Data Bank

The numbers behind our case, and where they come from.

Everything we say in public rests on a source we can stand behind. This page collects those sources: county budgets, state reports and local coverage, organized so that residents, officials and reporters can check our work and use it in their own.

Figures as of October 2026. Coverage runs from October 2024 to October 2026.

How to read this page

We rank sources in three tiers, and we say which one a figure rests on. Primary means a government budget, assessment report, state study or utility filing. Press means a reputable news outlet, linked to the article. Industry means a trade group or market tracker, used with care and labeled.

Dates are publication dates. Where two counties define a figure differently, we say so rather than pretend the numbers line up. We never delete a source. When a figure is superseded, we keep the old one and mark it.

Corrections. If we're wrong, we verify it, we fix it here, and we say what led to the error. Send us a correction.

Key figures

About 40%

of Loudoun County's General Fund comes from data center taxes, about $1.3 billion in fiscal 2027. County guidance says that revenue "will plateau in the next 5 to 10 years."

Primary Loudoun FY2027 adopted budget; WUSA9, Sept. 15, 2026

57 / 43

Arlington's tax base is now 57% residential and 43% commercial, against a pre-pandemic target of 50/50, after office values fell 19% in a year.

Press ARLnow, Jan. 20, 2026

$131.5M

Fairfax County's forecast fiscal 2027 budget gap, after closing a $292.7 million gap the year before with its first meals tax.

Press FFXnow, Dec. 3, 2025; WUSA9, May 6, 2025

3 to 1

Fairfax County created three times as many jobs as homes over a decade, according to its board chair.

Press Patch, Aug. 26, 2026

No. 1

The D.C. region ranked first in the country for worst traffic in 2025.

Press InsideNoVa, July 23, 2025

$1.7B

Virginia's shortfall in highway maintenance funding.

Press Virginia Mercury, Sept. 18, 2026

Tax base and rates

Real estate rates and the commercial share, by locality

Where businesses carry more of the base, homeowners pay a lower rate. The effective rate column measures tax against market value, which is the only fair way to compare localities that reassess on different schedules.

Locality	Real estate rate, 2026 ($ per $100 assessed)	Effective rate, 2025 ($ per $100 market value)	Commercial and industrial share of real estate base	Change in average residential bill, 2026	Local-source share of revenue, FY2025
Loudoun County	$0.805	$0.75	36.6%	+$141	79.7%
Prince William County	$0.865^a	$0.82	34.2%	−$56	61.2%
City of Manassas	$1.24^b	$0.98	32%^c		59.4%
City of Alexandria	$1.135	$1.07	17.4%		76.4%
Arlington County	$1.053	$0.98	17.1%	+$466	80.8%
Spotsylvania County	$0.7373	$0.59	14.6%^d		54.8%
Fairfax County	$1.12	$1.02	14.4%	+$337	73.6%
Fauquier County	$0.895^b	$0.72	8.7%^d		68.3%
City of Fairfax	$1.0725	$0.97			82.4%
City of Falls Church	$1.18	$1.05		+$557^e	83.4%
City of Manassas Park	$1.38	$1.21			48.0%^f
Culpeper County	$0.45	$0.40			49.2%
Warren County	$0.569	$0.44			56.1%^f
Virginia, statewide	$0.8986	$0.76			62.3%

Primary Rates: each locality's adopted tax year 2026 rate ordinance or fiscal 2027 budget. Effective rates: Virginia Department of Taxation, 2025 Assessment/Sales Ratio Study (the statewide figure is the weighted median). Commercial shares: Loudoun 2026 assessments; Prince William 2026 annual report; Arlington 2026 assessments; Fairfax FY2027 adopted budget overview; Alexandria 2026 assessments. Local-source share: Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, Comparative Report, fiscal 2025. Bill changes: county fiscal 2027 budget adoption releases.
^a Base rate; Prince William adds a 7-cent countywide fire levy. ^b Includes a countywide fire levy (Manassas $1.05 plus $0.19; Fauquier includes its fire and rescue levy). ^c City-reported figure on the city's own definition; not directly comparable. ^d Fauquier: commercial share of locally assessed real estate, tax year 2025 (FY2025 ACFR, Table 5-A). Spotsylvania: Jan. 1, 2024 land book. ^e Median homeowner, per ARLnow, May 14, 2026. ^f Manassas Park and Warren have not filed APA reports since FY2023 and FY2022; their figures are older. Arlington and Fairfax commercial shares exclude apartments; Loudoun and Prince William include data centers. Blank cells mean the locality does not publish the figure on a comparable basis.

Where the money comes from

General property taxes as a share of local-source revenue, fiscal 2025

Virginia localities cannot levy an income tax. The tax on real and personal property is where most local money comes from, which is why the makeup of the property base decides who pays.

