Arlington Virginia History

Arlington County is an urban county of about twenty-six square miles located directly across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. No incorporated towns or cities lie within Arlington's boundaries. Originally part of the ten-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 and Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington has maintained high-quality residential neighborhoods while supporting well-managed growth. The County's central location in the Washington metropolitan area, its ease of access by car and Metrorail, and its high quality labor force, have attracted an increasingly varied employment and residential mix. The County has focused high-density commercial and residential development around Metrorail stations in the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor and in the Jefferson Davis Corridor, which includes Pentagon City and Crystal City, while maintaining lower-density development in the remainder. Arlington's population, the most highly educated in the nation, is increasingly diverse; one in five residents is foreign-born, and one in four speak a language other than English at home.

Arlington is both a residential community and an employment center. Arlington is home to one in five Northern Virginia jobs. Government employment (largely federal) make up 37% of the county jobs, followed by Service employment which constitutes 35% of the County jobs.