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The Basics
CHARLOTTESVILLE
Size: 10.26 square miles
2008 Population Estimate: 41,487
Density: 4,505 people per square mile
ALBEMARLE
Size: 722.6 square miles
2008 Population Estimate: 94,075
Density: 110 people per square mile
Growth Since 2000
Virginia: 9.7% Charlottesvile: 3.5%
Albemarle: 11.7%
Fluvanna: 27.4%
Greene: 17.8%
Louisa: 27.7%
Nelson: 6.1%
--source: U.S. Census Bureau
Bedroom-athon vexes Greene
What do the above figures mean? For starters, they mean that the outlying counties are bearing the brunt of the growth. That bums them out because while Albemarle and Charlottesville get gobs of college student housing complexes and shopping centers (read: tax revenue), neighboring counties get gobs of students to educate in their public schools (read: tax expenditures). Fact: In 2003, Greene County raised its real estate tax from 74 cents to 79 cents per $100 of value. However, the effect of the Charlottesville exodus may be leveling out, as the current Greene real estate tax rate has gone back down to 72 cents per $100.
-->>For local taxes, see our Government section
Biz groups
Charlottesville Albemarle County Convention and Visitors Bureau: Visitor center downtown on East Market Street. 293-6789, or toll free 877-386-1103; 977-1783(Charlottesville Regional Tourism Council)
Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce: "Dedicated to representing private enterprise, promoting business, and enhancing the quality of life in our greater Charlottesville area." 295-3141
Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development: This is the bring-biz-here group that's devoted to increasing relationships between private businesses and public institutions, as well trying to make sure you have a job. Phew. Executive Director: Michael Harvey, 979-5610
Free Enterprise Forum: Non-profit organization that acts as watchdog over local governments, boards, and commissions. See how they're affecting bidniz. 220-0781
SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives): These retired biz execs volunteer their time to help you start your business. 295-6712
AAA Ratings
Both Charlottesville City and Albemarle County have AAA bond ratings, the highest possible. Charlottesville supposedly holds the record for the longest-running AAA bond rating for a city with a population under 50,000. Meanwhile, Albemarle says, "Oh, yeah? Well, ours is the lowest population county in the nation with such a designation." Then, on July 1, 2005, UVA announced that it is one of only three public universities to score a AAA rating from all three bond agencies, and still holds the honor through to 2009. Bottom line: our real estate values rock, and our governments don't seem to be doing too badly themselves.
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Major employers of the Charlottesville Area:
University of Virginia : 8,600 (inc. P/T)
University of Virginia Health System: 5,320
Albemarle County: 2,920 (inc. 620 P/T)
Martha Jefferson Hospital: 1,500
City of Charlottesville: 2,184 (inc. 84 P/T, 455 Temps)
State Farm: 1,547 (inc. 43 P/T, not including area agents)
National Ground Intelligence Center: 1,200
Sperry Marine (Northrop Grumman): 825
Region Ten Community Services: 689 (inc. P/T, volunteers)
GE/Fanuc: 600*
Crutchfield Corporation: 500
Wal-Mart/Sam's Club: 490
Kroger: 464 (including 166 P/T)
WorldStrides: 420
Atlantic Coast Athletic Club: 420 (inc P/T and seasonal)
Farmington Country Club: 400
SNL Financial: 400
U.S. Postal Service : 376 (including P/T)
Boar's Head Inn: 375
CFA Institute: 332
PRA International: 300 (including P/T)
LexisNexis: 300
Piedmont Virginia Community College: 220 (inc. P/T)
Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge: 295 (inc. P/T)
Management Services : 265
--source: approximate numbers of local employees, June 2009 Hook telephone survey.*GE/Fanuc declined to respond, so an estimate from the Daily Progress was used.
Charlottesville Metropolitan Area Employment Information at a Glance
Dec Jan Feb Mar
2008 2009 2009 2009
Civilian Labor 106,150 104,601 106,604 106,836
Force
Employment 101,773 99,033 100,641 100,796
Unemployent 4,377 5,568 5,963 6,040
Unemployment 4.1% 5.3% 5.6% 5.7%
Rate
--source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Unemployment:
City of Charlottesville: 7%
Albemarle County: 5.3%
Virginia: 7%
U.S.: 9.1%
--source: Virginia Employment Commission, May 2009
Tough times, but it could be worse
The economic downturn has hit the Charlottesville area hard, with unemployment rates doubling in both the city and the county. However, we're not nearly as bad off as Northern Virginia, which has seen its rate of unemployment go into double digits. The Virginia Employment Commission credits the softer landing for Charlottesville to recent UVA grads choosing to enter the local workforce instead of going elsewhere after getting their diplomas.
