Falls Church city area

Falls Church city, Virginia covers 2.046 square miles: 2.046 square miles of land and less than 0.001 square miles of water. An estimated 15,159 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 516102026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026

The published water figure rounds to 0 mi²; the original Census field records 32 m² of water. Zero here is a rounded value.

Land area2.046 mi²
Water area<0.001 mi²
Population (2025)15,159
People per mi²7,409

County outline

Generalized outline of Falls Church city, Virginia
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Falls Church city is located

Falls Church city highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for more than 99.9% of Falls Church city’s measured area and water for less than 0.1%. Its combined area converts to 5.3 square kilometers or approximately 1,309 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land2.0465.2991,309.4
Water000
Total2.0465.2991,309.4

How Falls Church city compares

By original Census land area, Falls Church city ranks #133 of 133 in Virginia and #3222 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.007 times the Virginia county-equivalent median of 310 square miles. It accounts for 0% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Virginia ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

Population and density of Falls Church city

The Census Bureau estimates that 15,159 people lived in Falls Church city on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,153 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #99 of 133 in Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 14,657, the population has grown by 502 (+3.4%), compared with +2.9% for Virginia as a whole.

With 2 square miles of land, that is 7,409 people per square mile (2,861 per km²), placing Falls Church city #13 nationally for density and #3 in Virginia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Virginia median is 109. Put another way, there are about 0.086 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate14,67714,51714,52014,80815,04615,159
Change—−160+3+288+238+113

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Falls Church city

Every resident of Falls Church city lives within Falls Church city. The city and the county equivalent cover the same territory, 2.046 square miles of land in the 2026 place Gazetteer, so there are no separate towns or unincorporated areas to list.

Metropolitan area

Falls Church city is a central county of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, in the Arlington-Alexandria-Reston, VA-WV metropolitan division. Its 23 county equivalents have 6,465,724 residents on 6,033.7 square miles of land; Falls Church city accounts for 0% of the land and 0.2% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #35 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #7 by population. It belongs to the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area.

County equivalentPopulation 2025Land mi²
Fairfax County1,167,873391
Montgomery CountyMaryland1,074,582493.1
Prince George's CountyMaryland970,374482.6
District of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia693,64561.1
Prince William County502,966335.3
Loudoun County449,749515.7
Frederick CountyMaryland302,883660.7
Arlington County243,93126
Charles CountyMaryland176,593457.8
Stafford County170,803268.5
Alexandria city160,66214.9
Spotsylvania County155,388401.9
Fauquier County76,503648
Jefferson CountyWest Virginia63,102209.3
Culpeper County57,666379.2
Manassas city44,3329.8
Warren County42,740214.6
Fredericksburg city30,39310.5
Fairfax city26,7726.2
Manassas Park city16,5603
Clarke County15,609176
Falls Church city15,1592
Rappahannock County7,439266.4

ZIP codes

4 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Falls Church city; 1 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

22042220432204422046

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Falls Church city

Falls Church city shares a land border with 2 county equivalents. Each of them has more land than Falls Church city. The largest neighbor is Fairfax County (391 mi²) and the smallest is Arlington County (26 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Falls Church city forms a block of 419.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 0.5%.

Map of Falls Church city and the 2 county equivalents that border it Arlington County, Virginia: 26 mi² landFairfax County, Virginia: 391 mi² land
Falls Church city (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. Falls Church cityCompare
Fairfax County391191.1× largerCompare
Arlington County2612.7× largerCompare

How big is Falls Church city compared with U.S. states?

Falls Church city has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 505 times as much. Virginia’s county land could hold about 19,297 areas the size of Falls Church city.

Land area: Falls Church city and the closest-sized states
Falls Church city2 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 1.43 miles (2.3 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Falls Church city?

Falls Church city has no smaller county equivalent by original land area in this dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Falls Church city2 mi²
Virginia median310 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Falls Church city at #3,222 nationally by total area, the same position as its land rank. Changing the area definition does not change its position in this release.

Its water share is 0%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.2 percentage points lower. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Falls Church city in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#3221Lexington city, Virginia2.5Compare
#3222Falls Church city, Virginia2This county

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 38.884722, -77.175603. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 5,300,254 m²; AWATER: 32 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How big is Falls Church city?

Falls Church city, Virginia has 2.046 square miles (5.3 km²) of land and less than 0.001 square miles of water, for a total area of 2.046 square miles. It ranks #3222 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Falls Church city the largest county in Virginia?

No. Falls Church city ranks #133 of 133 in Virginia by land area. The largest is Pittsylvania County, with 969 square miles of land.

What counties border Falls Church city?

Falls Church city shares a land border with Arlington County and Fairfax County.

What is the population of Falls Church city?

The Census Bureau estimates Falls Church city had 15,159 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,153 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 7,409 people per square mile of land.

Is Falls Church city part of a metropolitan area?

Yes. It is a central county of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has 23 county equivalents and 6,465,724 residents.

How many ZIP codes are in Falls Church city?

4 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Falls Church city, and 1 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Falls Church city compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 505.3 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Falls Church city?

The land measurement converts to approximately 1,309 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 1,309 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

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