Pinal

Formed February 1, 1875 (6^th county)

Pinal County (425,257), Florence (26,761), Maricopa (58,143)

The Modern style masonry courthouse for Pinal County is located at Pinal and Lopez streets.  The site is 1 block north of Arizona State Highway 79 Business.  It was built in 2002 using the designs of Durrant Architects.  The red brick 1891 courthouse sits among many county buildings in the complex.  The county was created on February 1, 1875 from parts of Maricopa and Pima counties as the 6^th county.  Pinal is the Native American word for “deer.”  Florence’s namesake is the sister of Governor Safford.  Florence is the only county seat. 

Pinal County government consists of a sheriff, manager, and assessor (executive).  It has 5 supervisors (legislative.)  Thirteen Superior Court Judges and Eight Justice Court Judges, a County Clerk and an Attorney serve Pinal County (judicial.)  The county is in south central Arizona east of Phoenix, Arizona and northeast of Tucson, Arizona.  The center of the county is 20.2 miles South-Southeast of Florence.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Gila, Graham, Pima, and Maricopa counties.  The county is shaped like a barking dog’s head lying face up.  Florence is in the north center of the county.  The largest city is located on the central northern border of the county.  Florence is the county seat and Maricopa is the largest city.  Florence is 6.3% of the county population while Maricopa is 13.7% of the county population.  The county is pronounced PEE-NAL. 

The area of the county is 5374 square miles.  It is 10 of 15 in size.  It ranks 3 out of 15 in population in the state.  It has a density of 79.1 persons per square mile making it 3 out of 15 in the state.  Pinal County has 51.8% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 8 comes into the county from the west, Maricopa County and terminates into Interstate Highway 10.  Interstate Highway 10 crosses northwest, Maricopa County, to southeast, Pima County.  United States Highway 60 crosses the northeast top of the county from Gila County to Maricopa County.  The county is in the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Metropolitan Statistical Area.