Alexandria 2

The West End is composed of four main areas. All are west of Quaker Lane, the main north-south artery through Alexandria:

• Seminary Hill, a mostly residential, single-family dwelling area near the Virginia Theological Seminary and the Episcopal and St. Stephen's & St. Agnes Schools off of Seminary Road, ending in the area just west of the Inova Alexandria Hospital.

• Lower Alexandria (LA), south of the Duke Street corridor, are communities of small homes, rowhouses, townhomes along with commercial and retail real estate, including the Foxchase Shopping Center. The section between Wheeler Ave. and Jordan St. is also known as the "Block." In the 1960s and '70s, this section of Alexandria was also known because of Shirley Duke, a complex of 2,214 low-priced rental apartments, which became the Foxchase development in the early 1980s after five years of stagnancy. There are also areas of industrial businesses south of Duke Street, primarily off Wheeler Ave., South Pickett St., and South Van Dorn St. In the very southern part of this area is the Eisenhower Ave. corridor running parallel to the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495) and west of Telegraph Rd, which is primarily industrial and commercial in nature. There has been some development in apartments and townhomes in the area west of Telegraph Rd and east of Clermont Ave along with Class 1 Offices and national brand hotels. The Van Dorn Metro Station here provides access to Washington, D.C. 

• The Landmark area, which includes Seminary Valley, a large single family area developed in the 1950s, is largely garden style apartments and condo-converted apartment hi-rises as well as a number of townhome developments from the 1970s is west of North Pickett St bordered by I-395/Van Dorn Street on the west and Seminary Road on the north. This area also includes Cameron Station and the main branch of the Alexandria Library, the Charles E. Beatley Central Library, named for Alexandria's two-time mayor in the 1970s and early eighties, Chuck Beatley. The Landmark Mall, developed in the mid-1960s and redeveloped in the 1980s, was Alexandria's primary retail area for decades. It is now anchored by Sears and Macy'sdepartment stores.

• The Seminary West neighborhoods are the communities west of I-395 but within the city limits of Alexandria. Beauregard Street is the primary artery running north & south to a mix of development from town home communities, single family neighborhoods, three large senior citizen living centers, garden and hi-rise apartments and condominiums. The Mark Center office development is a large commercial area in this community, which also includes the Alexandria Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College and its Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center. Under construction, and due to open in September 2011 is a 1,000,000-square-foot (93,000 m2) office tower complex developed for the US Dept of Defense and it's BRAC initiative. The complex will officially be an annex of US Army post Fort Belvoir. 6,300 federal office workers are expected to occupy the buildings. 

North Ridge, in northern Alexandria city, includes the busy east-west Braddock Road/King Street corridors and north-south arteries Russell Rd (to the East) and Cameron Mill Rd. North Ridge takes its name from the high ground west of Russell Road and south of West Glebe Road. Within the area that comprises North Ridge are the neighborhoods of Beverly Hills, Jefferson Park, Braddock Heights, Timber Branch, Parkfairfax, Monticello Park, Beverly Estates, and Oak Crest. It is a residential area with homes of numerous styles with mostly single family two-story & basement houses that were largely developed in the period of the 1930s through the early 1960s. The Lower School of private St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School is located in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of North Ridge. This neighborhood includes many houses of worship as well as one of Virginia's eight Scottish Rite temples, a Masonic order. Alexandria City Fire Station #203 is located at Cameron Mills Rd & Monticello Blvd and an Alexandria Police Satellite Facility borders North Ridge located at King St & W. Braddock Rd. On the edge of the community is a small shopping center called Fairlington anchored by a national-chain drug store and a Cadillac car dealership. North Ridge students attend George Mason and Charles Barrett Elementary Schools and feed into George Washington Middle School and T. C. Williams High School. Parks include Monticello Park, Beverly Park and Robert Leider Park. The North Ridge community lies within the original 10-mile (16 km) square of the District of Columbia, ceded back to Virginia in 1846. 

Many neighborhoods outside of the city limits, including Hollin Hills, Franconia, Groveton, Hybla Valley, Huntington, Belle Haven, Mount Vernon, Fort Hunt, Engleside, Burgundy Village, Waynewood, Wilton Woods, Virginia Hills, Hayfield, and Kingstowne use an Alexandria address. Despite the Alexandria address, these areas are actually part of Fairfax County, not the City of Alexandria. To maintain the political/geographical division here, many locals refer to the non-Alexandria City area that has an Alexandria zip code as "Alexandria South."