Major industries: Tourism, learning, medicine
Manufacturing, agriculture, and textiles have flourished in the area for years, and the beauty of the natural environment as well as our rich history have created a thriving tourism industry. In addition, Mr. Jefferson's university is home of prestigious law, business, and medical schools, not to mention a top-rated hospital. As piles of retirement, investment, and tourism magazines attest, Charlottesville / Albemarle today is one of the hottest places to live in the country.
Agriculture
Albemarle has farmettes and horse farms galore, but for a rural county, we're fairly small potatoes in the Old MacDonald world of real agriculture. According to a 2007 agriculture census, Albemarle ranks at #35 among Virginia's counties with only 919 farms and $21.45 million in annual revenue from farm sales. Nearby Augusta, by contrast, ranks at the #2 spot with 1,691 farms grossing $138.7 million in annual sales. Albemarle didn't even chart for cotton, peanuts, tobacco, and barley, but here are a few measurements:
Hay: 53,300 tons produced from 22,700 acres
Cattle: 18,200 head
Sheep: 2,000 head
--from U.S. Department of Agriculture
Make mine local wine
The above statistics fail to count the wine industry, which is the fastest growing agricultural industry in the region. Since Jefferson was dubbed the "Father of American Wine," over half of Virginia's 2,000 vineyard acres are located in the Monticello region. Two bigwigs to join the biz in recent years have been Patricia Kluge and Dave Matthews. But the lady most oft associated with the local wine trade is Felicia Rogan, who announced her retirement in 2008, and closure of the original Albemarle vineyard, Oakencroft. Her presenced is missed, but with Life magazine's title of "Best New Place to Drink Wine," we're doing all right.
--> See our wine section in the Food Finder for more.
Welfare for the rich?
Farmette owners are notorious for taking advantage of something called "Land Use Taxation," which means that a mogul with an 8,900-square-foot palace can pay just $976 in taxes on his 50 acres if their land is devoted solely to agricultural, forestry, or open-space use. This is about as much as the owner of a one-acre lot in Forest Lakes pays. Defenders of the program point out that the discount fosters agriculture, or at least open spaces. Albemarle County supervisors decided to continue the program in May 2008, but to ease some pain are requiring that participating farmers "re-validate" for the program to prove that they quailify.
--> See our real estate section for more.
The Virginia Lottery Economists call this a "voluntary tax." School administrators call it a godsend. It was created by voters in 1987, many of whom wrongly assumed the proceeds were going directly to schools. That misperception was corrected in 1999 when over 80 percent of voters in a state constitutional referendum voted to make it official to send the proceeds to public education. Now, all profits have been used for public education in the Commonwealth K-12. Sales reached over $1.3 billion in Fiscal Year 2008 and $455.3 million was contributed to public education. In other 2008 news, Washington & Lee economics professor Scott Hoover sued the Lottery because he claimed the Virginia Lottery has sold tickets to players without any chances of winning a prize, which may help explain all those sad faces in gas stations.
Director: Paula I. Otto
Trash
Much to the consternation of environmentalists, Virginia is the #2 trash-importing state with 7.1 million tons of out-of-state refuse arriving in 2007. (Pennsylvania is #1, but the AP notes that our volume is steadily climbing as Pennsylvania's falls.) Around here, the former Buckingham County Landfill (aka Love's Container Service Landfill) is now an EPA Superfund site that was capped in 1998. Albemarle's landfill, now dubbed the "Materials Utilization Center," became a small-scale transfer-only point in 2001. The local waste industry has been turned upside-down by the arrival of Van der Linde Recycling.
No go CHO?
Four carriers serve the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO): Delta Connection and Northwest (who have merged together but still do separate reservations), United Express, and US Airways Express. That means non-stop service to Atlanta, Detroit, New York/LaGuardia, Washington/Dulles, Charlotte and Philadelphia.However, rising gas prices have meant hard times for all sectors of the airline industry, and CHO's total number of boardings have gone down each of the last three years, dropping drastically in 2008. CHO reps concede that if the economy gets worse, they could lose some of flights.
Location: 8 miles north of town off (you guessed it) Airport Road. 973-8342
Airport boardings:
2001: 155,000 boardings
2002: 172,000 boardings
2003: 163,000 boardings
2004: 187,500 boardings
2005: 196,242 boardings
2006: 185,182 boardings
2007: 180,606 boardings
2008: 168,966 boardings
--source: CHO
CHO aircraft operations:
207 aircraft operations/day average
45% transient general aviation
27% commercial
23% local general aviation
4% military
--source: airnav.com
Private hangar
If you're a high-roller, you'll be pleased to know that Piedmont-Hawthorne Aviation celebrated the opening of its third hangar in May 2005. Good place to stow your Gulfstream.
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