Fairfax is a medium-sized city located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 24,835 people and 32 associated neighborhoods, Fairfax is the 42nd largest community in Virginia. Fairfax home prices are not only among the most expensive in Virginia, but Fairfax real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Fairfax is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 89.24% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Fairfax is a city of professionals, managers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Fairfax who work in management occupations (12.44%), computer science and math (9.77%), and teaching (9.02%). Also of interest is that Fairfax has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Fairfax telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 20.50% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. In Fairfax, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.53 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. Like elsewhere in America, most people in Fairfax use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Fairfax‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the bus. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.If knowledge is power, Fairfax is a pretty powerful place. 60.05% of the adults in Fairfax have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Fairfax in 2022 was $59,688, which is wealthy relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $238,752 for a family of four. However, Fairfax contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Fairfax is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Fairfax home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Fairfax residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Fairfax also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.14% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Fairfax include English, Irish, German, Italian, and European. Foreign born people are also an important part of Fairfax's cultural character, accounting for 29.58% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Fairfax is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Korean.
