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The Arlington Chamber of Commerce
welcomes you to our community. We want you to feel at
home in Arlington whether you're planning to move here,
you've just arrived, or you are a long time resident.
Arlington County is an urban
community of about 26 square miles located directly
across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. No
incorporated towns or cities lie within Arlington’s
boundaries. Originally part of the 10-mile square
surveyed in 1791 for the nation’s capital, the portion
on the west bank of the Potomac River was returned to
the Commonwealth of Virginia by the U.S. Congress in
1846. This area was known as Alexandria City and
Alexandria County until 1920, when the County portion
was renamed Arlington County.
Although perhaps best known to
visitors as the home of the Pentagon, The Marine Corps
War Memorial (Iwo Jima) and Arlington National Cemetery,
Arlington County has maintained high quality residential
neighborhoods while supporting well-managed growth. The
County’s central location in the metropolitan area, its
ease of access by car, rail, and airplane, and its high
quality labor force have attracted an increasingly
varied employment and residential mix.
The County’s residential population,
at approximately 202,800 (07), is among the most
highly educated in the nation and is increasingly
diverse. It is estimated that one in five residents is
foreign-born, with one in four speaking a language other
than English at home.
Arlington also is an important
employment center. The daytime population swells to
about 279,100. The Government and Services sectors
account for roughly 75 percent of the 200,300 jobs in
the county. High technology
companies have increasingly located here, as have
several major associations, such as the American
Chemistry Association, Association of the US Army, Navy
League of the United States and the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association. Fortune 500 companies
and other nationally known employers headquartered here
include US Airways and Verizon Communications, Inc. |
