Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
22,655 people live in this town in Virginia.
The everyday basics are strong; the price of a home is the catch. Health is its strong suit — it is healthier than 98% of U.S. towns. Add incomes to its strengths: the median household earns $123K. The drawback is cost of living (D): the typical home is worth about $596K, 4.7 years of the Washington metro’s $127K median household income. Put together, the subjects come to an A overall, better than 94% of U.S. towns. It ranks 31st of 249 in Virginia. Merrybrook is on the National Register of Historic Places. 69% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in McNair, where Virginia’s towns sit at 44% and U.S. towns at 29%.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · National Register of Historic Places.
Where McNair beats most towns.
17,513 counted in 2010 and 21,598 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far McNair is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 26 old photos and papers going back to 2012 and 7 maps from 1915 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around McNair. Close and well known come first.
Big draw21 mi National park siteWhite House311K visitors a year
Big draw21 mi National MemorialWashington Monument204K visitors a year
Big draw19 mi LandmarkArlington National Cemetery
Big draw20 mi LandmarkUnited States Triumphal Arch
Big draw21 mi MuseumSmithsonian Institution30.0M visitors a year
3 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
McNair 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 McNair.
McNair draws workers from Arlington and beyond, has less COPD than most of Virginia and is mostly renters.
Its widest gap with Virginia is COPD: 2.5% of its 16,581 adults have COPD, against 6.2% statewide.
Among 253 Virginia towns, just 6 have a lower share of adults who have high blood pressure than McNair. 12% of adults say their health is fair or poor in the town. This Virginia town does better than the Virginia average on 21 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 4.
| McNair | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 34% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 33% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 8.2% | 12% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 7.4% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | McNair | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with COPD | 2.5% | 6.2% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 2.6% | 6.1% |
| More adults lacking emotional support | 25.1% | 21.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Two of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Public schools: the Fairfax County Public Schools. 3 public schools serve McNair, with 2,121 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coates ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 996 | C |
| McNair Upper ElementaryTop results in townGrades 3–6 | Grades 3–6 | 605 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
30,848 jobs are based in McNair, 2.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 30.8% of workers work from home, against 18.3% across Virginia.
Half the trips to work are shorter than 9 miles. Employers in McNair added 5,895 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 30,848. Commuting out is the norm in the town: 8% of working residents work locally. McNair: 31% of workers do their job from home.
| McNair | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 31% | 17% | 11% |
| Median household income | $123,000 | $101,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 6.1% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
McNair’s natural-hazard score from FEMA is 7 of 100. FEMA puts 56% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 11% to hurricanes. Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 93% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1.4 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. For McNair, the trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| McNair | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.1% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arrowbrook Park | 0.6 mi | 15 |
| 2. Dulles Corner Park | — | 7 |
| 3. Dulles Station Community Park | 0.2 mi | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expect July afternoons of 87° and January nights of 26°, with about 21 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median property tax bill is $5,840, against $2,790 across Virginia, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median sale price was $650,000 in May 2026. The midpoint rent in McNair is $2,287 a month. 37% of the homes sold in McNair went for more than their asking price.
| McNair | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 25% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $2,287 a month | $1,760 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 42% | 47% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
8 within 15 miles of the center of McNair
About 8 of every 100 McNair residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Virginia.
Where McNair’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Census-designated place in Virginia, United States
McNair is a census-designated place located in the Oak Hill section of Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It is directly to the east of Washington Dulles International Airport. The population as of the 2020 census was 21,598. Much of the population resides in the McNair Farms planned community. The community has a school called McNair Elementary. McNair is also home to the Dulles Corner Business Park, home to the headquarters of Airbus Group, Inc. and Northrop Grumman Technical Services.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with McNair.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Reston (A) comes closest.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. McNair grades A overall, better than 94% of U.S. towns and #31 of 249 in Virginia. It grades A+ for health and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $596,000, 45% 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 D.
