The metro-area ranking saw D.C. at the top position of the Top 500 list, with New York and Los Angeles tied for No. 2. With 42 companies, the Washington, D.C. Metro region topped all other metro areas.

Among the 42 Washington, D.C. Metro area companies on the Top 500 list, five Arlington companies ranked: Catapult Consults (182), Cowan & Associates (304), Ignited Discovery (360), Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions (380), and Ironbridge Consulting (474).

In the larger Inc. Top 5000 list, Arlington boasted a total of 25 companies. In addition, 11 of the Top 100 fastest growing companies in the Washington, D.C. Metro region are based in Arlington.

The New York-based magazine’s 2009 list includes a montage of U.S.-based, privately held, for profit and independent companies, ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2005 to 2008.

Despite the ongoing recession, the 2009 Inc. 500 offers a glimpse of the future of the U.S. economy. In the health sector, which saw aggregate revenue of $1.1 billion and a 917 percent median growth rate, businesses are moving forward on cancer and stem-cell research, clinical trials and medication management. More than 25 percent of companies in the energy sector ($2.5 billion aggregate revenue; 942 percent median growth rate) focus on solar and other alternative sources. Fewer than a third of retailers ($356 million aggregate revenue; 914 percent median growth rate) have even a single brick-and-mortar store. And the number of companies providing technical services to the various branches of the federal government continues to rise.