Tubac is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 949 at the 2000 census. The name is a Spanish adaption of O'odham phrase "s-cuk baʼa", or perhaps "cu wa", meaning "black water" or "low place", respectively Tubac is situated on the Santa Cruz River. Tubac was the original Spanish colonial garrison in Arizona. It was depopulated during the O'odham Uprising in the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century, the area was repopulated by miners, farmers and ranchers, but the town of Tubac is best known today as an artists' colony.