Traffic on I-395 looking south as the sun sets (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington has the 25th worst commute in the country, according to a new set of rankings.
The county was ranked just a couple of spots up from cities like Phoenix and San Jose, California. The rankings take into account the average commute time, the percentage increase in commute time over the past five years, percentage of workers with a one hour or longer commute, and median income.
Student enrollment projections by Arlington Public Schools (APS) impact all Arlington residents, and have a direct impact on spending for new schools, school bonds and debt service, parking and traffic, for example — which directly affect quality of life, property values and taxes. With Arlington’s population growing for the foreseeable future, APS must have accurate projections for effective school construction planning.
This regularly scheduled column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at[email protected].
Question: What areas of Northern VA have the most and least expensive new construction homes?
Answer: The biggest and most expensive new builds in Northern VA are in Great Falls and Mclean. Prince William County offers the most affordability, along with the most house and land for your money.
The following data is based on MLS sales of new construction detached homes in Northern Virginia from 2025-June 1 2026.
Great Falls, Mclean, and Everybody Else
The small town of Middleburg is the only city with an average new home price over $3,000,000.
Dumfries and Bristow are the only Northern VA cities where the average new home costs less than $1,000,000
The average price for a new home in Vienna is $22,000 higher than Arlington
How Big Are New Homes?
Most new homes throughout Northern VA come in around 5,000-6,000 finished square feet
Mclean (8,450) and Great Falls (8,700) average nearly 2,000SF more than homes in Vienna, the city with the third largest average new home
Despite having significantly more room to build, homes in Loudoun County and Prince William County are constructed with a “modest” 4,800 finished SF
On average, 5,700 finished SF in Northern VA is filled with 5.4 bedrooms and 5.1 full bathrooms
If Yard and Privacy Matter the Most
The average new home in Prince William County sits on nearly 2.7 acres and provides new home buyers with the lowest cost per acre for a new home
Privacy in your new home is hard to come by in Arlington, Ashburn, Brambleton, Dumfries, and Bristow with average lot sizes under 0.2 acres
Great Falls (1.69) and Oakton (2.07) are the only jurisdictions within Fairfax County with an average lot size over one acre
In Northern VA, the average new home is built on 0.84 acres
This is a sponsored column by attorneys John Berry and Kimberly Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC, an employment and labor law firm located in Northern Virginia that specializes in federal employee, security clearance, retirement and private sector employee matters.
Equality Arlington and the National Landing BID are co-sponsoring a LGBTQ+ movie screening on Saturday, June 6 beginning at 3 PM at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema followed by a Pride Month Party at National Landing Water Park from 6-9 PM. Both events are free and first come, first serve (although we encourage you to RSVP to help us prepare) and open to all. Learn more at equalityarlington.org/events.
Saturday, June 6th: 3 PM – 5:20 PM – Screening of “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Crystal City (1660 Crystal Dr, Arlington, VA 22202).
Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
Scoutbee, a tech company based in Crystal City, is looking to scale up after scoring $60 million in a fresh round of funding.
The small, Miami-based restaurant chain opened its 4121 Wilson Blvd location to fanfare last April, touting its health-oriented and vegetarian options. It joined an increasingly crowded Ballston restaurant scene that has seen numerous openings since the Quarter Market food hall in the renovated Ballston Quarter mall opened in early 2019.
Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County. If you’d like to see your event featured, fill out the event submission form.
1000 Degrees Pizza has closed (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated at 10 a.m.) Just over three years since it first opened, 1000 Degrees has served its last customer.
The quick-service Neapolitan pizzeria at 3400 Columbia Pike shut its doors within the past few of days, posting a note in the window that reads: “Dear customers, We apologize for any inconvenience but we are permanently closed.”