Virginia Now Requires Slowing Down for Disabled Vehicles — “In Virginia, it is illegal to not move over or slow down when a first responder or construction vehicle is on the side of the roads with their lights flashing. What isn’t illegal is doing the same for a disabled vehicle, but that will change with a new law supported by Hurley’s family.” The state Senate version of the bill was led by Fairfax County’s Dave Marsden. [WTOP]
Five Displaced by Annandale Townhouse Fire — “On Thursday, March 23, at 1:49 p.m., units were dispatched for a reported townhouse fire in the 7800 block of Rectory Lane.” No one was home at the time. Investigators determined that the fire “was caused by an item left unattended on the electric burner of the stovetop,” resulting in approximately $75,000 in damages. [FCFRD]
FCPS Launches Online Class Registration — “Online registration will be available at more than 30 pilot Fairfax County schools beginning Friday, March 31. All FCPS schools will offer online registration beginning in June.” Fairfax County Public Schools says the new system will be more efficient and provide more flexibility for students. [FCPS]
New Groveton Wendy’s Plans Grand Opening Festivities — “The new Wendy’s fast food restaurant at 6634 Richmond Highway opened its doors to customers March 28, according to a company spokesperson. Originally slated to open in late 2022, the restaurant will hold its official grand opening celebration Apr. 15 with ‘free food for a year certificates’ for the first 100 guests.” [On the MoVe]
Reston Entrepreneur Adjusts Charity Ambitions — “Len Forkas will not be traveling to Norway in April as part of a planned skiing trip to the North Pole for charity. Instead, he is going to Nepal in order to climb Mount Everest. This won’t be the first mountain the 63-year-old Reston businessman has climbed.” [Patch]
State Legislator Retirements May Reduce N. Va’s Power — “Local government officials here worry that the shift in leadership positions in the state’s Democratic Party — southward to the Hampton Roads area — means Northern Virginia will lose important state funding for schools, transportation and other services” [The Washington Post]
Bench Installed at McLean HS for Former Baseball Player — “The late Caleb Beatty was a standout player for the McLean Highlanders. Beatty, 26, died unexpectedly this past October. He was a 2015 McLean graduate. In memory of the hulking catcher, a permanent homemade wooden cedar bench…has been installed at the field in foul territory along the left-field line.” [Gazette Leader]
Reston Tech Hiring Firm Seeks to Address Disparities — “Revature, a tech talent enablement firm, has joined forces with OneTen, a coalition committed to closing the opportunity gap for Black talent in the U.S…Revature and OneTen will work with companies across the country to fill vacancies while helping candidates build fulfilling careers in tech.” [Fairfax County EDA]
It’s Friday — Light rain in the evening and overnight. High of 64 and low of 42. Sunrise at 6:56 am and sunset at 7:32 pm. [Weather.gov]
(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) Three people have been arrested for carjacking after a short vehicle pursuit in Tysons that saw collisions with multiple other vehicles, including police cruisers.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, one of its new automated license plate readers sent an alert to officers for an Audi Q5 that had been reported stolen from Maryland, yesterday (Wednesday).
The officers found the SUV in a parking garage at the corner of International Drive and Fletcher Street around 2:12 p.m., according to public safety scanner traffic.
Scanner traffic indicates that the vehicle was reported stolen from Prince George’s County in an armed carjacking. A dispatcher warned that the occupants may be armed.
Around 3:13 p.m., three individuals then got into the Audi and attempted to drive away on Leesburg Pike (Route 7), according to police.
“The driver struck two cruisers, 2-3 community member cars before stopping a short distance away,” the FCPD tweeted. “All three occupants have been arrest[ed] and two firearms have been recovered.”
According to a 3:30 p.m. Fairfax Alert, eastbound Leesburg Pike was shut down at International Drive for the “police activity.”
The driver struck two cruisers, 2-3 community member cars before stopping a short distance away. All three occupants have been arrests and two firearms have been recovered. More details to come as the investigation continues https://t.co/QsTzdpgf0U
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) March 30, 2023
(Updated at 5:25 p.m. on 4/3/2023) The popular D.C. deli Call Your Mother is expanding into Virginia for the first time.
Known for its bagels, the self-described “Jew-ish” deli is bringing a mobile version of its shop called Lil Deli to the Chesterbrook Shopping Center (6216 Old Dominion Drive) in McLean. The shop was announced today on Instagram.