Locality	Total revenue per resident	Local-source revenue	General property taxes	Property taxes as share of local-source revenue	Composite index, 2026 to 2028
Arlington County	$7,841	$1.55B	$1.06B	68.4%	0.8000
Fairfax County	$6,923	$5.86B	$4.25B	72.6%	0.6381
Loudoun County	$8,502	$2.98B	$2.37B	79.7%	0.5728
Prince William County	$6,339	$1.93B	$1.42B	73.4%	0.3767
City of Alexandria	$7,462	$908M	$631M	69.5%	0.8000
City of Fairfax	$8,819	$175M	$105M	60.1%	0.8000
City of Falls Church	$9,044	$120M	$77M	64.5%	0.8000
City of Manassas	$7,107	$181M	$116M	64.2%	0.3285
City of Manassas Park^f	$6,332	$53M	$38M	71.9%	0.2790
Fauquier County	$5,239	$267M	$202M	75.5%	0.5778
Culpeper County	$4,390	$121M	$82M	67.8%	0.3616
Spotsylvania County	$4,704	$386M	$240M	62.1%	0.3783
Warren County^f	$3,588	$82M	$59M	71.9%	0.4482
Virginia, statewide	$5,790	$31.0B	$20.5B	66.1%

Primary Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, Comparative Report of Local Government Revenues and Expenditures, fiscal 2025. The Local Composite Index is the state's measure of a division's ability to pay for schools; the Virginia Department of Education caps it at 0.8000. ^f Manassas Park and Warren figures are from their last filed reports (FY2023 and FY2022). The table shows general government revenue; it excludes enterprise funds such as water utilities.

Data centers

Data centers by locality

Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world. Counts below come from each locality and are not on one basis: some count buildings, some facilities, some permitted sites. Revenue shares use different denominators, noted in each row.

Locality	Operating	Operating sq ft	Data center tax revenue per year	Share of revenue	Where things stand (October 2026)
Loudoun County	233	56.5M	$1.30B	About 40% of the General Fund (FY2027)	By-right development ended March 2025. Board voted 7-1-1 on Sept. 15, 2026 to draft a 12-month pause on new legislative applications; final resolution expected Oct. 20. Standards rewrite due summer 2027. 116 projects in the pipeline.
Prince William County	57	13.1M	$549.7M	About 28% of general revenue (FY2027 proposed)	Board voted 8-0 on Sept. 22, 2026 to end by-right development countywide, with a 90-day grace period. Denied the 2,000-acre Dulles South campus 8-0 on July 7, 2026. Overlay-district repeal under way.
Fairfax County	20	2.3M	$110.6M	About 1.9%	Zoning ordinance amendment adopted with siting and design rules. County sold 41.7 acres in Chantilly for a data center in March 2026, projected at about $20 million a year in tax.
Culpeper County	3		$11.2M	About 12.6%	Culpeper Technology Zone; about 13 million sq ft approved and not yet built. County projects about $100 million a year at build-out.
Fauquier County	3				Allowed in the planned commercial-industrial district. A 1.8 million sq ft park in Remington approved for on-site gas fuel cells in July 2026 because grid power is not available until at least 2030. Warrenton's approved project is in litigation.
Spotsylvania County	1	0.5M	$0.3M		Special use permit now required (February 2026). About 15.5 million sq ft approved and not yet built.
City of Manassas	1	0.2M	$1.1M		Five under construction.
Warren County	0	0	$0		Not a permitted use. Front Royal council voted in June 2026 toward a prohibition.
Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax City, Falls Church, Manassas Park	0	0	$0		No data center zoning cases.
Virginia, statewide	340	63M	$1.5B		JLARC, Data Centers in Virginia (2024); 2026 updates from county and press sources.

Primary County fiscal 2027 budget documents; Loudoun and Prince William data center dashboards; Fairfax County FY2027 revenue estimates; JLARC, Data Centers in Virginia (2024). Press WUSA9, Oct. 6, 2026; InsideNoVa via Rappahannock News, Sept. 22, 2026; WTOP, July 7, 2026; FFXnow, Mar. 19, 2026; FauquierNow, July 10, 2026; Fredericksburg Free Press, Feb. 25, 2026. Industry No locality publishes megawatts; the only consistent regional figure is CBRE's Northern Virginia market total of about 4,500 MW operating and 2,400 MW under construction (first half of 2026).

Decisions

Local decisions, 2025 to 2026

The votes that have shaped the regional tax base in the last two years.

