Photo: Paulo Ordoveza from Washington, DC · CC BY 2.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as high as Fairfax Station’s
Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Poverty touches 1.7% of residents, against 9.9% across Virginia. Fairfax Station grades A for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fairfax Station: the figures worth knowing
Jobs in Fairfax Station have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Fairfax Station went from 876 in 2014 to 1,752 in 2024, +100%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Fairfax Station works from home
32% of Fairfax Station workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Time on the road ↓
Three in four Fairfax Station workers earn over $40,000 a year
77% of Fairfax Station’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Fairfax Station’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fairfax Station is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #60 of 253 in Virginia. Household income holds Fairfax Station’s grade up ($212,224, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fairfax Station could be anywhere from A to A+.
69% of the jobs in Fairfax Station pay over $3,333 a month
1,752 jobs are based in Fairfax Station.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairfax Station, 2014 → 2024: 876 → 1,752. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fairfax Station’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 30 minutes from Fairfax Station
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairfax Station workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,257 commuters (the 32% who work from home are left out). Across Virginia: 83% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who commutes out of Fairfax Station, and who commutes in
On a workday 5,210 residents head out to work, 90 work right here, and 1,662 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,000 people are in Fairfax Station on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.33 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
11% of working residents work in Washington
Where Fairfax Station clocks in
11% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Half of Fairfax Station commutes less than 11 miles
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Fairfax Station, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairfax Station is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #137 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Fairfax Station near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,299 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 36% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 25% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.6% of Fairfax Station households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Fairfax Station’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fairfax Station is 237th of 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Belmont VA | 9,729 | $243K | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 14 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 235 | Maidencreek Township PA | 9,309 | $112K | 4.9% | 2.1% | 3% | A |
| 236 | North Smithfield RI | 12,990 | $109K | 4.8% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| 237 | Fairfax Station VA | 12,566 | $212K | 1.7% | 4.8% | 2% | A |
| 238 | Wolcott CT | 16,573 | $111K | 1.8% | 3.4% | 8% | A |
| 239 | Harrison Township NJ | 14,043 | $166K | 4.8% | 3.4% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Fairfax Station, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Fairfax Station and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fairfax Station workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax Station | – | A | B+ | 30 min | $212,224 |
| Union Mill | under 2% | A+ | B− | 37 min | $250,000+ |
| Braddock | under 2% | A+ | A− | 29 min | $211,689 |
| Burke Centre | under 2% | A− | A | 32 min | $164,123 |
| Burke | under 2% | A | A | 29 min | $185,818 |
| Kings Park West | under 2% | A+ | A | 32 min | $170,039 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fairfax Station’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Fairfax Station: questions
What is the median household income in Fairfax Station?
$212,224 (±$25,796) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairfax Station?
1.7%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairfax Station?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 32% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairfax Station work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (11%, 19 mi), Springfield (9%, 8 mi), Arlington (7%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fairfax Station walkable?
Fairfax Station is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairfax Station without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 25% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairfax Station, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairfax Station
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.