Surprise is a medium-sized city located in the state of Arizona. With a population of 30,886 people and six constituent neighborhoods, Surprise is the 21st largest community in Arizona.

Much of the housing in Surprise has been built relatively recently. The construction of new real estate can often be taken as an indication that the local Surprise economy is robust, and that jobs or other amenities are attracting an influx of new residents. This seems to be the case in Surprise, where the median household income is $44,156.

Unlike some cities, Surprise isn't mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Surprise are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Surprise is a city of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Surprise who work in office and administrative support jobs (17.42%), sales jobs (12.65%), and management occupations (7.53%).

Also of interest is that Surprise has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

In Surprise, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.23 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

Surprise Information and Demographics

The percentage of people in Surprise who are college-educated is somewhat higher than the average US community of 14.96%: 20.45% of adults in Surprise have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Surprise in 2000 was $21,451, which is upper middle income relative to Arizona and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $85,804 for a family of four.

Surprise is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Surprise home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Surprise is White, followed by African-American. Surprise also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 23.28% of the city's residents. Important ancestries of people in Surprise include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in Surprise is English. Some people also speak Spanish.