It will feature a walk-up counter and patio seating, with the deli’s full menu on offer.
“Locals have been asking for a Call Your Mother outpost in VA and the brand has answered!” Call Your Mother co-founder Andrew Dana said by email. “They’re bringing good carbs and good vibes to McLean, with plans to open a second VA location later this year.”
Dana said the second Virginia location will be in Alexandria’s Old Town, though the lease hasn’t been finalized yet. The deli had locked down an Old Town location two years ago, but later appeared to pull out despite signing a lease, according to FFXnow’s sister site ALXnow.
Dana and chef Daniela Moreira started selling food at D.C. farmers markets before launching Call Your Mother as a brick-and-mortar deli in Petsworth in 2018. The business now has seven locations in D.C. and Maryland.
Call Your Mother first went mobile with a “trolley” shop in Bethesda. It’s also planning to venture outside the D.C. area with upcoming locations in Denver, Colorado.
“Call Your Mother is truly focused on two things: carbs and vibes,” Dana said. “When looking at real estate it’s all about how a space feels. Similar to their Bethesda Trolley, the Lil Deli is on wheels which is nice for flexibility and grabbing attention when you drive past. The fun and vibrant energy it brings perfectly matches the Call Your Mother brand.”
An exact opening date for the McLean shop hasn’t been set yet, but it’s anticipated to be “in a few weeks,” Dana said. The store is now hiring workers, per a LinkedIn job posting.
It will be one of several relative newcomers to Chesterbrook, which is undergoing a renovation. The juice bar South Block opened earlier in March, and the clothing store J. McLaughlin is on track to open this summer, property manager Federal Realty previously told FFXnow.
The fast-food chain WNB Factory is gearing up to enter a part of Tysons that has retained a more industrial look, a choice that seems appropriate given the restaurant’s name.
Specializing in wings and burgers, the business has applied for permits from Fairfax County to renovate a vacated suite at 8453A Tyco Road.
The restaurant will open this year, with construction taking about three months once the permits are approved, according to PK Restaurant Group Vice President and COO Robert Bales.
For now, signs for Tyco Cleaners — the dry-cleaning service that formerly occupied the 1,704-square-foot space — are still on the low-lying, commercial building across the street from Dominion Energy’s Tysons substation. Other tenants include a Persian carpet store and the restaurants Hunan Cafe and Shamshiry Express Kabob.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, WNB Factory has rapidly expanded in Virginia since opening its first franchise in the state in Colonial Heights in 2020. Within the past year, locations have been added in Oakton, Huntington and, most recently, Centreville.
Virginia is now the company’s second-largest market, after Georgia.
“We’ve recently signed a new franchise partner who was interested as well in getting into the Tysons Corner market,” Bales said. “That’s the reason why we’ve expanded into that area, to try to condense it a little bit more. We’ve got Oakton, we’ve got Alexandria, so Tysons Corner was a good fit to sort of round out some of that market area.”
WNB Factory was started in 1997 by Atlanta natives Troy Pyo and Shin Kang, who wanted to provide hot, quality food with quick service, according to the company’s website. It now has 86 total locations, 75 of them in Georgia.
In addition to its signature burgers and wings, which come in 24 flavors, the restaurant serves chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, cheesesteaks, fried rice, salads, fries and milkshakes. The menu includes plant and turkey-based burgers and tenders.
Bales says WNB is “a quality first operation” that prides itself on using fresh ingredients, including certified Angus beef and all-natural, non-genetically modified chicken.
“We’re a Wingstop and a BurgerFi pushed together and [it] really gives a customer a great choice when it comes to getting a good quality burger and some really good chicken wings,” he said.
While the menu is the same for all franchises, the company isn’t afraid to introduce new items, Bales told QSR in 2021. Its “Not Closed on Sunday” chicken sandwich, for example, was added in response to the Popeyes versus Chick-fil-A sandwich wars of 2019.
The company’s franchising efforts also focus on owners with local ties, he told FFXnow. All of WNB’s Virginia locations are franchisee-owned, though the Huntington and Centreville ones have the same operator.
“They live in the markets that they are operating in their stores, and most of our owners are in the stores pretty much on a daily basis at some point,” Bales said. “We just feel like we’re a nice community-style restaurant. We’re focused on quality, great customer service and a good selection of offerings…for customers.”
