Surprise, Arizona, probably isn’t surprised that it is the fastest growing city in the United States (of cities and towns with 20,000 or more population as of April 2000). This charmingly named city had a population of 30,848 in April of 2000, but by July 2005 had grown to nearly 75,000 (see Table 1). Perhaps some of the folks in Surprise are surprised, since it is seeing 8,800 new residents each year and experienced a 141 percent increase over the five-year period.