The Douglas
Agua Prieta Border Region
The City
of Douglas has a population of 17,738, as of Census 2010.
The Douglas area includes nearby populated areas that create a
community of more than 25,000 on the U.S. side of the border with
Mexico. This includes the City of Douglas, the Pirtleville Census
Designated Place (CDP), and surrounding unincorporated areas.
The daytime
population of Douglas is much greater than estimates suggest, due to
the city’s proximity to Agua Prieta,
Sonora, Mexico, which lies just south of the U.S./Mexico border. With
thousands of border crossings into the United States each day at the
Douglas Port of Entry, the city hosts many foreign shoppers, workers,
and other visitors.
Population
estimates for the City of Agua Prieta vary widely, generally ranging
from about 60,000 to 150,000, with a regional population close to
200,000. According to figures provided by the Agua Prieta Municipal
Government, the city’s population in 2008 was 130,000.
On average of more
than 5.4 million people each year passed through the Douglas Port of
Entry from Agua Prieta into Douglas, about 14,000 people a day;
A 2007-2008 study
conducted by the University of Arizona
indicated 81.6 percent of Mexican residents entering the United
States through the Douglas port did so for the purpose of
shopping—the highest proportion of all ports of entry in Arizona.
Mexican visitors
spent $186.4 million in Cochise County,
up 92.6 percent from 2001. More than two-thirds of spending by
Mexican visitors to Cochise County occurred in Douglas, according to
the study.
Of the direct
expenditures spent in Arizona by Mexican visitors crossing through
the Douglas POE, $123.3 million was spent in Douglas.