An independent investigation found no basis to claims that notices of National Merit Scholarship commendations were intentionally withheld from students, Fairfax County Public Schools announced last night (Wednesday).
Conducted by the law firm Sands Anderson, the review confirmed that eight schools didn’t notify students designated as “commended” by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) until after Nov. 1, 2022, but it “found no evidence that this was intentional or reflected any policy decision by FCPS” or any of the individual schools, according to FCPS.
“There was no evidence to suggest that FCPS deliberately withheld notification of Commended Student status from any student,” Superintendent Michelle Reid said in a message to families. “In addition, they found no evidence of any inequity or racial bias in the actions taken by these schools regarding notifications or distribution of these certificates.”
Criticism of the school system’s handling of the recognitions emerged in late December, ignited by a City Journal article that suggested Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) intentionally waited until after early college applications were due to notify commended students.
Written by Coalition for TJ co-founder Asra Nomani, the story argued that the delayed notices were part of a “war on merit.” The coalition has a pending lawsuit against FCPS over revisions to the magnet school’s admissions policies, which it says were designed to disadvantage the Asian students who make up a majority of TJ’s student body.
The story picked up steam when Gov. Glenn Youngkin called for an investigation into TJ on Jan. 3. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares complied, launching a review the following day that later expanded to all of FCPS after Westfield and Langley high schools informed families that they had failed to notify commended students.
Other schools where students experienced delays include Annandale, Thomas Edison, John R. Lewis, Marshall and West Potomac high schools, according to Sands Anderson’s review.
“It’s encouraging that FCPS is working to be more transparent about the inconsistencies surrounding their National Merit award decisions and process,” Miyares spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said. “The Office of the Attorney General will continue its investigation.”
Initially attributing the delays to human error, FCPS conducted an internal review and hired Sands Anderson for a third-party investigation in January.
According to the new report, factors contributing to the delays varied by school. Issues ranged from a clerical oversight and communication gaps due to absent or changing staff to the scheduling of fall awards ceremonies where the certificates get distributed.
In the case of Annandale High School, NMSC had reportedly neglected to mail the certificates until after Nov. 1.
Much confusion, including at TJ, stemmed from a belief that NMSC informs students directly of their “commended” status, which essentially serves as an honorable mention for students who score well on the preliminary SAT test but don’t reach the semifinals of the scholarship program.
“At no school was there any evidence that racial or other discriminatory considerations played any role whatsoever in the timing of notifying Commended Students, nor was there evidence of any effort to minimize recognition of student excellence or achievement,” the report said.
According to the report, the only affected school to receive actual complaints from parents and other community members about the award notices was TJ.
In its summary of the investigation’s findings, FCPS expressed hope that the report will enable it to move past “this unnecessary controversy,” which has required spending “significant division funds on legal counsel” and resulted in harassment of school staff with “hate-filled and threatening” phone calls and emails.
The emotional toll on our staff has been substantial, and, in addition, staff have been required to divert significant time and attention away from their education-focused roles to respond to these inquiries. All of this has harmed and undermined our core educational mission, and we do hope that the factual findings of this external investigation can put this entire issue, and the erroneous claims that sparked this controversy, to rest.
In response to the issues found by the investigation, FCPS has created a new regulation requiring principals or another designated administrator to notify commended students and their parents within two weeks of getting alerted to the honors by NMSC.
Reid said she has also proposed to NMSC and the College Board that they develop a national, “multi-layered” notification system.
“This solution must incorporate electronic notifications to each recognized student, their family, and school division central offices, which do not exist in the NMSC process today,” she wrote. “I am still hopeful that there can be a broader solution to this issue nationwide. In the meantime, we have put our own changes in place, which may serve as a model for other schools in Virginia and nationwide.”
