Arlington County

Arlington County Details

Arlington County Virginia is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia. Arlington was once a part of the District, ceded to the U.S. federal government by Virginia and later retroceded.

The City of Alexandria legally separated from Alexandria County in 1870 and Alexandria County was renamed Arlington County in 1920, named after Arlington House, the home of the American Civil War Confederate general Robert E. Lee, sited on what is now Arlington National Cemetery. The Town of Potomac was incorporated as a town in Alexandria County in 1908 and annexed by the independent city of Alexandria in 1930.

By law, there are no cities or towns located within the boundaries of the County. In 1922, the Virginia Supreme Court held that Arlington is a continuous, contiguous and homogeneous entity which cannot be subdivided nor can any portion be annexed by neighboring jurisdictions.

The Arlington County government exercises both city and county functions, one of the few urban unitary forms of government in the USA. Arlington’s form of government, the County Manager plan, was implemented in 1932. It was the first American county to choose this form of government.

Arlington is the sixth-largest county in Virginia and the 5th highest-income county in the U.S. by median family income. It’s also treated as the second-largest principal city of the Washington metropolitan area.

Due to the Arlington’s proximity to Washington, D.C., it is home to a number of installations for the capital region and U.S. government, including the Pentagon, Reagan National Airport, and Arlington National Cemetery. Many schools and universities have campuses in Arlington, most prominently the Antonin Scalia Law School of George Mason University.

Arlington County is home to the majority of National Landing, the area chosen for Amazon HQ2 in Northern Virginia. National landing encompasses parts of Crystal City and Pentagon City in Arlington County and the Potomac Yard neighborhood in the city of Alexandria.

Arlington County Links

• Arlington County Departments and Agencies
• Arlington Projects and Planning
• Essential Guide to Arlington County Planning: Comp. Plan to Site Plan 2019
• Arlington Planning Resource Library
• Arlington County Official Site