Alpharetta

Alpharetta, Georgia

Alpharetta is an city in north Fulton County, Georgia, United States. As of 2006 census estimates, the city had a total population of 43,424

According to recent estimates the city has a total population of 52,045

Selected for its location next to a spring, it began as a campground, originally known as New Prospect Camp Ground until late 1858. Officially chartered on December 11 of that year, Alpharetta (Greek for "first town") served as the county seat of Milton County until the end of 1931 when Milton was merged with Fulton County to avoid bankruptcy during the Great Depression.

Alpharetta is located 14 miles north of Atlanta’s central business district and 28 expressway-miles from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport.

Georgia 400 (U.S. 19) is the freeway connecting suburban Alpharetta with Atlanta to the south. It parallels surface highway S.R. 9, which was originally multiplexed with U.S. 19 and was the only paved road through town prior to the county merger. The town also had no railroad, a rarity for the area. Despite its poor start, and being one of the farthest-out large suburbs in metro Atlanta, it now features several mid-rise buildings, which are home to many high-tech companies including Hewlett-Packard, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Radiant Systems, NetBank, Lucent, Nortel, IBM, Sun Microsystems, AT&T, Siemens, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, Alltel, E-Trade, Hansgrohe, General Electric, and ChoicePoint.

Alpharetta is also home to the new Verizon Amphitheater at Encore Park.

Government

Alpharetta is governed by a city council composed of six members and a mayor. The mayor and council members serve staggered four-year terms.

Mayors:

Arthur Letchas 2001 - Present
Chuck Martin 1995 - 2002
Jimmy Phillips 1979 - 1994

Geography

Alpharetta is located at (34.073318, -84.281086).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 55.4 km² (21.4 sq mi). 21.4 square miles (55.3 km²) of it is land and 0.05% is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 34,854 people, 13,911 households, and 8,916 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,631.6 people per square mile (630.0/km²). There were 14,670 housing units at an average density of 686.7/sq mi (265.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.9% White, 6.8% African American, 0.5% Native American, 6.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.1% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.53% of the population. 2.4% of the population is Mixed-Race/Multiracial. The population has been gradually increasing over the last five years.

There were 13,911 households out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.1% were married couples living together, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.0% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 40.5% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 5.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33. For every 100 females there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $84,207, and the median income for a family was $116,175. Males had a median income of $69,275 versus $49,935 for females. The per capita income for the city was $51,432. About 2.9% of families and 5.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The city is served by Fulton County Schools.

Public elementary schools located in Alpharetta include:

Alpharetta Elementary School
Crabapple Crossing Elementary School
Cogburn Woods Elementary School
Creek View Elementary School
Fulton Science Academy School
Lake Windward Elementary School
Manning Oaks Elementary School
New Prospect Elementary School
Summit Hill Elementary School

Hembree Springs Elementary School, Mimosa Elementary School, and Sweet Apple Elementary School, all in Roswell, serve portions of Alpharetta.

Public middle schools located in Alpharetta include:

Autrey Mill Middle School
Fulton Science Academy
Haynes Bridge Middle School
Hopewell Middle School
Holcomb Bridge Middle School
Northwestern Middle School
Webb Bridge Middle School

In addition, Crabapple Middle School and Elkins Pointe Middle School, two middle schools in Roswell, serve portions of Alpharetta.

Amana Academy is a public charter school which is part of the Fulton County School system and provides excellent education for students in Kindergarten to 8th grade. Amana Academy employs the Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound (ELOB) instructional model. For more information, please visit Amana Academy at http://www.amanaacademy.org

Public high schools that serve Alpharetta: