in an article in the
     arizona republic
     Thursday, April 17, 2003

on the front page titled

     County's growth fastest in U.S. for its size

it said that the Metro Phoenix Area (which is
Maricopa County) is now bigger then the 
Metro San Diego Area.

the Metro Phoenix Area has


       3,303,876 people

while the Metro San Diego Area has

       2,906,660 people

Of course thats slightly misleading because
Tiajuana, Mexico is part of the 
Metro San Diego Area and while the population
of Tiajuana is over a million people its 
not include in the San Diego Population count.
If you include the population of Tiajuana in
the Metro San Diego Area then the San Diego 
Metro Area would be much larger then the 
Metro Phoenix Area.