Fairfax County, Virginia

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Fairfax County, Virginia
Map
Location in the state of Virginia
Virginia's location in the U.S.
Statistics
Founded	1742
Seat	Fairfax
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	407 sq mi (1,053 km²) 395 sq mi (1,023 km²) 12 sq mi (30 km²), 2.85%
Population  - (2005)  - Density	1,041,200 2,636/sq mi (1,018/km²)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website: www.fairfaxcounty.gov
Named for: Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia, in the United States. As of January 2007, the estimated population of the county is 1,077,000,^[1] making it by far the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the most populous jurisdiction in the Greater Washington Area and has the highest median household income ($100,318, the first to reach six figures) of any county in the United States.^[2]

[edit] History

Fairfax County was formed in 1742 from the northern part of Prince William County. It was named for Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693–1781), proprietor of the Northern Neck.

The oldest settlements in Fairfax County were located along the Potomac River. George Washington settled in Fairfax County and built his home, Mount Vernon facing the river. Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason is located nearby. Modern Fort Belvoir is partly located on the estate of Belvoir Manor, built along the Potomac by William Fairfax in 1741. Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, the only member of the British nobility ever to reside in the colonies, lived at Belvoir before he moved to the Shenandoah Valley. The Belvoir mansion and several of its outbuildings were destroyed by fire immediately after the Revolutionary War in 1783, and George Washington noted the plantation complex gradually deteriorated into ruins.^[3]

The CIA is located in a secluded area of the county.

In 1757, the northwestern two-thirds of Fairfax County became Loudoun County. In 1789, part of Fairfax County was ceded to the federal government to form Alexandria County of the District of Columbia. Alexandria County was returned to Virginia in 1846, reduced in size by the secession of the independent city of Alexandria in 1870, and renamed Arlington County in 1920. The Fairfax County town of Falls Church became an independent city in 1948. The Fairfax County town of Fairfax became an independent city in 1961.

Located near Washington, D.C., Fairfax County was an important region in the Civil War. The Battle of Chantilly or Ox Hill, during the same campaign as the second Battle of Bull Run, was fought within the county; Bull Run straddles the border between Fairfax and Prince William County. For most of the Civil War, Union troops occupied the county, though the population remained sympathetic to the Confederacy.

The growth of the Federal Government in the years during and after World War II spurred rapid growth in the county. As a result, the once rural county began to become increasingly suburban. Other large businesses continued to settle in Fairfax County and the opening of Tysons Corner Center spurred the rise of Tysons Corner itself. The technology boom and a steady government-driven economy also created rapid growth and an increasingly growing and diverse population. The economy has also made Fairfax County one of the wealthiest counties in the nation.

[edit] Geography

Fairfax County is bounded on the north and southeast by the Potomac River. Across the river to the northeast is Washington, D.C., across the river to the north is Montgomery County, Maryland, and across the river to the southeast are Prince George's County, Maryland and Charles County, Maryland. The county is partially bounded on the north and east by Arlington County and the independent cities of Alexandria and Falls Church. It is bounded on the west by Loudoun County, and on the south by Prince William County.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 407 square miles (1,053 km²), of which, 395 square miles (1,023 km²) of it is land and 12 square miles (30 km²) of it (2.85%) is water.

[edit] National protected areas

• Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge
• George Washington Memorial Parkway (part)
• Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

[edit] Geology

Eleven square miles of the county are known to be underlain with natural asbestos.^[4] Much of the asbestos is known to emanate from fibrous tremolite or actinolite. Approximately 20 years ago, when the threat was discovered, the county established laws to monitor air quality at construction sites, control soil taken from affected areas, and require freshly developed sites to lay 6 inches (150 mm) of clean, stable material over the ground.^[5] For instance, during the construction of Centreville High School a large amount of asbestos-laded soil was removed and then trucked to Vienna for the construction of the I-66/Nutley Street interchange. Fill dirt then had to be trucked in to make the site level. Marine clays can be also found in widespread areas of the county east of Interstate 95, mostly in the Lee and Mount Vernon Districts. These clays contribute to soil instability, leading to significant construction challenges for builders.^[6]

[edit] Government and politics

The county is divided into nine supervisor districts: Braddock, Dranesville, Hunter Mill, Lee, Mason, Mount Vernon, Providence, Springfield, and Sully.
The supervisor districts each elect one supervisor to the Board of Supervisors which governs Fairfax County. There is also a Chairman elected by the county at-large.

