The municipality, largely flat,[3] lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level,[4] with the highest point being El Ventorro del Cano (741 m), located in the north of the municipality.[3]
The site appears to have been inhabited since prehistoric times. The name is of Arabic origin, but little is known of Alcorcón before the Reconquista. The first recorded written reference to Alcorcón is in a court document (privilegio rodado [es]) dated on 28 July 1208, in the context of the territorial strife over El Real de Manzanares [es] between the city councils of Madrid and Segovia that took place in the Middle Ages.[5] The parish church, Santa María la Blanca dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries.[3] Alcorcón preserved an urban structure characteristic of a small rural settlement until the 1960s.[3] The centre is surrounded by modern developments, as Alcorcón has grown rapidly since that decade.
As announced in February 2013, Alcorcón was the tentative building site for the Eurovegas casino resort project,[6] officially canceled in December 2013.[7]
Agriculture and animal husbandry are hardly performed, and only a 0.04% of the GDP of the municipality is collected from these activities. Mining, industry and power economy activities produce the 11.09% of the money collected of this economy measure. 8.17% of the registers to an organism of the Welfare System named Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (in which people must be registered when being hired), were linked to the organism by jobs of this sector. Construction activities make 7.28% of the GDP, and 10.65% of the registers in Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social are due to posts in the sector.[8][9]10.57% of the inhabitants work in the trade and hotel industry sectors, and 12.37% have transportation and stock posts.[10]
Alcorcón is linked to Madrid by MetroLine 10 and Line 12, Cercanías line C-5 and several buses (511, 512, 513, 514, 516, 518, 536, 541, 545, 546, 547, 548, 551, N501, N502, N504).
^Rodríguez Iglesias, María Isabel (2017). "Caminos reales, cañadas, veredas y coladas a su paso por Alcorcón"(PDF). In Enrique Escobedo Molinos; Juan Antonio López Cordero; Manuel Cabrera Espinosa (eds.). V Congreso virtual sobre historia de las vías de comunicación: 15 al 30 de septiembre de 2017. p. 7.