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1790	2,748		—
1800	4,971		80.9%
1810	7,227		45.4%
1820	8,218		13.7%
1830	8,241		0.3%
1840	8,459		2.6%
1850	8,734		3.3%
1860	12,652		44.9%
1870	13,570		7.3%
1880	13,659		0.7%
1890	14,339		5.0%
1900	14,528		1.3%
1910	15,329		5.5%
1920	18,060		17.8%
1930	24,149		33.7%
1940	33,523		38.8%
1950	61,787		84.3%
1960	91,023		47.3%
1970	110,927		21.9%
1980	103,217		−7.0%
1990	111,183		7.7%
2000	128,283		15.4%
2010	139,966		9.1%

As of the census  of 2010, there were 139,966 people, 68,082 households, and 30,978 families residing in the city. The population density was 8,452.0 people per square mile (3,262.9/km²). There were 68,082 housing units at an average density of 4,233.2 per square mile (1,634.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 60.9% White, 21.8%African American, 6.0% Asian (1.3% Indian, 1.0% Filipino, 0.9% Chinese, 0.8% Korean, 0.3% Vietnamese, 0.2% Japanese, 1.5% Other), 0.4% Native American, 0.1%Pacific Islander, and 3.7% from two or more races. 16.1% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.

In 2000 there were 61,889 households out of which 18.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.2% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 55.2% were non-families. 43.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.04 and the average family size was 2.87.

The age distribution was 16.8% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 43.5% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males.

According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $80,806, and the median income for a family was $102,435.  Males had a median income of $47,514 versus $41,254 for females. The per capita income for the city was $37,645. 8.9% of the population and 6.8% of families were below the poverty line. 13.9% of those under the age of 18 and 9.0% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. 

Like many American cities, Alexandria has experienced a substantial decline in overall crime since 1970, hitting a 45 year low in 2010. The city's Alexandria Police Department is responsible for police services in the city. There are 320 officers and 138 administrative workers. Since 2002, the police department has put crime information online. 

The total number of violent crimes have been declining on average since 1997 for Alexandria. There were 288 cases of aggravated assault for 1997. The average since then has been 204 per year. The high point for burglary was reached in 1997 with 819 break-ins, as well as 813 reports of auto theft, the highest recorded total for the city. The average number of stolen autos for every year since then has been 672. The number of crimes per 1,000 people has also been declining, from 56 in 1997 to 27 in 2006. According to the Police Executive Research Forum, in Alexandria, "street violence is overrepresented in the Hispanic community."

According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,  the top public employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	United States Patent and Trademark Office	9,000
2	United States Department of Defense	7,500
3	City of Alexandria	2,500
4	Alexandria City Public Schools	1,900
5	Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority	1,400
6	Northern Virginia Community College	800
7	United States Postal Service	400

The top private employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	Inova Alexandria Hospital	1,800
2	ABM Industries	1,000
3	Institute for Defense Analyses	900
4	Center for Naval Analyses	700
5	Gali Services Industries	750
6	Grant Thornton LLP	750
7	United Parcel Service	750
8	Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt	750

Other companies headquartered in Alexandrian include VSE and the Pentagon Federal Credit Union.

Alexandria is home to numerous trade associations, charities, and non-profit organizations including the national headquarters of groups such as the American Diabetes Association, Catholic Charities,Gifts In Kind International, Global Impact, Islamic Relief USA, United Way, Volunteers of America and the Salvation Army. Other organizations located in Alexandria include American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the Society for Human Resource Management and the National Beer Wholesalers Association. 

The city is served by the Alexandria City Public Schools system and by the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College. The largest seminary in the Episcopal Church, Virginia Theological Seminary, is located on Seminary Road. Virginia Tech's Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, also known as WAAC, is located on Prince Street in Old Town, offering graduate programs in Urban Affairs and Planning, Public and International Affairs, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture. Virginia Commonwealth University operates a Northern Virginia branch of its School of Social Work and George Washington University (Washington DC) also has a campus near the King Street metro. This campus mainly offers professional and vocational programs, such as an executive MBA program, urban planning and security studies.

