Albemarle County is home to over 88,400 residents and located approximately 110 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. and 70 miles west of Richmond. Albemarle County is one of the most attractive and desirable locations in Virginia, with excellent school systems, low crime and unemployment rates, and a wide range of cultural, historic and recreational activities which offer unique advantages for thriving businesses and for gracious living.
The City of Charlottesville is nestled at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in western central Virginia. Home to a population of over 40,000 residents with a metropolitan population nearing 200,000. The City has earned a reputation as being one of the most livable places in the country. In 2004 the City was given the distinction by Frommer's Cities Ranked and Rated 2004 as the Best Place to Live in America, and for four years in a row, Charlottesville has been listed among the Money Magazine 100 Best Places to Live.
A city deep in historic value, the area has raised three Presidents and is the home of the University of Virginia founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1825. With a growing enrollment of nearly 20,000, The University is now consistently listed as one of the top five public universities in the country.
The City has also earned a reputation as a writers and readers paradise, with more newspaper readers per capita than anywhere else in the nation. Every spring the City hosts an annual Virginia Festival of the Book that attracts thousands of avid readers from across the country. The city is also home to many prominent writers including John Grisham and Rita Mae Brown, and past acclaimed authors such as Edgar Alan Poe and William Faulkner.