Police Standoff Ends After 36 Hours — Fairfax County police took a reportedly armed woman into custody shortly after midnight, ending a barricade on Richmond Highway that began before noon on Tuesday (March 29). The standoff closed Route 1 between Lockheed Blvd and Boswell Avenue through multiple rush hours. [FCPD/Twitter]
Helicopters Expected at GMU for Training — “The @GeorgeMasonU Fairfax Campus will host an ROTC training exercise on the morning of Thursday, March 30. Helicopters will be coming on campus at 6:30 a.m. and departing from the West Campus parking lot (closest to Braddock Road) at approximately 8:15 a.m. Please do not be alarmed.” [GMU Police/Twitter]
Alta Crossroads Apartment Project Begins — County leaders, developer representatives and the Bailey’s Crossroads/7 Corners Revitalization Corporation gathered yesterday to break ground on the long-awaited Alta Crossroads redevelopment. It “will transform a partially vacant underused lot into a 370-unit multifamily building, three townhomes, enhanced streetscapes, and two park spaces on the corner of #ColumbiaPike and Moncure Avenue.” [Penny Gross/Twitter]
Community Shares Opioid Crisis at Town Hall — “Concerned that the deadly drug fentanyl is in schools and neighborhoods, parents gathered at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia, Tuesday night to learn what they can do to protect their kids. More than 100 residents heard from a panel of experts, including school leaders, police and experts in substance abuse treatment.” [WTOP]
Popular West Falls Church Deli Featured in TV Show — “Chef Andre Rush upgraded the Celebrity Delly, a traditional delicatessen in Graham Park Plaza, and shared the results on his ‘Kitchen Commando’ TV series. The episode on the Falls Church restaurant can be viewed online on the Tubi TV channel.” [Annandale Today]
County Parks Facility Fee Changes Approved — “The Fairfax County Park Authority Board approved the 2023 Fee Adjustment Schedule at its meeting on March 22, 2023.” The changes, which affect the price of golf courses, facility rentals, and more, will take effect on Saturday (April 1). [FCPA]
Tysons Media Company Continues Layoffs — “Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) has issued yet another round of a layoffs, this time affecting 44 employees in mostly back-office roles. It appears to be the media company’s third round of cuts in the past seven months, after it eliminated 400 jobs in August and began laying off roughly 6% of reporters and other staffers in its U.S. media division in the final months of last year.” [Washington Business Journal]
Street Changes Planned for Hybla Valley — “The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) plans to start repaving and restriping Lockheed Boulevard, Fordson Road and several neighboring streets in Hybla Valley in late April…The restriping will include the addition of standard bike lanes to both Lockheed and Fordson, as well as the installation of a couple new pedestrian crosswalks on Fordson.” [On the MoVe]
Vienna Finalizes Cost of New Police HQ — “Vienna Town Council members on March 20 unanimously awarded an additional $18,503 to the Vienna Police Headquarters’ construction contractor as part of a final settlement for the project.” Supply-chain issues that complicated construction and some “unanticipated redesigns” by the town brought the final cost up to $14.2 million. [Gazette Leader]
McLean Teacher Seeks Art for Earth Day — “McLean art teacher Pamela Saunders is seeking aspiring young artists in McLean to join the community’s upcoming Earth Day observance…McLean Earth Day on April 22 will be a drive-thru event at the McLean Community Center with various opportunities to help the planet.” [Patch]
It’s Thursday — Clear throughout the day. High of 53 and low of 37. Sunrise at 6:57 am and sunset at 7:31 pm. [Weather.gov]
Some transportation projects on the horizon have sparked excitement among the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors over potential transit improvements.
Visualize 2050 is a federally-mandated long-range transportation plan with an emphasis on projects that adhere to new emission reduction goals.
In a meeting of the Board of Supervisors Transportation Committee earlier this month, staff said the county has six projects it’s considering adding to Visualize 2050. The projects have to be considered regionally significant.
- Route 7 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
- Orange Line Metrorail Extension
- Yellow Line Metrorail Extension to Hybla Valley
- I-495 Southside Project
- I-95 Counterflow Express Lanes
- Seven Corners
Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said the inclusion of Route 7 BRT is a positive step, helping take the project from the conceptual stage to something being actively planned.
“I think it’s really exciting that we’re considering this and I would support BRT 7, “Palchik said. “It brings dedicated bus lanes. We’re talking about reducing congestion and using these roads to more easily have multimodal. I think it’s not super helpful when buses get stuck in traffic for people to give up their cars and opt for the bus.”
The Route 7 BRT proposal would eventually connect Tysons to Alexandria on a new route designed to prioritize public transit. Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross said she’s hopeful districts between the two major stops will also benefit.
“Certainly Route 7 BRT will go all along Route 7, coming from Alexandria [in one direction] and Tysons [from the other],” Gross said. “I’m hoping that [Mason District] can be the golden spike.”