Date	Locality	Decision	Source
Oct. 8, 2026	Fauquier	Board voted 4-1 to end by-right data centers countywide, limiting them to the planned commercial industrial district (Vint Hill has the only one) with a special exception, recycled water for cooling and buried power lines.	Prince William Times
Oct. 8, 2026	Stafford	Board approved the 590,000 sq ft Accokeek Center data center campus with reduced setbacks, 4-3.	Fredericksburg Free Press
Oct. 6, 2026	Loudoun	Board tabled, 7-2, a $200,000 audit of 15 grandfathered data center projects (about 10.5 million sq ft) after staff warned that repealing grandfathering could cost $45 million to $60 million in litigation.	WUSA9
Sept. 22, 2026	Prince William	Board voted 8-0 to end by-right data center development countywide, with a 90-day grace period for pending plans.	InsideNoVa via Rappahannock News
Sept. 15, 2026	Loudoun	Board voted 7-1-1 to draft a 12-month pause on new legislative data center applications, with exceptions for grid-reliability substations. Final resolution expected Oct. 20.	WUSA9
July 21, 2026	Prince William	Board initiated, 5-3, comprehensive plan amendments for up to about 3,900 homes in the rural west (Manassas Preserve and Catharpin Valley Estates), against the staff recommendation. Supporters cited $20 million to $25 million a year in real estate tax.	InsideNoVa via Bristow Beat
July 10, 2026	Fauquier	Board approved, 3-1, an on-site gas fuel-cell power plant for the 1.8 million sq ft Remington Technology Park; without it, grid power would not arrive until at least 2030. A supervisor put the cost of delay at about $100 million in lost tax revenue.	FauquierNow
July 7, 2026	Prince William	Board denied the 2,000-acre Dulles South data center campus, 8-0.	WTOP
June 2026	Alexandria	Council unanimously approved the first phase of the Potomac River Generating Station redevelopment with a $135 million financing package.	Alexandria Brief
June 2026	Fauquier	Board unanimously approved a 1.4 million sq ft industrial park in Marshall.	FauquierNow
Apr. 22, 2026	Statewide	HB 888 signed, capping the parking localities can require for housing within a half-mile of transit, effective July 1, 2026. The Virginia Association of Counties opposed the bill.	FFXnow, June 5, 2026; VACo, Apr. 17, 2026
Apr. 14, 2026	Prince William	Board declined to appeal the Digital Gateway ruling to the Virginia Supreme Court, ending the project; the county's legal costs were reported at about $1.7 million.	WUSA9
Mar. 19, 2026	Fairfax	Board approved, 9-0, the $166.8 million sale of 41.7 acres in Chantilly for a data center, projected at about $20 million a year in tax revenue.	FFXnow
Feb. 25, 2026	Spotsylvania	Board voted to require a special use permit for data centers.	Fredericksburg Free Press
Oct. 22, 2025	Stafford	Board adopted a 750-foot setback for data centers.	Fredericksburg Free Press
Sept. 10, 2025	Prince William	Board denied the Bristow Campus data center after protest.	InsideNoVa
May 6, 2025	Fairfax	Board adopted the county's first meals tax to close a $292.7 million budget gap.	WUSA9
Mar. 19, 2025	Loudoun	Board eliminated by-right data center development, 7-2; existing applications grandfathered.	LoudounNow

Coverage library

What the region's own reporters have documented

Local coverage from October 2024 to October 2026, organized by theme. Every item links to the article. Filter by locality or search within the findings.

Homeowners are carrying more of the load

Office values are falling and federal employment is shrinking. Localities have answered with new taxes and fees more often than with new commercial revenue.

Date	Locality	Finding	Source
Apr. 30, 2026	Arlington / Fairfax	Why real estate taxes are going up in Arlington but down in Fairfax	ARLnow
Apr. 27, 2026	Alexandria	Alexandria area leads Virginia in job losses as federal cuts deepen	Alexandria Brief
Apr. 21, 2026	Alexandria / Fairfax	Number of unemployed up by a third	Patch
Mar. 12, 2026	Arlington	County manager warns even more tax increases could be in Arlington's future	ARLnow
Feb. 27, 2026	Alexandria	Residents, not businesses, fuel the 3.4% rise in the tax base	ALXnow
Jan. 20, 2026	Arlington	Office values down 19% YoY; tax base 57% residential / 43% commercial; real estate taxes are about 60% of $1.7B operating revenue	ARLnow
Jan. 20, 2026	Statewide	DOGE cuts wiped out years of growth in Virginia's federal civilian jobs	VPM
Dec. 22, 2025	Fairfax	Delayed data shows jump in Fairfax joblessness as federal workforce shrinks	FFXnow
Dec. 3, 2025	Fairfax	Office assessments expected down 5 to 8%; commercial sector negative for third year; "tax burden being shifted more onto households"	FFXnow
Sep. 29, 2025	Region	Federal job cuts ripple through Northern Virginia	Virginia Business
Jul. 29, 2025	Fredericksburg	City weighs impact of federal job cuts	Virginia Business
Jul. 22, 2025	Region	Northern Virginia leaders warn federal layoffs threaten local economy	Axios
Apr. 8, 2025	Region	Northern Virginia braces for more job losses	InsideNoVa
Mar. 20, 2025	Arlington	County leaders warn federal workforce cuts could be "very severe" for county budget	WJLA
Jan. 22, 2025	Region	Housing costs force exodus of young families from Northern Virginia	FFXnow

Budget gaps and tax increases, by locality

Every major locality in the region opened its last two budget cycles with a gap and closed it with some mix of higher homeowner bills, new taxes and cuts.

