the FBI in 2024 — 22,106 violent and 85,450 property offenses. That works out to a reported-crime rate of 23.02 per 1,000 residents (violent 473.0, property 1828.6 per 100,000).

Inside Arizona, the median county in the same file recorded a violent-crime rate of 250 per 100,000 and a property-crime rate of 1,095 per 100,000 (medians computed from the FBI 2024 county file across 15 counties).

The largest reported categories were larceny-theft (62,267), aggravated assault (15,668) and motor vehicle theft (12,638).

Coverage: 25 of 25 law-enforcement agencies assigned to this county reported at least one month of 2024 offense data to the FBI; 22 reported all 12 months. Counts are reported offenses only (FBI Return A / Arson master files), assigned whole to each agency's primary county; they are not adjusted for non-reporting agencies.

These are offenses reported to law enforcement — not convictions, and not a verdict on any street or address. A CurbFacts report pairs this county record with the ZIP-level picture for the specific address you are buying.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, UCR Return A + Arson master files, data year 2024 (pulled 2026-11-04).

The Arizona rules that apply in Maricopa County

Traps researched for Arizona buyers: No sale reset, but the 5 percent cap is on Limited Property Value, not your bill; Seller need not volunteer deaths, HIV status or nearby sex offenders.

Read the full Arizona guide — disclosure standard, tax math, registry and flood

More Arizona counties

All Arizona counties · Arizona buyer guide