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North Phoenix

North Phoenix refers to the northern portion of Phoenix, Arizona, generally encompassing areas such as the North Mountain, Deer Valley, Paradise Valley, and North Gateway urban villages. The area extends along Interstate 17 and includes desert terrain, the Phoenix Mountains, and neighborhoods that developed from mid-20th-century suburban growth outward toward the Loop 101 and Loop 303 freeways.

Blaine serves buyers and sellers in North Phoenix.

Schools

Public schools serving North Phoenix fall under multiple districts depending on location. The Washington Elementary School District provides education in the southern part of North Phoenix, including the North Mountain urban village area, and is the largest elementary district in Arizona with 32 schools. The Paradise Valley Unified School District serves the northeast part of Phoenix, including the Paradise Valley urban village, covering roughly 98 square miles from 7th Avenue to Pima Road, and operates 30 elementary schools, one K-8 school, seven middle schools, and five high schools. The City of Phoenix maintains a resource page with district boundaries, attendance zones, and maps for residents looking up specific school assignments.

Getting around

Major east-west arterial streets through North Phoenix include Bell Road, Union Hills Drive, Greenway Road, and Thunderbird Road, with Interstate 17 running north-south through the area. Valley Metro's B Line light rail extends into North Phoenix, terminating at the Metro Parkway station (also called the Thelda Williams Transit Center), an elevated station that opened January 27, 2024, and includes a park-and-ride facility. The B Line runs south along 19th Avenue and Central Avenue into downtown Phoenix, connecting to the rest of the two-line, 35-mile light rail system serving Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. Many North Phoenix residents commute by automobile to jobs in central Phoenix or elsewhere in the Valley.

Homes and housing

For much of the 20th century, North Phoenix contained only a small number of ranch homes and horse ranches amid open desert, before suburban housing developments, shopping centers, and office buildings began rapid construction after the mid-20th century. Housing styles vary by neighborhood: Moon Valley features Mediterranean-style homes, Stetson Valley offers Spanish Revival-style homes, and Deer Valley includes neighborhoods of brick and block homes built in the 1970s. North Gateway, about 27 miles north of downtown Phoenix, is split by Interstate 17 into open desert space to the west and several master-planned communities to the east.

Things to do

Deem Hills Park and Recreation Area comprises almost 1,000 acres of Sonoran Desert known for basalt volcanic rock formations, with the 5.7-mile Deem Hills Circumference trail and the 1.5-mile Ridgeline trail, plus soccer fields, basketball and pickleball courts, and a playground. Cave Creek Regional Park, north of Phoenix, preserves smaller mountains, historic mines, and quartz formations and is home to the Go John Trail. The Reach 11 Recreation Area, just south of Loop 101, offers hiking and horseback riding among preserved desert trails, and the Phoenix Mountains along with Ludden Mountain and the Hedgepeth Hills area near Thunderbird Park are also nearby. Desert Ridge Marketplace sits on north Tatum Boulevard near Loop 101, and Kierland Commons is a master-planned shopping, residential, and resort development on the eastern edge of Phoenix near Scottsdale.

North Phoenix
North Phoenix at a glanceFacts from public sources, linked. Verify anything important with the source.
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