Alexandria, Virginia
Area Profile
156,976 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Alexandria, in Alexandria city.
Unemployment is 3.1% and median household income $119,681, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.
In the public schools here, 39% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.2 students for every teacher.
Rent takes 21% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 6.1 times that income.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.1% is lower than 94% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment fell 3.0% over the past year, to 95,952 employed residents.
66% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 95% of measured US cities.
Household income is higher than at least 89% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$2,819 | $119,681 | Top 11%of 29,573 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,426 | $79,474 | Top 4%of 31,420 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 7.9% | Bottom 37%of 31,900 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 30.8 min | Top 31%of 31,543 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 66.2% | Top 5%of 31,919 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 95,952 | Top 39%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -3.5% | Bottom 9%of 3,903 | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -3.0% | Bottom 8%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 99,072 | Top 39%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 78.3% | Top 5%of 31,933 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $91,930 | Top 6%of 3,658 | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $71,060 | Top 8%of 3,658 | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.1% | Top 47%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.1% | Bottom 6%of 3,904 | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| General and Operations Managers | 112,530 | $156,460 |
| Business Operations Specialists, All Other | 76,600 | $104,770 |
| Software Developers | 69,060 | $154,930 |
| Retail Salespersons | 66,920 | $36,610 |
| Management Analysts | 62,360 | $126,830 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 60,560 | $34,600 |
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Schools
How it’s calculated →39% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 53% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 15.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandria City High | Alexandria City Public Schools | 4,655 | 15.3 | — | — |
| Francis C. Hammond Middle | Alexandria City Public Schools | 1,597 | 13.4 | 37% | 47% |
| George Washington Middle | Alexandria City Public Schools | 1,458 | 14.2 | 62% | 72% |
| Patrick Henry K-8 School | Alexandria City Public Schools | 1,075 | 17.9 | 39% | 56% |
| Mount Vernon Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 933 | 18.3 | 34% | 47% |
| James K. Polk Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 804 | 17.1 | 31% | 39% |
| John Adams Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 743 | 15.2 | 32% | 52% |
| Samuel W. Tucker Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 735 | 17.1 | 33% | 62% |
| William Ramsay Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 689 | 15.3 | 17% | 25% |
| Douglas MacArthur Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 680 | 16.2 | 51% | 62% |
| Ferdinand T. Day Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 589 | 16.4 | 19% | 31% |
| Charles Barrett Elementary | Alexandria City Public Schools | 547 | 14.4 | 48% | 61% |
69.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Virginia’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Prices for everything a household buys run about 10% above the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.
Median rent of $2,089 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 6.1 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.
Prices here run about 10% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.
| Metric | Value | Compared nationally | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of living index | 109.5 | Top 27%of 3,658 | 2023 |
| Home price to income | 6.14 | Top 8%of 28,473 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 42.1% | Bottom 5%of 31,843 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±100 | 80,844 | Top 1%of 32,330 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$32 | $2,089 | Top 7%of 23,432 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$22,247 | $735,100 | Top 5%of 29,342 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 20.9% | Top 35%of 23,201 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 5.9% | Bottom 33%of 32,001 | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 159,102 in 2024.
Permit activity has fallen for 3 consecutive years.
95% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.
At 3.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.
Weather & climate
6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 30°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 41.8 inches, including 13.7 inches of snow.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 41.8" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 13.7" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 30°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 90°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 6 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 44°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, strong wind and hurricane.
Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, lightning, winter weather, hail, coastal flooding, ice storm, landslide, wildfire, drought.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
Safety
How it’s measured →Below these are deaths rather than offences, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.
Alexandria's police department reported 142 violent offences per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,650.
Alexandria city records 3.9 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at 7.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 6.4 per 100,000 residents in Alexandria city.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.
Offences are reported to the FBI by Alexandria’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Alexandria city as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Alexandria rather than Alexandria itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Taxes
- Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
- Anything about a specific address
- Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.
Access
4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 22 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Dulles Intl | IAD | 22 mi | 11,500 ft |
| Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall | BWI | 33 mi | 10,503 ft |
| Richmond Intl | RIC | 92 mi | 9,003 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Other cities in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | District of Columbia | 681,294 | 65 | vs Alexandria |
| Arlington | Arlington County | 236,254 | — | vs Alexandria |
| Germantown | Montgomery County | 90,719 | — | vs Alexandria |
| Frederick | Frederick County | 83,395 | 70 | vs Alexandria |
| Waldorf | Charles County | 82,943 | — | vs Alexandria |
| Silver Spring | Montgomery County | 81,462 | — | vs Alexandria |
| Centreville | Fairfax County | 71,706 | — | vs Alexandria |
| Dale City | Prince William County | 71,016 | — | vs Alexandria |
| Gaithersburg | Montgomery County | 69,825 | 68 | vs Alexandria |
| Bethesda | Montgomery County | 69,397 | — | vs Alexandria |
| Rockville | Montgomery County | 67,671 | 71 | vs Alexandria |
| Reston | Fairfax County | 64,414 | — | vs Alexandria |
Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Alexandria side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| safety | Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency | 2025 calendar year | Annually, with monthly revisions |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Housing | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional price parities and county personal income | 2023 | Annually, each December |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.