ABOUT ARCADIA
Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States located about 13 miles (21 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is the site of the Santa Anita Park racetrack and home to the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden.

Arcadia’s Upper Rancho neighborhood was ranked the 23rd richest neighborhood in Southern California by Business Insider in 2014, with a mean household income of $310,779.

ECONOMY
Arcadia’s economy is driven by wholesale trade, retail trade, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment, and recreation. Revenue from the Santa Anita Racetrack has long supported capital improvements for the City of Arcadia, resulting in the City having very little bonded indebtedness.

The proposal by Caruso Affiliated and Magna Entertainment to build a second large shopping mall adjacent to Westfield Santa Anita on the grounds of the Santa Anita Park racetrack will not be coming into fruition anytime soon. The controversial project, known as “The Shops at Santa Anita”, had prompted heated debate among some residents in the community and enormous spending by corporate interests in favor and against the project. If the second mall had been built, the combined size of the two malls will make Arcadia the largest retail shopping district in Los Angeles County. “The Shops at Santa Anita”, which require City Council approval, would have included signature retail, restaurants, and landscaping featuring a large decorative water display, all situated in what is the race track’s southern parking area, severely curtailing race track parking property.

EDUCATION
For primary and secondary education the city is served by the Arcadia Unified School District. Reading scores for the AUSD are 76.6% higher than the state average and math scores are 67.9% higher than the state average. It is estimated that 88% of Arcadia students are at public schools and 12% in private and/or parochial institutions.

Arcadia Unified School District has one highly ranked and prestigious high school, Arcadia High School. It is among the few public high schools in California to receive a distinguished GreatSchools Rating of 10 out of 10. There are three middle schools, and six elementary schools, two which are winners in the United States Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon Schools program. Approximately five percent of California schools are awarded this honor each year following a rigorous selection process. Eligibility is based on federal and state criteria including the No Child Left Behind program, Academic Performance Index (API), and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The requirements are many and strict, and are based on such areas as a strong curriculum, solid library media services, professional teachers, and counseling programs at all grade levels. In 2010, BusinessWeek ranked Arcadia as the best place to raise children in the state of California for the second year in a row, citing the city’s excellent school system as one of the factors in addition to the low crime rate.