Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,039.
The best of Mason Neck’s subject grades are an A+ for incomes and the outdoors and an A for health; the weakest is a D for cost of living. Mason Neck’s median household income is $168,000, against $102,000 in Virginia’s towns and $80,000 across U.S. towns. On cost of living, just 18 of Virginia’s 370 towns do worse. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. 50% of the land in Mason Neck is conserved, against 4.7% in Virginia’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Only 16 of Virginia’s 372 towns score higher on the outdoors. The biggest place to walk is Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, 2,212 acres with 4 miles of trail. Mason Neck has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Mason Neck beats most towns.
Coastal flooding makes up 9% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Mason Neck is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1910 and 7 maps from 1913 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mason Neck. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw18 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw17 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw17 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw18 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
Big draw18 mi National MemorialLincoln Memorial7.7M 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 · Lincoln Memorial: Aerial_view_of_Lincoln_Memorial_-_east_side.jpg: Carol M. Highsmith derivative w, Public domain
Mason Neck is unincorporated, so Fairfax 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 Mason Neck.
38 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The trail density in Mason Neck is 1.9 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Meadowood Recreation Area | 14.3 mi | 799 |
| 2. Pohick Bay Regional Park | 10.2 mi | 990 |
| 3. Mason Neck State Park | 7 mi | 1,815 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Fairfax County Public Schools. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunston ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 530 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
Mason Neck beats the Virginia average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 25% of Mason Neck adults have obesity.
| Mason Neck | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 34% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 12% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 23% | 25% |
| What stands out | Mason Neck | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.1% | 13.1% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 4% | 7.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.4% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
1.1% of residents live below the poverty line in Mason Neck. Since 2013, Mason Neck has added 99 jobs, to 501 in 2023. Mason Neck’s average trip to work is 29 minutes.
| Mason Neck | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 1.1% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.7% | 4.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 12% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 46% of residents (39% statewide). Among 254 Virginia towns, just 8 have a higher median age than Mason Neck. 52% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 42% across Virginia.
| Mason Neck | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 48.4 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 52% | 44% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 24% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 18% | 16% | 18% |
44% women, 56% men
About 128 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.6 points). Across Virginia, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Mason Neck | VA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 14% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.1% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.9% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.4% | 13.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.2% | 13.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 23% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.6% | 9.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.4% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3% | 8.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.3% | 23.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.2% | 17.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.8% | 7.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.7% | 23.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 28.1% | 18.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,000, single groups can be off by several points
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 70% of U.S. communities. Since 2003, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Mason Neck.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Mason Neck has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 89°, January nights drop to 27° and about 13 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
6 within 15 miles of the center of Mason Neck
About 6 of every 100 Mason Neck residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Virginia.
50.2% of the town is conserved land, across 7 parks and preserves.
2 places in Mason Neck on the National Register of Historic Places.
Peninsula and community in Virginia, US
Mason Neck is a peninsula jutting into the Potomac River that is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, southwest of Washington, D.C. It is surrounded by Belmont Bay to the west, the Potomac River to the south and east, Gunston Cove to the northeast, and Pohick Bay to the north-northeast. Mason Neck forms the southernmost section of Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. It comprises an area of 20.0 square miles (51.8 km2), two-thirds of which is preserved as parkland by regional, state, and national authorities. As of the 2020 census, Mason Neck had a population of 2,025.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Mason Neck.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason Neck | — | — | D | — | B+ | A |
| Lorton | #116 | B+ | D | — | B+ | A− |
| Woodbridge | #155 | B | C | — | B | B− |
Mason Neck has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Mason Neck, Lorton and Woodbridge report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Mason Neck with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. That is 6.5 years of the area's median household income ($126,684 across the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