Elsewhere in county planning, Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk advocated for Metro’s Yellow Line extension down into Hybla Valley.
“That’s in alignment with what we’re doing with bus rapid transit and our Embark Richmond Highway study,” Lusk said. “The goal is that we eventually get to the extension of that Metro line. I just want to advocate for that and put a plug so that it can be considered.”
County staff said there will be two public meetings on the Visualize 2050 plan in April before the project works its way through the bureaucratic process, eventually heading to plan adoption sometime in December 2024.
In its quest to minimize waste, the vertical farm housed in a shed behind Merrifield’s Luther Jackson Middle School will one day be sustained by fish feces.
Barely the length of a fingernail, the larval tilapia swimming around a small tank in the shed will soon grow large enough to be transferred into a bigger bucket with a filter that separates fish poop and other solids from water.
“The water goes back in the tank, of course, and then, the solids will go down through the filter system, and they will separate from the water and…be turned into sludge we use as fertilizer,” explained Vivian Nguyen, an eighth-grade student at Luther Jackson.
Thanks to Vivian and about 14 other students across four engineering classes, the farm is now operating and producing 50 bags of lettuce or spinach a month, all destined for the school’s food pantry.
It took two years of research, experimentation and waiting for equipment and permit approvals to get the farm to this stage — long enough that the eighth-grader who first conceived of the project has moved on to high school.
Driven by a desire to build a farm on Mars, the student began researching hydroponics — techniques for growing plants without soil — and other means of making food with limited resources for his Center for Equity in Science, Technology, Engineering, English and Math (ESTEEM) project, according to center director and technology education teacher Mark Smith.
The ESTEEM Center raises funds for STEM resources at the six elementary schools that feed into Luther Jackson. With many students in the Falls Church High School pyramid eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, the center is intended to support kids who otherwise might not have access to specialized STEM programs.
Other projects produced by the center include a solar measuring station installed in front of Luther Jackson.
“When you come to middle school and you join drama, you become part of that tribe, or music, that’s a tribe, but we’re trying to create that for STEM, and then we keep them together,” Smith said. “They go on to get advanced degrees and then they help save the world. That’s the whole mission.”
The students who designed, constructed and now maintain the vertical farm, also known as an aquaponics lab, likely aren’t thinking about saving the world just yet.
Vivian, for instance, joined the project at the behest of a friend who shares her interest in fish. She also wanted to get experience working with a team.
Vivienne Bao, a fellow eighth-grader who got involved earlier this semester, says she enjoys the hands-on experience, even if that means taking care of mundane tasks like cleaning up water leaks or picking beads from the filter system out of fish sludge.
“Everything is connected and one misstep can lead to major problems,” she said. “So, everybody needs to work together to solve it, and then we can be successful and grow vegetables.”
A traditional farm plot would require 450 times as much land, along with more time and water, to grow the amount of vegetables generated by the vertical farm, Smith says.
The first delivery to Luther Jackson’s food pantry is expected any day now, according to Jenna von Elling, the school PTA’s food pantry coordinator.
Organized by the PTA, the pantry opens its doors every Wednesday to about 70 families of students who experience food insecurity. It also provides backpacks of food for some students to take home.
Students in need are identified by the school’s social worker and family liaison. Other sources of food for the pantry include local grocery stores and community donors, like the nonprofit Food for Neighbors.
“Our goal is to provide a wide variety of shelf stable food as well as fresh, healthy food like produce, bread and milk,” von Elling said. “Mr. Smith’s Jackson-grown produce will be a welcome addition to our offerings. It’s wonderful that he is helping our students make connections between growing food and caring for their larger community.”
In addition to imparting critical scientific and engineering knowledge, Smith says the ESTEEM Center gives students agency over their own education, teaching them to build “things that don’t come with instructions.”
While all students design, research and write up a project in the school’s engineering newspaper, the biggest impediment to bringing more of their ideas to life is one painfully familiar to adult researchers as well: funding.
Instead of taking money out of the Fairfax County Public Schools budget, the center relies on corporate sponsorships. The vertical farm equipment and shed were purchased with grants from Northrop Grumman, Dominion Energy, and Micron.
Smith says he’s actively looking for more businesses to support his students’ projects.
