Work & commute · Fair Lakes

Work & commute in Fair Lakes, VA

Most working residents leave Fair Lakes for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Washington (9%), Tysons (7%) and Arlington (7%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

112 of 4,362 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

29 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

28%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,250 Fair Lakes residents head out of town to work, 112 work right here, and 8,843 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Fair Lakes.

4,250live here, work elsewhere

112live and work here

8,843work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Fair Lakes goes to work

Washington, DC20.4 mi away

9%395

Tysons9.9 mi away

7%322

Arlington15.6 mi away

7%306

Springfield12.1 mi away

6%254

Fair Oaks1.9 mi away

6%251

Reston7.1 mi away

5%211

Chantilly3.8 mi away

5%209

Fair Lakes (in town)right here

3%112

Fairfax4.9 mi away

3%111

McNair7 mi away

2%101

Everywhere elseother towns and states

48%2,090

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Fair Lakes commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

45%

48%

45%Under 10 mi

48%10–24 mi

2%25–50 mi

5%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Fair Lakes is a job hub

2.05jobs per working resident

A job hub

2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Fair Lakes are

8,955 jobs are based in Fair Lakes. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fair Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Fair Lakes

8,955 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)1%

Trade, transport & utilities24%

Services (health, schools, offices…)75%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month19%

Over $3,333 a month71%

Jobs Fair Lakes residents hold

4,362 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)81%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month15%

Over $3,333 a month76%

−9%

Jobs based in Fair Lakes, 2013 → 2023: 9,888 → 8,955. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.