Maricopa County sees first annual decline in heat deaths in a decade

Maricopa County ended 2024 with 608 confirmed heat-related deaths, a drop from 645 the year before and the first annual decline in a decade. Public health officials had initially put the 2024 preliminary count at 602 confirmed deaths, then later issued a final total of 608, still below the 2023 record and still the first year-over-year decrease since 2014.

The numbers arrived amid another punishing summer in Arizona, where county officials had already confirmed 23 heat-related deaths by July 2024 and were investigating 322 more. In response, Maricopa County launched its 2024 heat relief efforts on May 1, earlier in the season than many residents expect, after what officials described as the largest number of heat-related deaths since tracking began.

The county’s response has relied on a layered system rather than a single fix. Maricopa County Department of Public Health used a heat-relief toolkit, an interactive heat-related illness and death dashboard, and a countywide network of cooling centers, hydration stations and other heat relief sites to direct residents toward help during extreme heat. The dashboard was built to make data more accessible and more timely, a practical tool for tracking where and when deaths were occurring as temperatures climbed.

That network in metro Phoenix did not begin with the 2024 surge. The Heat Relief Network was started in 2005 by the Maricopa Association of Governments, giving the region a long-running framework that other cities can copy: a map of places to cool down, drink water and get out of the sun, plus public-facing outreach to make those sites easier to find. Regional partners also promoted Heat Relief Network maps and billboard campaigns with Clear Channel Outdoor to show local heat relief resources across the region.

The county’s 2024 decline does not by itself prove the crisis has eased. Extreme heat still killed hundreds of people, and county officials were updating the heat response plan in early 2026 after a second straight year of decline in heat-related deaths. Maricopa County’s final 2025 heat death report was posted by April 2026, keeping the county’s data stream current as Phoenix and the broader metro area continue to treat heat as a recurring public-health threat.