Common Sense Institute Arizona

📚 Arizona’s district schools are sitting on 78 million square feet of excess space—enough for 630,000 more students. 🏷️ That unused real estate is worth $12.2 billion. 💸 And it’s costing taxpayers $1B every year just to maintain. Read CSI's full report to learn more: bit.ly/4m7Vhdw

Arizona’s manufacturing sector continues to struggle. CSI Arizona’s latest jobs update finds the state lost: ➤ 400 manufacturing jobs in April alone ➤ 500 manufacturing jobs year-over-year Arizona was also one of 39 states reporting annual manufacturing job losses. Learn more in CSI's full report: bit.ly/4v5IEDP

This Memorial Day, we honor and remember the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. Their sacrifice made the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy possible.

Arizona added 8,100 jobs in April, but the bigger story is how flat the state’s labor market has become. After seven straight months of year-over-year job losses, Arizona returned to positive annual growth but at just 0.41% — a sign the labor market may be stabilizing, but still remains unusually weak (as it has been for 2+ years). Learn more: bit.ly/4v5IEDP

How could the proposed income cap in the "Protect Education Act" impact Arizona families? CSI's new Ballot Guide report analyzes the immediate and long-term effects of this proposal if passed. Director of Policy & Research, Glenn Farley breaks it down ⬇️ Read the full report: bit.ly/493aurN

Only 42% of Arizona households can afford a new mortgage today, down from 66% in 2019. CSI's latest housing affordability update shows just how much ground has been lost — and how much work remains. Read the full article here: bit.ly/4dIadgB CSI's Housing Update: bit.ly/4tkVLj5

CSI's first 2026 Ballot Guide report finds that district schools lost about 50,000 students after the pandemic. This was two years before universal ESAs– caused instead by disruptions to the classroom experience, poor standards and curriculum, and a long-term decline in student performance. The report also estimates that the proposed “Protect Education Act” would immediately render an estimated 20,300 current ESA families ineligible and permanently exclude more than 400,000 Arizona school-aged children from ever accessing universal ESAs just because of family income. Learn more in the full report: bit.ly/493aurN

Arizona's State Land Endowment Trust Fund just surpassed $10 billion for the first time — a historic milestone, but CSI's research suggests the fund could have been worth more than 16 times that amount had the land grant been managed differently. Read the @AZFreeNews piece: bit.ly/4eUZpwR Check out CSI's full analysis: bit.ly/4rpjFdR

CSI Arizona’s latest 2026 Ballot Guide report finds the proposed ESA income cap could immediately affect thousands of Arizona families. The analysis estimates that about 20,300 current universal ESA families would immediately lose Universal eligibility if the Act passes, with even more families gradually excluded over time as household incomes grow faster than the cap adjustment. Over half of families would be ineligible by 2045. Learn more: bit.ly/493aurN

CSI’s latest housing update finds that rising inventory and stabilizing prices are being driven primarily by weaker buyer demand, not by major improvements in housing supply. The report finds that residential permitting fell 14% in 2025 to the slowest pace since 2019, signaling that Arizona is still not building enough housing to meaningfully close the gap. Learn more in CSI's full report: bit.ly/4tkVLj5

A new CSI Arizona 2026 Ballot Guide report compares the cost of Arizona’s ESA program to traditional public schools, and finds not only is an ESA cheaper on average, but that ending universal eligibility could increase taxpayer costs. The average universal ESA award is about $7,700 per student, compared to nearly $15,000 per public-school student. Only about half of all ESA costs are attributable to universal eligibility. CSI estimates moving 20,000 ESA students back into district classrooms could increase taxpayer costs by $115 million+ annually. Declining public-school enrollment since the pandemic, on the other hand, has *reduced* taxpayer formula costs by about $700 million/year. Learn more: commonsenseinstituteus.org/arizona/resear…

Thanks largely to shelter inflation of just 0.8% — compared to 3.3% nationally— the Phoenix metro recorded the 2nd slowest year-over-year inflation rate among regions reporting April CPI data. That trend has now persisted for roughly two years, even as national inflation accelerated again in April. Learn more in CSI's full report: bit.ly/4dqwYnU

Report Finds Arizona Housing Shortage Driven By Underbuilding, Not Airbnb azfreenews.com/2026/05/report… @AZFreedomCaucus @CSInstituteAZ

8/ Learn more about Arizona's housing crisis in CSI's latest report: commonsenseinstituteus.org/arizona/resear…

7/ So what does the market actually look like today? ➤We have about 57,000 short-term rentals compared to about 3.3 million total housing units in Arizona ➤ Growth in STRs largely replaced vacation homes rather than full-time housing ➤ The shortage started years before STR growth, with the pandemic making an existing housing shortage worse ➤ STRs tend to follow demand, not create it

Arizona’s housing crisis didn’t happen overnight, and while many place blame on the rise of short-term rentals across the state, the data shows that is not actually the case. So how did we get here? CSI has the facts ⬇️ 🧵 azcapitoltimes.com/news/2026/05/0…