Fort Huachuca

Fort Huachuca (an active U.S. Army installation located in Sierra Vista) is the largest employer in Cochise County. The fort develops and tests command, control, communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities; delivers intelligence and unmanned aircraft systems training and education; designs, develops and integrates intelligence capabilities, concepts and doctrine; and provides world class quality support services to the Huachuca community to enable mission command in support of Army and joint operations and the continued evolution of Fort Huachuca. 

As of federal fiscal year 2019, there were approximately 2,300 active duty military personnel assigned to Fort Huachuca. There are also approximately 2,700 trainees (students) temporarily assigned to the fort for training on any given day (with more than 8,000 trained on site each year). Fort Huachuca directly employs approximately 2,700 civilian workers with an additional 400 civilians employed by other agencies operating on the installation, including U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Fort Huachuca Accommodation Schools, Army & Air Force Exchange Service, and others. The fort also contracts with numerous area firms employing several thousand workers.

The resident population of Fort Huachuca (those residing on post) was 6,160 as of January 2019, which includes 1,054 military personnel and 2,600 family members residing in on-post family housing, as well as 2,506 unmarried or unaccompanied military personnel residing in troop billets (including students assigned temporarily for training).

In 2017, the Maguire Company released its Economic Impact of Arizona’s Principal Military Operations report, which estimated the annual direct, indirect, and induced impact of Fort Huachuca on Cochise County at $2.9 billion. The employment impact was estimated at 21,327 jobs countywide with $999.2 million in associated earnings.