Fairfax County vs Loudoun County

A side-by-side comparison of Fairfax County and Loudoun County: population, income, housing, and more.

Fairfax County and Loudoun County are counties in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fairfax County has the higher population (1,144,474 vs 427,082 in Loudoun County). Loudoun County has the higher median household income ($178,707 vs $150,113 in Fairfax County). Loudoun County has the higher median home value ($701,000 vs $699,700 in Fairfax County).

Population, income & housing

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
Population	1,144,474	427,082
Median age	38.9 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$150,113	$178,707
Median home value	$699,700	$701,000
Median gross rent	$2,230	$2,317
Housing units	428,352	144,804
Homeownership rate	68.3%	77.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	64.3%	64.0%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
Population	1,145,862 → 1,144,474 (-0.1%)	395,134 → 427,082 (+8.1%)
Median household income	$124,831 → $150,113 (+20.3%)	$142,299 → $178,707 (+25.6%)
Median home value	$563,100 → $699,700 (+24.3%)	$508,100 → $701,000 (+38.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,881 → $2,230 (+18.6%)	$1,870 → $2,317 (+23.9%)

Fairfax County

Population

1,145,8621,144,474

Median household income

$124,831$150,113

Median home value

$563,100$699,700

Median gross rent

$1,881$2,230

Loudoun County

Population

395,134427,082

Median household income

$142,299$178,707

Median home value

$508,100$701,000

Median gross rent

$1,870$2,317

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
Under 5	6.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.2%	20.7%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.7%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.0%
35 to 44	14.6%	16.9%
45 to 54	13.9%	15.8%
55 to 64	12.6%	11.1%
65 to 74	8.7%	6.1%
75 and over	5.9%	4.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
White (non-Hispanic)	47.5%	52.1%
Black or African American	9.6%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	19.9%	21.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.7%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.8%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	17.4%	14.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
No high school diploma	6.8%	5.9%
High school graduate	12.0%	11.7%
Some college or associate's	17.0%	18.5%
Bachelor's degree	31.8%	36.0%
Graduate or professional degree	32.4%	28.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
Drove alone	57.9%	60.6%
Carpooled	8.0%	7.6%
Public transit	5.3%	1.7%
Walked	1.7%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	25.1%	27.5%
Other means	1.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
1-unit, detached	45.6%	51.6%
1-unit, attached	22.9%	30.5%
2 to 4 units	2.1%	1.5%
5 to 19 units	14.4%	9.1%
20 or more units	14.5%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Fairfax County	Loudoun County
Poverty rate	5.9%	4.0%
Average household size	2.75	3.02
Mean commute (minutes)	30	31
Median year structure built	1983	2002