Fairfax County

Fairfax County Details

Fairfax County is a predominantly suburban county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The 406 square mile county is the most populous in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the larger Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. The county seat is the City of Fairfax, an independent city. Under Virginia law, the city of Fairfax is not part of Fairfax County.

Fairfax County is county is home to the headquarters of intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and National Reconnaissance Office, as well as the National Counterterrorism Center and Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

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 and proprietor of the Northern Neck. The Fairfax family name is derived from the Old English phrase for “blondhair” (Fæger-feax).

The county is served by the Fairfax County Public Schools system, which includes Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a Virginia Governor’s School that consistently ranks at or near the top of all U.S. 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. As a Governor’s School, TJHSST draws students not only from Fairfax County, but also Arlington, Loudoun, Fauquier, and Prince William counties and the City of Falls Church.

George Mason University is located in Fairfax County. Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) has campuses in Annandale and Springfield as well as a satellite center in Reston. The University of Fairfax is also headquartered in Vienna, Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine has a medical campus wing at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

Fairfax County’s economy revolves around professional services and technology. Many residents work for the government or for contractors of the federal government. The county’s three largest employers are:

• Inova Health System
• Amazon
• Booz Allen Hamilton

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