ABSTRACT. Virtually all the numerous porphyry copper deposits of the southern Arizona region are associated with epizonal granitoid plutons of a single narrow age range: 75-55 Ma - latest Cretaceous to early Paleogene or "Laramide". This association suggests the Laramide granitoids might be compositionally special. However, our new data corroborate several previous studies in showing that the Laramide granitoids, a metaluminous, high-K calcalkaline suite, are geochemically unexceptional. In particular, Cu abundance (median 11 µg/g) in carefully selected samples of unmineralized granitoids is quite similar to global averages for intermediate to silicic igneous rocks. Concentrations of the other period-four transition metals (Sc to Ni), Mo, W, Sn, Nb, and Ta likewise are similar to or slightly less than those typical of upper continental crust. A second, less well known, suite of late Laramide granites is common in parts of the southern Arizona region: peraluminous leucogranites, characterized by very low concentrations of Cu, Mo, and W; and significant enrichment (3-4 times average upper crust) in Nb and Ta. Only for Nb and Ta in these leucogranites do the Laramide granitoids of the southern Arizona region have any special endowment of any of the numerous metals examined. Moreover, nominal to low abundances of Cu in both granitoid suites and in an expansive collection of sediment samples (analyzed by the National Uranium Resource Evaluation) refute the longstanding idea that the crust of this region is specially enriched in Cu. As neither the upper crust nor the Laramide metaluminous plutons of the southern Arizona region are especially enriched in Cu, association of porphyry Cu deposits with such plutons must have other explanations. Likely factors include volatile content and evolution, tectonic regime, crustal level of exposure, and contingencies of post-Laramide geologic history.