Mesa is a city in Maricopa County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a suburb of Phoenix, with a population of 439,041 as of 2010. Mesa is the third-largest city in Arizona, after Phoenix and Tucson, and the 38th-largest city in the United States. Mesa is home to the largest Polynesian cultural center in the world, as well as the annual Arizona Renaissance Festival.
Mesa is a city of contrasts. Newcomers and long-time residents live side-by-side, as Mesa has everything from high-end luxury homes in the gated communities of Eastmark and Las Sendas to modest starter homes in the neighborhoods near the Arizona State University campus. The city's desert location means hot summers and relatively mild winters, although snow does fall occasionally in the nearby mountains. Mesa has a large and growing diversity of cultures, thanks in part to the city's many immigrants from Mexico and Central America