Fairfax County was once considered a strong Republican bastion in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. However, Democrats have increasingly made inroads in Fairfax County in the past decade, having gained control of the Board of Supervisors and the School Board (which is officially nonpartisan) as well as the offices of Sheriff and Commonwealth Attorney. Democrats also control the majority of Fairfax seats in the House of Delegates and State Senate.

Republicans currently control two of the three congressional seats that include parts of Fairfax County. Communities closer to Washington, D.C. generally favor Democrats by a larger margin than the outlying communities. In 2000, 2001, and 2005, Fairfax County voted Democratic in the races for Senate and governor. In 2004, John Kerry won the county; the first Democrat to do so since Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1964 landslide (the last time Democrats carried the state). Kerry defeated Bush in the county 53% to 46%.

Democratic Governor Tim Kaine carried Fairfax County with over 60% of the vote in 2005, leading him to win over 51% of votes statewide.

On November 7, 2006, U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D) carried the county with about 58.9% of the votes (from the Virginia Commonwealth site).

On November 6, 2007, voters demonstrated Fairfax County's decidedly Democratic tilt once more. The Democratic Party picked up one seat in the Virginia House of Delegates and two seats in the Virginia State Senate from Fairfax County. Also, the Democrats were able to increase their majority on the Board of Supervisors to an 8-2 margin after defeating Republican Joan DuBois in the Dranesville district.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[7] of 2000, there were 969,749 people, 350,714 households, and 250,409 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,455 people per square mile (948/km²). There were 359,411 housing units at an average density of 910 per square mile (351/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 72.91% White, 8.83% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 13.00% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 4.54% from other races, and 3.65% from two or more races. 11.03% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Like many of the most affluent areas of the United States in the 21st century, Fairfax County is home to people from diverse backgrounds with a significant number of Korean-Americans, Indian-Americans, Pakistani-Americans, Jewish-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans along with other Americans of Asian descent. There is a sizable Latino population primarily consisting of Salvadorans, Peruvians and Bolivians.

In 2000 there are 350,714 households, of which 36.30% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.40% were married couples living together, 8.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.60% were non-families. 21.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.20.

In the county, the population was spread out with 25.40% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 33.90% from 25 to 44, 25.30% from 45 to 64, and 7.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $81,050, and the median income for a family was $92,146. Males had a median income of $60,503 versus $41,802 for females. The per capita income for the county was $36,888. About 3.00% of families and 4.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.20% of those under age 18 and 4.00% of those age 65 or over.

Judged by household median income, Fairfax County is the richest county in the country and was many years. However, in the 2000 census it was overtaken by Douglas County, Colorado. According to US Census Bureau estimates for 2005, it had the second-highest median household income behind neighboring Loudoun County, Va., at $94,610. In 2007 Fairfax County reclaimed its position as the richest county in America, in addition to becoming the first jurisdiction in American history to have a median household income in excess of $100,000, as stated by the U.S. Census Bureau's latest report.^[2]

[edit] Education

The county is served by the Fairfax County Public Schools system, to which the county government allocates 52.2% of its fiscal budget.^[8] Including state and federal government contributions, along with citizen and corporate contributions, this brings the 2008 fiscal budget for the school system to $2.2 billion.^[9] The school system has estimated that, based on the 2008 fiscal year budget, the county will be spending $13,407 on each student.^[10]

The Fairfax County Public School system contains the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a Virginia Governor's School. TJHSST consistently ranks at or near the top of all United States high schools due to the extraordinary number of National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists, the high average SAT scores of its students, and the number of students who annually perform nationally recognized research in the sciences and engineering.

George Mason University is located just outside Fairfax City, near the geographic center of Fairfax County. Northern Virginia Community College serves Fairfax County with campuses in Annandale and Springfield and a center in Reston which is a satellite branch of the Loudoun campus.

[edit] Economy

Time magazine columnist Justin Fox in 2007 called Fairfax County "one of the great economic success stories of our time." A U.S. Department of Labor study published in 2007 described Fairfax County as the second "economic pillar" of the Washington-area economy along with the District of Columbia. Fairfax County is, along with Washington, a core employment jurisdiction of the Washington Metropolitan Area.

The economy of Fairfax County is a robust service economy. Many residents work for the government or for contractors of the Federal Government. Defense contractors in particular are prominent. The government is the largest employer with Fort Belvoir in southern Fairfax being the county's single largest employer.

The top 5 largest private employers are the Inova Health System, Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) and Freddie Mac. Fairfax County also is home to several large companies such as Gannett, Capital One, General Dynamics, and NVR. The county has seven Fortune 500 company headquarters, more than the rest of Northern Virginia or the neighboring state of Maryland, and nearly as many as the state capital Richmond. Volkswagen of America announced in 2007 that it would relocate its corporate headquarters to Fairfax County from Auburn Hills, Michigan.

