Fairfax County · City guide
City of Fairfax, Virginia — A Walkable Town Inside the County
The City of Fairfax is an independent city entirely surrounded by Fairfax County, and it keeps a small-town identity the surrounding suburbia gave up long ago: Old Town Fairfax's courthouse square, its own city school system, and a genuine downtown you can walk. George Mason University sits right on its edge.
It's compact and tightly held, which is much of the appeal — and much of what keeps it competitive. When people want walkable, historic, and central without going all the way into Arlington pricing, the City of Fairfax is often the answer.
The numbers
Fairfax City market data
Fairfax City snapshot
- Median sale price
- $777,234*
- Typical home value
- $795,716*
- Year over year
- +1.9%*
Source: Zillow Research (median sale price), May 2026.
Source: Zillow Research (ZHVI), June 2026.
* Estimated by Zillow.
Own a home here? See the Fairfax City typical range and 24-month trend on Kevin’s seller site.
Living here
What living in the City of Fairfax is actually like
Old Town Fairfax anchors civic life — the Chocolate Lovers Festival, Rock the Block, independent restaurants, and the historic courthouse — while GMU brings culture, sports, and the Center for the Arts. The city runs its own CUE bus, and the Vienna/Fairfax–GMU Metro sits just outside, with I-66 and Route 50 close for drivers.
Because the city operates its own school division separate from the county, families weigh those schools specifically — one more reason a local read matters more here than a county-wide generalization.
The housing market
The City of Fairfax housing market
The city is small, so inventory is limited and well-located homes stay competitive. The mix runs from established single-family neighborhoods to townhomes to newer infill near Old Town, and figures are reported on a trailing basis that steadies the small-sample swings.
For sellers, scarcity works in your favor when the home is priced and prepped correctly; the condo and entry tiers are where buyers have the most room to negotiate. I price to the specific street and segment, not a blended city average built on a handful of sales.
Keep exploring
More of Fairfax County
Other guides across Fairfax County.
Fairfax County overview
Centreville
Median $580,839*
Centreville sits at the western edge of Fairfax County, where I-66 and Route 28 meet, and it has long been one of th…
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Chantilly
Median $746,835*
Chantilly sits at Fairfax County's western edge, where the suburbs meet the Dulles technology corridor and Route 50…
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Herndon
Median $704,557*
Herndon is one of Fairfax County's two incorporated towns, and it has something most of the surrounding suburbia gav…
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McLean
Median $1,432,816*
McLean is one of the wealthiest communities in the country, and its housing market reflects it: leafy estate lots, c…
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Reston
Median $616,117*
Reston was Robert E. Simon's 1964 experiment in how a community should be built — his initials gave it its name — an…
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Vienna
Median $1,176,145*
Vienna is the incorporated town that consistently lands near the top of best-places-to-live lists for Northern Virgi…
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