Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 9% of U.S. towns · #91 of 140 in Arizona. What drives it
Most of Picture Rocks was built recently: 0.8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: maps from 1957 on.
More historic than 9% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Picture Rocks is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns, #91 of 140 in Arizona. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Arizona towns list much on the Register (a typical Arizona town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Picture Rocks’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (29% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Picture Rocks’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Picture Rocks yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Picture Rocks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pima County, Arizona, United States, home of the Tucson artifacts. The population was 9,551 at the 2020 United States census.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 9,563 in 2010, 9,551 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Picture Rocks. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Picture Rocks.
Nobody well known was born in Picture Rocks itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Avra, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Picture Rocks is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns, #91 of 140 in Arizona. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
0.8% of Picture Rocks’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 1996.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2022
2012
2004