The economy of the county is supported by the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, which provides a wide array of services and information designed to promote Fairfax County as a leading business and technology center. The FCEDA also runs a capital attraction program to link entrepreneurs and start-up firms with venture capitalists and angel investors. Another program assists small, minority- and woman-owned businesses. The FCEDA has marketing offices in San Francisco, Bangalore, Frankfurt, London, Seoul and Tel Aviv.^[11]

[edit] Employment

The average weekly wage in Fairfax County during the first quarter of 2005 was $1,181.^[12] By comparison, the average weekly wage was $1,286 for Arlington, $1,277 for Washington, D.C., and $775 for the United States as a whole^[12]—52% above the national average. The types of jobs available in the area make it very attractive to highly-educated workers.^[12]

In early 2005, Fairfax County had 553,107 total jobs, up from 372,792 in 1990. In the area, this is second to Washington's 658,505 jobs in 2005 (down from 668,532 in 1990).^[12]

As of the 2002 Economic Census, Fairfax County has the largest professional, scientific, & technical service sector in the Washington, D.C. area in terms of the number of business establishments; total sales, shipments, and receipts; payrolls; and number of employees,^[13] exceeding the next largest, Washington, D.C., by roughly a quarter overall, and doubling neighboring Montgomery County.

[edit] Tysons Corner

Tysons Corner is Virginia's largest office market and one of the leading business centers in the nation with 25,700,000 square feet (2,390,000 m²) of office space.^[14] Tysons Corner is currently the country's 12th largest business district, and is expected to grow substantially in the years to come.^[15] The county's total office space inventory totaled 105,200,000 square feet (9,770,000 m²) at year-end 2006, which is about the size of Lower Manhattan.^[16][17] Every weekday, Tysons Corner has over 100,000 workers from around the region and 50,000 shoppers from the region and throughout the state.^[18] Tysons Corner Center and Tysons Galleria are located here.

[edit] Arts & Culture

There is an annual Fairfax County Fair, named "Celebrate Fairfax!" which is held during June at and around the lawns/parking lots of the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax City. This is one of the largest attended events and includes amusement park rides, food, vendors from around Virginia, and train displays and laser shows for free at the Government Center with fireworks at night. ^[19]

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Roads

Several major highways run through Fairfax County, including the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495), Interstate 66, Interstate 95, and Interstate 395. The American Legion Bridge connects Fairfax to Montgomery County, Maryland. The George Washington Memorial Parkway, Dulles Toll Road, and Fairfax County Parkway are also major arteries. Other notable roads include Braddock Road, Old Keene Mill Road, Little River Turnpike, State Routes 7, 28, and 123, and US Routes 1, 29, and 50.

The county is in the Washington D.C. metro area, the nation's third most congested area.^[20]

Northern Virginia, including Fairfax County, is the third worst congested traffic area in the nation, in terms of percentage of congested roadways and time spent in traffic. Of the lane miles in the region, 44 percent are rated “F” or worst for congestion. Northern Virginia residents spend an average of 46 hours a year stuck in traffic.

^{[21] [22]}

[edit] Major highways

• Interstate 66
• Interstate 95
• Interstate 395
• Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)
• U.S. Route 1
• U.S. Route 29
• U.S. Route 50
• State Route 7
• State Route 28
• State Route 123
• State Route 193
• State Route 236
• State Route 237
• State Route 243
• State Route 267 (Dulles Toll Road)
• State Routes 7100 and 7900 (Fairfax and Franconia-Springfield Parkways)
• George Washington Memorial Parkway

[edit] Air

Washington Dulles International Airport lies partly within Fairfax County and provides most air service to the county. Fairfax is also served by two other airports in the Washington area, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Manassas Regional Airport, in neighboring Prince William County, is also used for regional cargo and private jet service.

[edit] Public transportation

Fairfax County contracts its bus service called the Fairfax Connector to Veolia Transportation. It is also served by WMATA's metrobus service. Fairfax County is served by the Washington Metro trains. The Orange, Blue, Yellow and the planned Silver lines all serve Fairfax County. In addition, VRE (Virginia Railway Express) provides commuter rail service with stations in Lorton and Franconia-Springfield.

[edit] Biking and walking

The county maintains many miles of bike trails running through parks, adjacent to roads and through towns such as Vienna and Herndon. The Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Trail runs through Fairfax County, offering one of the region's best, and safest, routes for recreational walking and biking.

