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Arizona

A guide to help you understand the ins and outs of business in Arizona

Overview

Arizona, the “Grand Canyon State,” is located in the Southwest region of the United States. Phoenix is not only the state’s capital, but also the state’s largest city and one of the top 10 largest cities in the US. Arizona is the 6th largest state in the US and has the 14th largest population, with approximately 7.28 million residents. The gross domestic product for Arizona in 2019 was $370,119,000,000.

The Grand Canyon State’s largest industries are aerospace and defense, technology and innovation, manufacturing, bioscience and healthcare, business and financial services, and film and digital media. Arizona is home to over 50 data centers including, American Express, PayPal, eBay and GoDaddy. Arizona also has a vibrant and growing manufacturing sector which has the largest job growth in the country from 2015-2019 for medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and chemical manufacturing. It also has the highest concentration of guided missiles and space vehicle manufacturing.

In 2019, Arizona imported $5,713,586 from Qatar. The top three imports are: special classification provisions; optic, photo, medical/surgical instruments; electric machinery, sound/tv equipment special. In 2019, Arizona exported $40,446,820 to Qatar with its top exports being: aircraft, spacecraft and articles thereof; nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery; special classification provisions. Arizona has numerous connections with Qatar. Boeing is building much of the 48 Apache helicopters for Qatar in its Mesa, AZ facility, which were approved in two separate orders in 2016 and 2019,with a total cost of $3.667 billion. Lockheed Martin will complete a $523.8 million contract for Patriot missiles and ground support equipment by 2021; partly carried out in AZ. In 2018 the State Department approved a $215 million sale of National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) from Raytheon (Tucson, AZ) to Qatar. Not only does Arizona have close ties to Qatar in defense, but also in education. Qatar Foundation International supports the Arabic Summer Jumpstart Program at the University of Arizona, as well as funds Arabic learning instruction in many schools across the state. Arizona State University also has more Qatari students enrolled than any other university in the country.

Arizona has a flat corporate income tax of 4.9%. There are 20 tax incentive programs. Some of them include the Rapid Employment Job Training Grant, the Arizona Competes Fund, and the AZ STEP Program. There are also seven free trade zones in the state: one in Nogales, one in Naco, one in Tucson, one in San Luis, and three in Phoenix.

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