Where to find cooling centers near you in Maricopa County for 2026
A Maricopa County resident who searches for cooling centers near me this summer will find more than 200 free places to go, now that the county has reopened its Heat Relief Network for the 2026 season. The Maricopa County Department of Public Health and the Maricopa Association of Governments launched the network on May 1, 2026, and it runs through September 30, 2026. The map the county publishes lists more than 200 locations, including indoor cooling centers, respite sites where a person can rest for extended periods, hydration stations, and donation drop off locations.
Anyone without internet access can call 211 Arizona instead. The line answers in English and Spanish every day from 9 in the morning to 7 in the evening, and can point a caller to the nearest site, help with a utility bill, or connect them to other county resources. Transportation to and from a heat relief site is also available for residents who qualify, though the county does not state the eligibility rule on its own page.
211 Arizona answers every day from 9 in the morning to 7 in the evening. This is 1 source stating a single daily window, not a range assembled from 2 sources.
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| 211 Arizona helpline | 9 in the morning to 7 in the evening |
What each kind of site offers
The Heat Relief Network sorts its more than 200 sites into 5 categories. Hydration stations hand out water. Cooling centers let a person sit in air conditioning for a while. Respite centers let a person rest for extended periods, longer than a quick stop. Donation sites collect water, sunscreen and other supplies to pass on to people who need them. For 2026, the Maricopa Association of Governments added a 5th category, Heat Relief Outreach Partners, for organizations that deliver water and other heat related help directly to people rather than staffing a fixed address a resident can visit.
Staying safe once the heat climbs
Fans stop being enough once the heat climbs past a point. Once temperatures exceed 95 degrees Fahrenheit, fans alone are not enough to keep you safe, the county states, because moving hot air across skin no longer cools a body down. Kelli Donley Williams, deputy director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, explained what the network exists to prevent.
Heat affects every corner of our community, and preventing heat related deaths takes effort from all of us.
Kelli Donley Williams, deputy director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. Source 1.
What is new for the 2026 season
The 2026 season adds 2 changes not seen in past years. 6 sites now distribute naloxone, since substance using residents face a higher risk of heat related illness and death, according to the health department. A new family focused heat relief site has also opened, run with the Arizona Faith Network and Trinity United Methodist Church, giving families with children a dedicated place to go. Both additions are small next to the network overall size, as the chart below shows.
The total network figure is from source 1, the county press release. The naloxone and new site figures are from source 4, written in the voice of Maricopa County Department of Public Health staff.
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| Sites open across the entire network | 200 |
| Sites now distributing naloxone | 6 |
| New family focused site added this year | 1 |
A regional network now in its 21st year
The Heat Relief Network is not new. Maricopa County and the regional council of governments have run it since 2005, bringing together government, nonprofit, faith based and business partners under 1 shared map for 21 years running. Audra Koester Thomas, executive director of the Maricopa Association of Governments, explained why the region keeps the partnership going.
Extreme heat is one of the most serious, predictable challenges our region faces each year, and providing relief requires a strong collaborative response.
Audra Koester Thomas, executive director of the Maricopa Association of Governments. Source 1.
The county public health department also reports a 30% decrease in heat related deaths in Maricopa County last year, though it has not published the death totals behind that figure. Any death the county counts as heat caused or heat contributed comes from Office of the Medical Examiner death certificate data, which the department states typically takes 2 to 3 months to finalize, so a full count for a given summer is not settled until months after it ends.