Located in the beautiful Sonoran Desert, Scottsdale, Arizona is bordered by Phoenix to the west and the McDowell Mountains on the east.
Scottsdale is annually rated among the nation’s most desirable communities to live in, visit and do business in. Check out the latest rankings.
Scottsdale’s vibrant downtown is considered the finest urban center in Arizona. It is home to more than 90 restaurants, 320 retail shops and more than 80 art galleries. Visit ScottsdaleDowntown.com
Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve, in the city’s northern reaches, is the largest urban wilderness area in the United States and features more than 60 miles of trails through diverse and scenic desert terrain.
South Scottsdale has for many years been the working class region of Scottsdale, although today it is gentrifying. It contains the major nightlife for the area and is a major art center of metro Phoenix. The median resale home price is $291,500, compared to $667,450 in North Scottsdale. South Scottsdale is the home to a new research center for Arizona State University, known as SkySong, a collaboration between the university, local business, and global companies.The development has attracted the research and development arms of a number of international corporations.
Old Town Scottsdale is an area with many streets, old fashion stores, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and western art galleries evoking the old cowboy era. Scottsdale's main cultural district is also in this area, which includes the high-end Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall, one of the twenty largest malls in the United States,.The district has currently seen a revival, with new condominiums and hotels under construction.
Education
Public education in Scottsdale is provided for primarily by the Scottsdale Unified School District. A minority of the outlying parts of town fall under other school districts in the Phoenix Metro Area, including the Cave Creek Unified School District, Paradise Valley Unified School District, Phoenix Union High School District, Tempe Union High School District, and the Balsz Elementary School District.
There are five major high schools in Scottsdale: Saguaro High School, Horizon High School, Chaparral High School, Coronado High School and Desert Mountain High School.
The primary institution of higher education in the city is Scottsdale Community College, although the college actually lies within the boundaries of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Reservation. Many students also commute to nearby Arizona State University in Tempe. Penn Foster College, a distance education college, is headquartered in Scottsdale.[65]
Scottsdale is also home of the International School of Arizona, a non-profit language immersion school that teaches children classes in a foreign language (French or Spanish).
Scottsdale has a main branch and four branches within the Scottsdale Public Library System.