Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 5,464: a town in Virginia.
On schools it is strong: its public schools beat 88% of Virginia towns on state tests and graduation. What holds it back is cost of living (C−): the typical home is worth about $606K, 4.8 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income. The overall grade lands at A, better than 88% of U.S. towns. Its place in the ranking is 69th of 249 in Virginia. Dulles Town Center’s rent at the middle of the market is $2,393 a month, where Virginia’s towns sit at $1,760 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. On hazard risk, just 10 of Virginia’s 372 towns do better. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 86% of the country.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FEMA National Risk Index · health, CDC PLACES.
Where Dulles Town Center beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Karter School of Cascades | PK–K | 190 |
| The Newton School | K–8 | 78 |
4,601 counted in 2010 and 5,909 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Dulles Town Center is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2017 and 7 maps from 1908 on.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Dulles Town Center. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw22 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw21 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw21 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw23 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
8 mi MuseumSteven F. Udvar-Hazy Center1.6M visitors a yearWhite House: This image or media was taken or created by Matt H. Wade. To see his entire port, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Washington Monument: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arlington National Cemetery: Protoant, Public domain · United States Triumphal Arch: Hstoops, CC0 · Smithsonian Institution: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer, Public domain · Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0
Dulles Town Center is unincorporated, so Loudoun County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Dulles Town Center.
Dulles Town Center draws workers from Sterling and beyond, has less cancer than most of Virginia and pairs an A for schools with high home prices.
12,172 jobs are based in Dulles Town Center, 3.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Only 6% of working residents stay in Dulles Town Center for work; the rest commute out. The typical household income for Dulles Town Center comes to $126,000. Employers in Dulles Town Center shed 1,735 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 12,172. For residents in the town, the share who live below the poverty line is 4.6%.
| Dulles Town Center | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $126,000 | $101,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 4.6% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 16% | 18% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
That grade comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $607K.
One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karter School of Cascades PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades PK–K | Grades PK–K | 190 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
The risk rating from FEMA in Dulles Town Center is 3 of 100. Expected losses in Dulles Town Center break down as 57% from inland flooding and 10% from tornadoes.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its widest gap with Virginia is cancer: 4.1% of its 4,481 adults have had cancer, against 7.7% statewide. Against the 4,951 U.S. towns with household incomes like Dulles Town Center’s, it is healthier than 64%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
In Dulles Town Center, just over a fifth of adults get no exercise outside work. This Virginia town does better than the Virginia average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 5. 11% of adults in Dulles Town Center report frequent physical distress; 8.9% have diabetes.
| Dulles Town Center | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 12% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.9% | 11% | 12% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 79% | 79% |
| What stands out | Dulles Town Center | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.1% | 7.7% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 3.3% | 6.1% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13.7% | 11.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The range runs from 25° on a January night to 87° on a July afternoon, with about 21 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median property tax bill is $5,828, against $2,790 across Virginia, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In 2 parks and preserves, walkers have 0.8 miles of trail. For Dulles Town Center, the concentration of trails is 0.3 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Vestals Gap Overlook Park | 0.2 mi | 8 |
| 2. Vestals Gap Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
6 within 15 miles of the center of Dulles Town Center
About 8 of every 100 Dulles Town Center residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Virginia.
Where Dulles Town Center’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Census-designated place in Virginia
Dulles Town Center is a census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. It is located about 7 miles (11 km) north of Washington Dulles International Airport. The CDP is the location of the Dulles Town Center shopping mall, for which it is named. The United States Postal Service considers Dulles Town Center to be a subsection of Dulles, which is itself a subsection of Sterling; none of these locations is an incorporated municipality. As of the 2020 census, Dulles Town Center had a population of 5,909.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Dulles Town Center.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dulles Town Center | #69 | A | C− | — | A | A |
| Sterling | #82 | A | C− | — | A | B+ |
| Cascades | #30 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
| Kincora | — | — | C | — | A | A |
| Ashburn | #13 | A+ | C− | — | A | A+ |
Kincora has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Dulles Town Center, Sterling, Cascades, Kincora and Ashburn report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Dulles Town Center with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Dulles Town Center grades A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns and #69 of 249 in Virginia. It grades A for health and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $607,000, 47% above the Virginia typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
