Property Tax & Income in Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County has an effective property tax rate of 1.00%. On the median home value of $732,800, that's roughly $7,368 per year. Median household income is $153,637.
What you'll pay, at a glance
Property taxes are the largest local tax most homeowners pay. The effective rate measures the real tax bill as a share of home value — a more useful number than the nominal “mill rate,” because assessment practices vary county to county.
| Metric | Fairfax County | Virginia (state context) |
|---|---|---|
| Effective property tax rate1 | 1.00% | 0.60% |
| Median home value1 | $732,800 | — |
| State income tax3 | top rate 5.75% | top rate 5.75% |
| State sales tax3 | 5.77% combined | 5.77% combined |
How this is calculated
The effective property tax rate is the median real-estate tax bill divided by the median home value — both for owner-occupied homes, from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-year estimates)1. Median income is also from the ACS1. Federal and state income-tax figures use IRS2 and Tax Foundation3 data.
About Fairfax County, VA
Fairfax County's effective property tax rate of 1.005% puts it well above Virginia's statewide median of 0.601%, and it also exceeds the national median of 0.794%. That gap places the county fifth among Virginia's 133 counties for property tax rate, signaling that homeowners here carry a heavier tax load than most elsewhere in the state. A median home value of $732,800 produces an annual real-estate tax bill of about $7,368. Household income runs high as well, with a median of $153,637 and per-capita income of $71,828, so the tax base reflects an affluent, high-value market. Communities like Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church sit within the county, and the elevated rate combined with steep property values means buyers should factor in notably higher carrying costs than in much of Virginia or the country overall.