However, compared to other regions of the Washington area, Fairfax County has a dearth of designated bike lanes for cyclists wishing to commute in the region. In fact, there is no known map of the county that directs cyclists to the best roads to traverse.^[23] A recent VDOT report includes the lack of bike lanes or parallel residential streets to major thoroughfares as a major reason for low numbers of bicycle commuters in northern Virginia.^[24]

The Fairfax Cross County Trail runs from Great Falls National Park in the northern end of the county to Occoquan Regional Park in the southern end. Consisting of mostly dirt paths and short asphalt sections, this trail is used mostly by recreational mountain bikers, hikers, and horse riders.

[edit] Recreation

[edit] Parks

In addition to the Fairfax County Park Authority, Fairfax County is part of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.

• See also List of Virginia state parks

[edit] Zoos

The Reston Zoo is near Reston, Virginia, in Fairfax County.

• See also List of Zoos in Virginia

[edit] Towns, independent cities, and other localities

Three incorporated towns, Clifton, Herndon, and Vienna, are located within Fairfax County.

The independent cities of Falls Church and Fairfax were formed out of areas formerly under the jurisdiction of Fairfax County, but are politically separate, despite the status of the City of Fairfax as county seat. Fairfax County contains an exclave located in the central business district of the City of Fairfax, in which many county facilities (including the courthouses and jail) are located.

Other communities within Fairfax County are unincorporated areas; Virginia law prohibits the creation of any new municipalities within any county with a population density of over 1,000 per square mile (which currently only affects Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Northern Virginia, and recently Henrico County outside Richmond). As of the 2000 census the thirteen largest communities of Fairfax County are all unincorporated CDPs, the largest of which are Burke, Reston, and Annandale, each with a population exceeding 50,000. (The largest incorporated place in the county is the town of Herndon, its fourteenth-largest community.)

[edit] Unincorporated Census Designated Places

The following localities within Fairfax County are identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as (unincorporated) Census-Designated Places:

[edit] Other localities

[edit] Famous people from Fairfax County

[edit] Infamous people from Fairfax County

• Cho Seung-hui - shooter who perpetrated the Virginia Tech massacre
• Robert Hanssen - American spy who sold secrets to the USSR and Russia.

[edit] See also

• Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department
• Fairfax County Police Department

[edit] References

• "November 7th 2006 - General Election: Official Results". VirginiaInteractive.org. Commonwealth of Virginia Government. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.

• "Enrollment" (PDF). 2005-06 Factbook p. 62. George Mason University Institutional Research & Reporting. Retrieved on 2007-05-22.

[edit] External links

• Fairfax County Government Website
• Fairfax County Visitors Center
• Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce
• Fairfax Crime - a crime map of most of Northern Virginia and sex offender locations
• Natural Asbestos in Fairfax County - the county's site which contains health information, maps, and construction requirements related to dust control
• Celebrate Fairfax
• Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration - Property lookup database
• Fairfax County Economic Development Authority
• Fairfax County Public Library System
• Fairfax County Public Schools
• Fairfax Underground - a message board designed to improve communication between residents of Northern Virginia

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of Fairfax County, Virginia County seat: Fairfax Towns Clifton | Herndon | Vienna Unincorporated communities Accotink | Annandale | Arcturus | Bailey's Crossroads | Barkers Crossroads | Belle Haven | Blevinstown | Browns Mill | Burke | Butts Corner | Centreville | Chantilly | Cobbs Corner | Colchester | Colchester Hunt | Comptons Corner | Cooktown | Crowells Corner | Culmore | Donovans Corner | Doveville | Dranesville | Dunn Loring | Fair Lakes | Fairfax Station | Farrs Corner | Five Forks | Fort Belvoir | Fort Hunt | Four Corners | Franconia | Great Falls | Groveton | Hattontown | Huntington | Hybla Valley | Idylwood | Jefferson | Jermantown | Kings Park | Kingstowne | Lake Barcroft | Langley | Lees Corner | Lewinsville | Lewis Park | Lincolnia | Lorton | Makleys Corner | Mason Neck | Matildaville | Mantua | McLean | Merrifield | Mount Vernon | New Alexandria | Newington | North Springfield | Oak Hill | Oakton | Odricks Corner | Pimmit Hills | Pohick | Reston | Rose Hill | Schneider Crossroads | Seven Corners | Shady Oak | Springfield | Strathmeade Springs | Sunset Hills | Tysons Corner | Uniontown | Westhampton | West Springfield | Wolf Trap

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Coordinates: 38°50′N 77°17′W / 38.83, -77.28