page_title: Fairfax County, Virginia
section_title: Communities
hierarchical_section_title: Fairfax County, Virginia / Communities
caption_attribution_description: English: The front view of the USA Today/Gannett Building in McLean, Virginia, headquarters of the largest newspaper in the United States
context_page_description: Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Part of Northern Virginia, Fairfax County borders both the City of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. The county is thus predominantly suburban in character, with some urban and rural pockets.
  As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,081,726. In 2019, it was estimated at 1,147,532, making it the Commonwealth's most populous jurisdiction, with around 13% of Virginia's population. The county is also the most populous jurisdiction in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, with around 20% of the MSA population, as well as the larger Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area, with around 13% of the CSA population. The county seat is the City of Fairfax, though because it is an independent city under Virginia law, the city of Fairfax is not part of Fairfax County.
context_section_description: Three incorporated towns, Clifton, Herndon, and Vienna, are located entirely 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 being the county seat.  Nevertheless, many areas of Fairfax county have mailing addresses in Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax City despite not being part of any of these cities.  In this case of Alexandria, many locals refer to these non-City of Alexandria neighborhoods collectively as "South Alexandria", "Lower Alexandria", or "Alexandria, Fairfax County."  "South Alexandria" communities include Hollin Hills, Franconia, Groveton, Hybla Valley, Huntington, Belle Haven, Mount Vernon, Fort Hunt, Engleside, Burgundy Village, Waynewood, Wilton Woods, Rose Hill, Virginia Hills, Hayfield, and Kingstowne.
  It has been proposed to convert the entire county into a single independent city, primarily to gain more control over taxes and roads. The most recent such proposal was made June 30, 2009.
  Other communities within Fairfax County are unincorporated areas. Virginia law dictates that no unincorporated area of a county may be incorporated as a separate town or city following the adoption of the urban county executive form of government. Fairfax County adopted the urban county executive form of government in 1966.
  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 40,000. (The largest incorporated place in the county is the town of Herndon, its fourteenth-largest community.)
caption: McLean
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