William “Bobby” Gilbert founded the town next to a strip of land he made available to the Arizona eastern railway in 1902. As it was on a direct rail line between Phoenix and Florence, Gilbert was betting that the town would prosper – and so it did. The town’s first business, Ayer’s Grocery Store, opened in 1910, and the town got its first post office in 1912. 

Gilbert got its first school in 1913 (where the Gilbert Historical Museum now stands), and its first bank in 1914.

1915 saw an influx of Mormon refugees who were fleeing oppression by Pancho Villa in Mexico. They organized the Gilbert Ward of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in 1918. 

Gilbert was incorporated in 1920, based largely on farming and supplying labor for nearby hydro engineering projects like the Roosevelt Dam and the Eastern and Consolidated Canals. 

In 1970, the town only numbered 1,971 inhabitants, but that was soon to change. The town began annexing county land in the early 70s, deliberately setting itself up to take advantage of the sudden growth that had enriched nearby Chandler, Tempe, and Mesa, Arizona. 

Gilbert, Arizona has a dry, subtropical climate characterized by hot summers and very mild winters. The record highest temperature in Gilbert was 119F, but the average high temperature is only 106F, even in mid-July. The average low in mid-summer is a balmy 77F. The record mid-winter low was -9F, but the average lows even in January are around 40F, well above freezing. Overall, November, December, January, and February are the coldest months, with temperatures ranging from 40F to 75F. Frosts are not uncommon, but heavy snowfall is rare. Fall and spring in Gilbert are known for warm days and cool nights.

Gilbert gets around 9 inches of rain and snow every year. It gets around 10 hours of daylight in January and December, but a full 14.5 hours per day in June.  

Like most of Arizona, Gilbert has 2 rainy seasons, one in the winter and a ‘monsoon season’ at the end of summer. It rarely sees more than an inch of rain in any given month, though. Thunderstorm lovers will enjoy the monsoon season, as brief, torrential lightning storms are common. 

Gilbert, Arizona had a population of 267,918 as of 2020, making it the 87th largest town, city or other incorporated settlement in the country. The surrounding metropolitan area (which is really the Phoenix Metro Area) has a population of just over 5,200,000, making it the 10th largest in the US. 

Gilbert averages 3.01 people per household, and boasts 74,147 housing units. From 1990 to 2003, it was the fastest growing municipality in the US. As of 2009, it was the 4th fastest growing. 

The city is very highly educated, and a full 34.5% of local residents have a Bachelor’s degree (or higher). Gilbert is also very well-off, on average. It boasts the highest median income of any town of 50,000+ people in the Phoenix metro area. 

Demographically speaking, the population of Gilbert is 81.5% White, 15.4% Latino or Hispanic, 4.7% Asian, 3.1% African American or Black, 0.8% Native American, 0.2% Pacific islander, 3.7% biracial or multiracial, and 6% of the population claims one or more of the world’s many other racial backgrounds. 

The average age of Gilbert residents is just over 31 years, making it a very young population. It is 50.2% male and 49.8% female, and 1/3 of the population is under 18. Only 5.3% of Gilbert residents are over the age of 65. 

Around 1 in 5 Gilbert residents aged 15+ have never been married. 2/3 are currently married, and just over 12% are either divorced, separated or widowed. 

Over 92% of the population of Gilbert aged 25+ have at least a high school education, and as of 2019 more than 50% of the residents over the age of 25 had Bachelor’s degrees or higher. Just over 10% have Master’s level degrees.

In 2009, the average household income was $109,213 per year, and the median income was $87,000 (compared to a statewide median income of around $53,000).