Alexandria is home to several of the Washington D.C. area's top private schools, such as Burgundy Farm Country Day, St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School, Bishop Ireton High School, and Episcopal High School. Also in the city are Alexandria Country Day School, Commonwealth Academy, St. Mary's Catholic School, St. Rita's Catholic School, Blessed Sacrament Learning Center and Global Health College.

Alexandria's public school system consists of thirteen elementary schools for grades 5-year-old Kindergarten through Grade 5. Middle Schools, George Washington and Francis C. Hammond, serve 6th through 8th graders. Minnie Howard Ninth Grade Center and T.C. Williams High School serve grades 9th and 10 through 12, respectively, for the entire city.

The demographics of Alexandria City Public Schools contrast with those of the city. As of 2008, only 14% of the students at Francis C. Hammond Middle School were non-Hispanic whites, compared to about 60% when looking at the city as a whole. 27% were of Hispanic descent, and 48% were black. About 9% of the school was of Asian descent. As of 2004, 62% of the school received free lunches. As of 2008, that number had decreased to 56%. At George Washington Middle School, 30% of students are non-Hispanic whites, 24% were Hispanic, and 41% was black. 3% of the students were Asian, and 52% of students received free lunch.  T.C. Williams High School follows this trend as well; 23% of the students were classified as non-Hispanic whites, 25% as Hispanic, and 44% as black. 7% of the school was Asian, and 47% of all students received free lunch. 

Alexandria has a distributed park system with approximately 950 acres (3.8 km²) spread across 70 major parks and 30 recreation centers, of which Chinquapin is one of the largest. Chinquapin offers facilities for swimming, tennis, racquetball, and other sports. The city also organizes several sports leagues throughout the year including volleyball, softball and basketball. 

The city is unusual in that Cameron Run Regional Park includes a water park with a wave pool and water slides, as well as a miniature golf course and batting cages—facilities usually operated by private companies. A portion of the Mount Vernon Trail, a popular bike and jogging path, runs through Old Town near the Potomac River on its way from the Mount Vernon Estate to Roosevelt Island in Washington, DC. There is also a largely unbroken line of parks stretching along the Alexandria waterfront from end to end.

Landmarks within the city include the George Washington Masonic National Memorial (also known as the Masonic Temple) and Observation Deck,Christ Church, Gadsby's Tavern, John Carlyle House, Little Theatre of Alexandria, Lee-Fendall House, Alexandria City Hall, Market Square, the Jones Point Light, the south cornerstone of the original District of Columbia, Robert E. Lee's boyhood home, the Torpedo Factory Art Center, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. Other sites of historical interest in the city include Alexandria Black History Resource Center, Fort Ward Park and Museum, and the Alexandria Canal lock re-creation at Canal Office Center. Interesting sites with Alexandria addresses but outside of the city limits include River Farm,Collingwood Library & Museum, Green Spring Gardens Park, Huntley Meadows Park, Pope-Leighey House (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright),Woodlawn Plantation, Washington's Grist Mill and Mount Vernon Estate.

In 1830, John Hollensbury's home in Alexandria was one of two homes directly boarding an alleyway that received a large amount of horse-drawn wagontraffic and loiterers.  In order to prevent people from using the alleyway, Hollensbury constructed a 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, 25 feet (7.6 m) deep, 325-square-foot (30.2 m2), two story home using the existing brick walls of the adjacent homes for the sides of the new home.  The brick walls of theHollensbury Spite House living room have gouges from wagon-wheel hubs and the house still is standing and occupied.

Due to its proximity to Washington, Alexandria has only been the home of one professional sports team, the Alexandria Dukes, a minor league baseball team which has moved to Woodbridge and is currently named the Potomac Nationals. However, the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League brought baseball back to Alexandria in 2008 in the form of the Alexandria Aces. In addition, TC Williams, Bishop Ireton, St. Stephen's and Episcopal have storied histories in athletics, such as football, basketball, baseball and lacrosse. 

Alexandria is bisected north and south by State Route 7, known in most of the city as the major thoroughfare of King Street. Interstate 95/495 (the Capital Beltway), including the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River, approximately parallels the city's southern boundary with Fairfax County. Interstate 395 crosses through the western part of the city. Other major routes include U.S. 1(named Jefferson Davis Highway, and Patrick and Henry Streets after Patrick Henry, and Richmond Highway), the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and Duke Street (State Route 236).

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