Demographics

As of 2012, there were 2,727,657 people in Northern Virginia, almost exactly a third of the state's population. This figure includes the exurban Clarke, Fauquier, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren counties, as well as the independent city of Fredericksburg. Together, these jurisdictions account for 377,809 residents. The combined population of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park is 2,325,903, which was 28.41% of Virginia's population in 2012.

Virginia's 8th congressional district, representing 643,503 people in Northern Virginia, has the highest life expectancy rate in the nation.

Racial and Ethnic Composure

The 2010 U.S. Census shows that the racial and ethnic makeup of the 2,230,623 people that reside in the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William as well as the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park are as follows:

55.41% White 11.28% Black 10.46% Asian 0.19% American Indian or Alaska Native 0.07% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.30% Some Other Race 2.98% Two or More Races 16.30% Hispanic (of any race) Background Demographics in Northern Virginia's five largest jurisdictions Household income No. VA U.S. ($200k+) 13.6% 3.7% $100k+ 46.1% 19.0% $75k-100k 15.1% 12.1% $50k-75k 16.3% 18.8% $25k-50k 14.2% 25.6% $25k or less 8.4% 24.5% Race No. VA U.S. White 67.2% 74.1% Black or African American 11.6% 12.4% Asian 12.5% 4.3% (Hispanic or Latino) 13.9% N/A Some other race N/A 6.2% Two or more races 2.4% 2.1% Educational attainment No. VA U.S. (Graduate/professional) 25.2% 9.9% Bachelor's or higher 55.5% 27.0% Associate's 5.7% 7.4% Some college 14.8% 19.5% High school/equivalent 15.8% 30.2% Less than high school 8.1% 15.9%

Northern Virginia is home to people from diverse backgrounds, with significant numbers of Arab Americans, Afghan Americans, Ethiopian Americans, Korean Americans, Indian Americans, Iranian Americans, American Jews, Thai Americans, Pakistani Americans, and Vietnamese Americans, along with other Americans of Asian descent especially a growing Chinese American and Filipino American population concentrated in the eastern part of Fairfax County. Annandale, Chantilly, and Fairfax City have large Korean American communities. Falls Church has a large Vietnamese American community. Northern Virginia is also home to a small Tibetan American community as well.

There is a sizable Hispanic American population, primarily consisting of Salvadoran Americans, Peruvian Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, Cuban Americans, Bolivian Americans, Mexican Americans, and Colombian Americans. Arlington is the center of the largest Bolivian American community in North America (mostly immigrants from Cochabamba). Many of these immigrants work in transportation-related fields, small businesses, hospitality/restaurants, vending, gardening, construction, and cleaning.

Of those born in the U.S. and living in Northern Virginia's four largest counties, their place of birth by Census region is 60.5% from the South, 21.0% from the Northeast, 11.5% from the Midwest, and 7.0% from the West. 33.7% were born in Virginia, which is categorized as part of the Southern United States along with neighboring Maryland and Washington, D.C. by the Census Bureau.

Educational attainment

The core Northern Virginia jurisdictions of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William comprising a total population of 1,973,513 is highly educated, with 55.5% of its population 25 years or older holding a bachelor's degree or higher. This is comparable to Seattle, the most educated large city in the U.S., with 53.4% of residents having at least a bachelor's degree. The number of graduate/professional degree holders in Arlington is relatively high at 34.3%, nearly quadruple the rate of the U.S. population as a whole.

Affluence

The region is known in Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area for its relative affluence. Of the large cities or counties in the nation that have a median household income in excess of $100,000, the top two are in Northern Virginia, and these counties have over half of the region's population. However, considering that Northern Virginia has one of the highest costs of living in the nation, the actual purchasing power of these households is considerably less than in other less "affluent" areas. According to Nielsen Claritas, Loudoun County and Arlington County have the highest concentration of 25–34 year olds with incomes of $100,000+ in the nation.

In 1988, the Tysons Galleria mall opened across Virginia Route 123 from Tysons Corner Center with high-end department stores Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Avenue, hoping to become the Washington area's upscale shopping destination. The mall had trouble with sales and attracting high-end boutiques well into the 1990s, and faced competition from Fairfax Square, which opened nearby in 1990 with the largest Tiffany & Co. boutique outside of New York City. The Galleria was able to attract high-end stores after a 1997 renovation, and in 2002 National Geographic described it as "the Rodeo Drive of the East Coast". In 2008, luxury home service Sotheby's International Realty – which had three offices in Virginia serving the rest of the state, and two in the District of Columbia serving the Washington metropolitan area – opened a new office in McLean to sell more high end real estate in Northern Virginia.

Crime

A 2009 report by the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force suggests that anti-gang measures and crackdowns on illegal immigrants by local jurisdictions are driving gang members out of Northern Virginia and into more immigrant-friendly locales in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and the rest of Virginia. The violent crime rate in Northern Virginia fell 17% from 2003 to 2008. Fairfax County has the lowest crime rate in the Washington metropolitan area, and the lowest crime rate amongst the 50 largest jurisdictions of the United States.