Arlington’s Top 10 Government and Private Employers

by ARLnow.com March 11, 2011 at 2:02 pm 9,107 19 Comments

Things are looking pretty good for Arlington, economy-wise — at least according to a presentation this morning by Arlington Economic Development Director Terry Holzheimer.

Unemployment and office vacancies are low. Real estate prices and hotel occupancy rates are on the rise. And a number of new construction projects are underway. Holzheimer said he expects the local unemployment rate to continue declining in 2011 while the impact from BRAC is mitigated by a robust demand for office space.

Holzheimer noted that between 2008 and 2010, Arlington saw a net employment increase while Alexandria and Fairfax saw a net employment decline.

Today’s presentation included a list of the top public and private employers in Arlington. The total number employees in Arlington in 2011 is noted below in parenthesis.

Given the current talk in Congress of significant federal budget cuts, Arlington’s large number of government employees may be of some concern.

Private Employers

Deloitte (3,490)
Lockheed Martin (2,668)
Virginia Hospital Center (2,042)
Marriott International (1,600)
Booz Allen Hamilton (1,370)
SRA International (1,359)
CACI (1,251)
US Airways (1,300)
SAIC (1,281)
Corporate Executive Board (986)

Government Employers

U.S. Department of Defense (36,000)
U.S. Department of Justice (5,200)
U.S. Department of State (4,500)
Arlington County School Board (3,800)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security (3,500)
County of Arlington (3,400)
National Science Foundation (2,200)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2,100)
U.S. General Service Administration (1,800)
U.S. Department of Interior (1,200)

Arlington, Northside

Now, of those who work in the county, how many live in the county?
- AllenB
  
  I do, so that’s at least one.
  - Arlingtonian
    
    So do I. My employer is on the first list and neither of us are going anywhere.
    - Overgrown Bush
      
      If your employer leases office space, don’t be so sure.
- Andrew
  
  I do.
- Overgrown Bush
  
  Those who live in the county, how many of you work in the county? Not I (at least the majority of the time).
BCR

I do as well, and I’m on the second list. I know for a fact my employer will not move.
Southeast Jerome

This post here smells a bit like fear mongering. Arlington will be fine.
CrystalMikey

Live and work in the ARL.
TedL

Live, work, shop and play in Arlington
- CW
  
  I’m getting a bit claustrophobic.
el fat kid

It doesn’t take much to cause a significant ripple. Especially because a lot of the DC based jobs are decently paid gigs. For better or worse, DoD and it’s myriad of subcontractors will largely be untouched by HR1. Homeland will also be largely untouched but DoJ, DOI, NSF, EPA and several others will likely being seeing significant cuts when all is said and done. Also, the other big impact will be on the non-profit world here, many of which receive a significant amount of money in federal grants/appropriations.

If HR1 ends up costing 500,000-700,000 fed jobs, or even half that as a compromise is worked out, it will have a significant impact on Arlington and the metro area.
Sgt. Hartman

Interesting…but, how many folks do you figure are employed, in toto, by all the pizza joints around here?
Googla

Proud to live and work in South Arlington. The thing about Crystal City is that it is a kickass location. Except for the National Guard, there isn’t that much of a DoD presence anyway. The powers that be have been on top of planning to improve Crystal City for the future.
GMo

Yea don’t forget that more than half of those top private employers do much of their business via government contracts.
- brian
  
  and we will be working with or without a shutdown.
  the money has been already funded.
  
  now if this lasts for 6 months, then there will be a problem with contractors
- el fat kid
  
  a vast majority of the contractors work off DoD or DHS money which will likely see an increase due to some incredibly twisted logic.
brian

traffic will be awesome! no more backups!
Job Seeker

Glad to hear things are improving in Arlington. It appears that I should be moving there from California since there are no jobs here, private sector or DOD jobs. Plus I am sure that they pay well!

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