FY 2008 Popular Annual Financial Report FY 2008 Popular Annual Financial Report | Page 22

Community Profile
Arlington’s Facts & Figures
Arlington, Texas was incorporated in 1884 as a farming
community along the railroad tracks in the central part of the
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Today, Arlington is the third-largest city in north Texas, boasting
a population of 365,000. Within a 25-mile radius of the center
of the city is a workforce of more than 2 million people.
We are rich in culture and history. We are service-oriented,
corporate-minded and on the move.
The City of Arlington carries out its mission of delivering a
full range of municipal services including public safety, street
maintenance, recreation, park services, water, sewer, recycling,
permits, licenses, inspections and zoning.

Arlington is the home of the University of Texas at Arlington
state-of-the-art research and engineering university, excellent
Arlington Independent School District and outstanding Tarrant
County Southeast Community College with a wide range of
educational resources at public libraries throughout the city.
We are the home of General Motors, Texas Rangers and the
Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which is on schedule to open in
August 2009.
The transportation infrastructure in and around Arlington is
growing. Local, state and federal agencies have committed
more than $300 million to highway and bridge improvements
in Arlington. The Arlington Municipal Airport, ranked number
one in the Metroplex, is a full-service general aviation reliever
airport owned and operated by the City with more than 380
daily aircraft operations.

2006

2007

2008

Population

General Obligation Debt per Capita

362,393

364,300

369,150

$697

$627

$835

Labor Force

Unemployment Rate

194,534

204,893

208,417

5.1%

4.9%

4.0%

Housing Start Permits Issued

1,751

1,150

1,419

Foreclosures (residential and commercial)

2,957

3,125

3,338

87.4%
92.3%
92.3%

88.8%
93.1%
91.3%

93.9%
95.1%

89.3%
91.3%

Occupancy Rates

Office
85.4%

Industrial
89.8%

Retail
93.3%

Residential (Multi-family)

North Arlington - 4th Quarter 90.4%

South Arlington - 4th Quarter 93.0%

Popular Annual Financial Report for 2008

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Our city has more than 80 public
parks including River Legacy Parks, a
1,300-acre oasis on the Trinity River
in the heart of north Arlington. We
have indoor and outdoor swimming
pools and more than 1,820 acres of
linear parks.
While Arlington is the entertainment
capital of Texas with Six Flags Over
Texas, Hurricane Harbor and the U.S.
Bowling Congress, we are also the
home of accomplished symphonies,
ballets and theaters, and access to
cultural amenities at the new Levitt
Pavilion for the Performing Arts,
which opened in 2008. Our medical
facilities are some of the best in the
country.