Fairfax County

Named after Thomas the sixth Lord of Fairfax, Fairfax County is located 10 miles southwest of the District of Columbia and is 399 square miles in area.With a population of 1,041,200, it is the most populous jurisdiction in Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area.If Fairfax County were a city, it would rank number 10 in population ahead of Boston, Atlanta and Charlotte.Fairfax has the second highest median household income in the nation at $94,610.

Fairfax County is the information technology capital of the east coast.Aerospace, e-commerce, internet services, software development and telecommunication companies all have offices in Fairfax County.Seven Fortune 500 companies  such as General Dynamics Information Technology  which is a leader in the IT industry. There are over 300 trade associations and professional societies are headquartered here.

While the national average is 26%, 56% of county residences have a bachelors degree or higher,  more than 78% of residences in Fairfax have computers connected to the Internet. George Mason University has an extensive IT program. This compares to 41.5% nationwide. The Fairfax County Public School System is the largest in Virginia and the 12^th largest in the nation.The county spends 51 cents of every dollar for its schools.
 

Washington Dulles International Airport, located in both Fairfax County and Loudoun County, and Washington National Airport serve the people of the county.  The Orange, Blue and Yellow lines of Washingtons Metro rail system and the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) provide rail service while bus service is provided by the regional Metro bus and the countys Fairfax Connector bus.The Capital Beltway (Interstate 495), Interstate 66, Interstate 95 and Interstate 395 run through the county.

Fairfax County has over 18,000 acres of parkland and more than 350 parks.It is home to Wolf Trap Farm Park, the only national park for the performing arts.George Washingtons home at Mount Vernon and the Udvar-Hazy Annex of the National Air and Space Museum are also located in Fairfax.