Census Data Shows Fairfax County is Grayer and More Diverse

Fairfax County settled into middle age during the past 10 years, becoming a stable but increasingly diverse suburb as its younger neighboring counties burgeoned, according to initial detailed numbers released last week based on the 2010 Census.

Fairfax, Virginia’s largest and wealthiest county, grew by just over 110,000 people from 2000-2010, to pass 1 million people. But that represented just an 11 percent growth rate—below the state growth rate for the same period of 13 percent. The county grew by 14 percent during the 1990s.

“The numbers don’t show all that surprise for Fairfax,” said Steve Farnsworth, an assistant professor of communications  at George Mason University, who watches Fairfax County population and politics.“It is getting more diverse in terms of the ethnic population. There has been relatively slow growth in recent years because there is so much rapid  growth outside of Fairfax in Loudoun, Prince William and Fauquier," he said.

Loudoun County had nearly 170,000 people in 2000 then ballooned to nearly 315,000 now  as farmland became the Route 28 corridor—Silicon Valley East. Prince William grew to nearly a 500,000 people, a 43 percent increase. Fauquier County grew by 18 percent but still has a population of only 65,000.

"You have seen the growth," Fairfax County Police Chief  Col. David Rohrer told a group of Patch editors yesterday. "This county has changed. Outside the Beltway and in western Fairfax. . . The explosive growth on the west side of the county," he said.

Fairfax grew largely because of Latino and Asian immigrants. The white not Hispanic population of the county dropped from 58 percent to 55 percent.

Thirty years ago, Fairfax County was literally black and white. The county was still emerging from segregated schools. Segregated restaurants. Segregated housing. The first large numbers of immigrants were the Vietnamese who arrived in the mid-70s, fleeing their war-torn nation. They were followed by the Salvadoreans, fleeing their war-torn nation.

Now Asians are the county's largest minority group at nearly 20 percent of the population, followed by Latinos at 15 percent. Blacks are less than 10 percent of folks in the county.  You can speak Spanish every day and most every where today in Fairfax.

"Our officers deal with 120 languages on the street," Rohrer said.  "An officer now can be faced with Urdu, Chinese and 118 other languages trying to help someone," he said.

To the average Fairfax Couty resident all this diversity means  you can now literally eat around the world a few blocks from your house.

 “The education of the students is greatly enhanced b the diversity of the population," Farnsworth said. "You are offered a wide range of insights because of the people you meet." in your neighborhood, at your coffee shop, in the office, Farnsworth said.

What does all this mean for the future? First the county will probably become a majority-minority county in about 10 years, Farnsworth predicted. Also, Fairfax is graying. It has a growing senior population and they are going to want more services. The Fairfax County school system already has a majority of minority students.

What are the implications of the graying of Fairfax?

“As the portion of seniors increase that will increase pressure for more services that are of importance to older residents. There will be more demands for senior enrichment programs, mass transit, senior programs. In eastern Fairfax inside the Beltway you are seeing more older communities and as time goes on more and more of Fairfax will resemble the demographics  of these older suburbs. That will create a lot of pressure on government to fund those services, Farnsworth said.

“If you don’t respond to senior demands you will not be relected," Farnsworth warned politicans. "Those senior demands will increase  as the  (senior) population increases,” he said.