Alpharetta literally means first city in Greek. Originally, Alpharetta was the "first city" in what was then Milton County. In fact, before being named Alpharetta, the name was Town of Milton, which is a little confusing given that, as of 2006, there is a City of Milton adjacent to Alpharetta today.

Anyway, that was all back in the 1850′s, and while Alpharetta was not the first city in North Fulton (Roswell was), today Alpharetta is arguably the first city. Look at it this way, Roswell has two exists of GA-400 and Alpharetta has three!

All municipal rivalry aside, Alpharetta has developed itself into a city with good services, low crime and nice parks and recreation facilities. The new Encore Park, currently under construction, will become the northern home of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Prospect Park, also under construction, will bring exclusive shopping the Alpharetta to complement North Point Mall.

While the lifestyle is pleasant (except for the traffic, which is always the knock on the Atlanta area) it is the jobs and schools which ultimately make people want to live here. Alpharetta is the commercial and corporate heart of North Fulton. The areas along North Point Parkway and Windward Parkway are home to dozens of corporate headquarters from IBM and Equifax to ADP and Choicepoint to Siemens and Verizon.

As of 2007, approximately 120,000 people call Alpharetta their workplace, which is more than three times the number who call it their home. Alpharetta has indisputably become the first city of commerce in North Fulton. This means that everyday, thousands of people commute into Alpharetta and then home again in the evenings to the surrounding "bedroom communities."

The public schools in Alpharetta are some of the best in the state anchored by Centennial, Chattahoochee and Alpharetta High Schools with a scad of quality middle and elementary schools feeding those high schools. Additionally there is a variety of quality private schools from which to choose including Mt. Pisgah.

At the end of the day, Alpharetta has become the city of choice for so many because it scores high on all the housing decision criteria: well run government, relatively new housing stock and a variety of housing types, close to work, good schools, many shopping and dining options and not too too far from Atlanta and Buckhead for "big city adventures" or to the airport if you have to travel for work or pleasure.