Is Cave Creek Considered Scottsdale? Not Quite.

The town

Cave Creek is its own municipality

Cave Creek is its own incorporated town at the northern edge of the Phoenix metro area. It has its own town government, zoning, development rules and municipal boundaries.

Scottsdale runs along part of the southeastern side of town. Carefree is just to the east. Phoenix and unincorporated Maricopa County show up around other parts of the map.

Once you pull up the actual boundary lines, it makes sense. The confusion usually starts when you look at mailing addresses.

The mailing address problem

Why does Cave Creek get confused with Scottsdale?

The mailing address is probably the biggest reason.

The Town of Cave Creek specifically notes that an 85331 Cave Creek mailing address does not automatically mean the property is actually inside the Town of Cave Creek. That ZIP can include properties in Cave Creek, Carefree, Phoenix, Scottsdale or unincorporated Maricopa County.

So you can be scrolling listings, see “Cave Creek, AZ” at the top and still find out the house is technically somewhere else.

Scottsdale makes this even easier to mix up because the city stretches so far north. My mom’s place in North Scottsdale is about five minutes from my house in Cave Creek. Technically different cities. Practically, very close.

A real example

I’ve actually seen the town line become part of the conversation

I had clients looking at a house near the base of Black Mountain where the previous owner and the towns had apparently gone back and forth over where the property actually belonged.

The owner swore it was Cave Creek. The question from the municipalities was whether it might actually fall in Carefree.

That sounds like a pretty minor technicality until you get into something as basic as mail. Carefree does not have traditional residential USPS delivery, so residents use post office boxes. Cave Creek properties can have residential mailboxes.

Suddenly the line on the map feels a lot less theoretical.

Reading the map

Where does Cave Creek meet Scottsdale?

There is no single road that divides Cave Creek from Scottsdale all the way across.

Scottsdale meets Cave Creek along portions of the southeastern edge, while Phoenix, Carefree and unincorporated county land show up around other sides. In some places, you can cross from one jurisdiction into another and barely notice.

For me, subdivision names and ZIP codes are useful shorthand, but they are not enough on their own when I’m looking at a specific property.

If you want a better feel for Cave Creek itself, my Cave Creek guide gets into the different pockets, housing, recreation and what the area is actually like.

One address at a time

How do you know if a house is actually in Cave Creek?

I’d start with the municipal boundary and then check the county property information.

The Town of Cave Creek has maps that can help confirm whether a home is actually inside town limits. When I’m looking at a specific property, I check that rather than taking the city name in the listing at face value.

It can affect zoning, permitting, municipal services and development rules, so it’s worth getting right.

Two homes can both say Cave Creek online and still fall under different local governments.

Sources

A few places I checked.

Town of Cave Creek
Town of Cave Creek: Frequently Asked Questions
Town of Cave Creek: General Plan
City of Scottsdale
Town of Carefree