Arcadia is an extremely affluent community located in Los Angeles County in the state of California. Situated around 13 miles to the northeast of Los Angeles within the San Gabriel Valley and at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountain, Arcadia is the setting for the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden and is also the home of the Santa Anita Park racetrack.
As of the census that was taken a couple of years ago, back in 2010, the city’s population stood at 63,364, with almost 3,000 people having made the decision to move there from ten years earlier, with the 2000 census recording a population of 53,248 people. Named after Arcadia in Greece, the city was named by Bloomberg Business Week as one of the US’ Best Places to Raise Your Kids in 2010, an honor it received for the second consecutive year.
Six other communities border Arcadia: El Monte, Monrovia, Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre and Temple City. The total area of the city is 11.1 square miles according to figures from the United States Census Bureau, of which 10.9 square meters are land, with the remaining 0.2 square miles being water. According to the 2010 census, 55,502 people were living in households, with 223 being institutionalized and 639 living in non-institutionalized group quarters. There were 19,592 households, of which 7,336 had children below the age of 18 living there, 11,703 were married couples of the opposite sex living together, 24,537 with a female householder sans husband, 865 with a male householder sans wife, 469 unmarried couples of the opposite sex living together, 92 married couples or unmarried partners of the same sex living together. 3,855 households were made up of individuals, and just 1,926 single people lived alone aged 65 or older. There were 15,005 families.
The economy of the city of Arcadia is driven by retail trade, healthcare, arts, recreation, wholesale trade, manufacturing, social assistance and entertainment. The city of Arcadia has long been supported for capital improvements by revenue raised via the Santa Anita Racetrack, which has resulted in the city actually having very minimal bonded indebtedness. A major shopping center in Arcadia is the Westfield Santa Anita mall, which completed its very first phase of expansion in 2005, including a new food court, Borders Books and Music, numerous smaller retailers, a 16-screen AMC Theatres, Sports Chalet and a number of full-service eateries located in the area referred to as Restaurant Square. The mall’s expansion continued in 2008, with the completion of the outdoor Promenade structure incorporating new high-end retailers such as Talbots and Coach.
For families who decide on relocation to Arcadia, there is just one high school: the prestigious and highly ranked Arcadia High School. This is among the few California public high schools to have received a distinguished GreatSchools rating of ten out of ten. There are also six elementary schools and three middle schools.
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