“We’re always expanding, and we have 16 more ideas on this type of level that we could implement,” Smith said. “We’re just lacking the funds.”
Flags Lowered After Nashville School Shooting — “The U.S., state and county flags are lowered to half-staff today at all county government facilities as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on March 27 in Nashville, Tenn. The flags will remain at half-staff until sunset on March 31.” [Fairfax County/Twitter]
Longtime Vienna Inn Co-Owner Has Died — “Mollie Bass Abraham, who with her late husband owned and ran the Vienna Inn for four decades, died at her home in Alexandria on March 25. She was 96. The couple bought the former Freddie’s restaurant in Vienna in 1960 and renamed it the Vienna Inn.” [Gazette Leader]
Motorcyclist Injured in Springfield Crash — “A motorcyclist was seriously injured Sunday night in a crash on the Franconia-Springfield Parkway, according to the Fairfax County Police Department…By 9:30 p.m…police announced that the motorcyclist’s condition had improved and that he was no longer in a life-threatening condition.” [Patch]
Phase 2 of Lorton Community Center Project Underway — “Now the county’s project team will focus on completing the open park area, connecting the walking trail around the park and completing the vehicle parking area with additional lights and landscaping, according to a spokesperson from the county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. The contractor’s work is expected to be complete by May 2023.” [On the MoVe]
Wendy’s in Annandale Undergoing Interior Renovation — “The Wendy’s at 7530 Little River Turnpike in Annandale is closed for indoor dining while the restaurant is being renovated. The pick-up window remains open…The project is expected to be completed in two or three months.” [Annandale Today]
Study: Virginia in Middle of Country for Covid Deaths — “The study, published in the medical journal The Lancet, showed death rates varied dramatically by state, in analyzing the rates of COVID deaths in the U.S. between January 2020 and July 2022…Virginia ranked 20th, with 336 deaths per 100,000.” [WTOP]
Annandale Man Wins $1 Million in Lottery — “Man Nguyen of Annandale won $1 million in the Virginia Lottery’s Mega Millions drawing. ‘My wife’s birthday is coming up, and I’m thinking of buying her a new car,’ Nguyen told lottery officials.” [Annandale Today]
It’s Wednesday — Clear throughout the day. High of 58 and low of 41. Sunrise at 6:59 am and sunset at 7:30 pm. [Weather.gov]
Fairfax County fared well overall in recently released rankings of the best places to live in America, but it couldn’t quite compete with neighboring Loudoun County.
Fairfax County was named the 25th best county to live in nationally and the third best in Virginia by Niche, an online data platform that reviews localities with the goal of helping families choose schools and neighborhoods.
“Fairfax County is one of the best places to live in Virginia,” Niche said in its profile of the county. “…Most residents own their homes. In Fairfax County there are a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, and parks. Many families and young professionals live in Fairfax County and residents tend to be liberal. The public schools in Fairfax County are highly rated.”
In the 2023 rankings published on March 20, Fairfax County trailed Loudoun, which placed at No. 12 in America and at No. 1 in Virginia, and York County (No. 15 nationally, No. 2 statewide).
The primary culprit in Fairfax County’s lower ranking appears to be housing, where it scored a “B” compared to the “A” given to Loudoun and “A-” for York.
Niche says the housing grade is calculated based on home values, property taxes, housing costs, local schools and more. Housing is among the most heavily weighted factors in the Best Counties to Live ranking, behind the percentage of residents with a higher education degree and the cost of living.
According to Niche, Fairfax County has a median home value of $569,100 and a median rent of $2,033 — about twice as high as the national averages of $244,900 and $1,163, respectively.
The county also trailed Loudoun when it came to jobs, getting a B- where its neighbor got an A. Those scores were based on employment rates, job and economic growth, and cost of living, where both counties earned C grades.
Fairfax County received marks of A or A+ for its public schools, health and fitness, diversity, family-friendly living, and outdoor activities. It got A- for nightlife, B- for weather and C+ for commute times and methods.
With its high grades for schools and health, Fairfax County snagged the top spot on the list for Healthiest Counties in Virginia and the No. 2 spot for Counties with the Best Public Schools in Virginia, behind York County. Nationally, it landed at No. 6 for health and No. 32 for schools.
Niche has named Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania, a neighborhood of Philadelphia, as the best place to live in the country for four consecutive years.