Date	Locality	Finding	Source
May 14, 2026	Falls Church	Rate reduced, but median homeowner still pays $557 more	ARLnow
May 14, 2026	Warrenton	Town council approves real estate tax increase	FauquierNow
May 12, 2026	Loudoun (LCPS)	School division forecasts shortfalls from FY2030 as data center revenue growth slows; county staff expect growth to end around 2032	LoudounNow
Apr. 30, 2026	Alexandria	$979.1M budget holds rate flat but council "eyes tougher choices ahead"	ALXnow
Apr. 30, 2026	Stafford	Supervisors raise rate by more than 4¢	Fredericksburg Free Press
Apr. 29, 2026	Stafford	Rate hike approved amid resident affordability pleas	Potomac Local
Apr. 28, 2026	Fairfax	FY2027 rate cut to $1.12 but average bills still rise	Patch
Apr. 23, 2026	Arlington	Split board approves 2¢ tax hike in $1.7B budget	ARLnow
Apr. 22, 2026	Prince William	Proposed $31M school cut reversed after public fight	Patch
Apr. 20, 2026	Prince William	Supervisors propose slashing taxes; school board objects; meals tax debated	WJLA
Apr. 15, 2026	Prince William	Board could remove $31M from schools to reduce real estate bills	WTOP
Mar. 16, 2026	Arlington	Service cutbacks and staff furloughs possible depending on revenue	ARLnow
Mar. 10, 2026	Alexandria	Council keeps tax increase on the table	Alexandria Brief
Mar. 5, 2026	Fauquier	Tax bills expected to spike by hundreds of dollars on rising assessments	FauquierNow
Feb. 23, 2026	Arlington	Budget proposes tax increase plus closure of gymnastics program and a library	ARLnow
Feb. 19, 2026	Prince William	Homeowners could face $181 tax increase in FY2027	InsideNoVa
Feb. 17, 2026	Fairfax	Proposed $5.7B budget keeps rate flat, leaves school funding gap	FFXnow
Dec. 4, 2025	Fairfax	County weighs agency cuts amid $131M gap; all departments told to identify 5% cuts	WTOP
Nov. 3, 2025	Alexandria	City plans budget cuts across all departments amid economic uncertainty	ALXnow
Jul. 10, 2025	Loudoun	County staff push for lower data center tax rates to balance revenues	LoudounNow
May 6, 2025	Fairfax	Board adopts first-ever meals tax to close $292.7M gap	WUSA9
Apr. 18, 2025	Prince William	Supervisors near approval of tax hike on data centers and homeowners	InsideNoVa
Feb. 27, 2025	Manassas	City budget would hike bills for residents and data centers	Prince William Times
Feb. 19, 2025	Fairfax	Proposed budget mixes higher taxes with largest program cuts since 2010	InsideNoVa
Feb. 18, 2025	Fairfax	FY2026 advertised budget: 1.5¢ rate increase, $60M in cuts, higher transient occupancy tax	Fairfax County
Jan. 1, 2025	Fairfax	Leaders forecast nearly $300M FY2026 shortfall	WJLA

Residents on taxes and affordability

Public hearings in 2025 and 2026 were dominated by residents asking boards to stop raising taxes.

Date	Locality	Finding	Source
Aug. 23, 2026	Loudoun	County collected $1.1B in data center tax revenue, then residents started pushing back	Yahoo Finance
Jul. 24, 2026	Loudoun	"A windfall, but at what cost?": the county's complex relationship with data center revenue	Loudoun Times-Mirror
Apr. 29, 2026	Stafford	Residents plead affordability as supervisors raise rate	Potomac Local
Apr. 28, 2026	Manassas	"$750 electric bills, soaring taxes force locals out"	Potomac Local
Feb. 18, 2026	Prince William	Bills to rise $203 under a flat rate	Potomac Local
Apr. 22, 2025	Fairfax	Residents demand Board of Supervisors stop raising taxes at first of three hearings	WJLA
Apr. 22, 2025	Fairfax	Residents speak out about $300M shortfall and what cuts mean for communities	FOX 5

Staffing in local government and schools

Public safety and schools are where the squeeze shows first: hiring pauses, turnover and bargaining impasses over pay.

Date	Locality	Finding	Source
Late Sep. 2026	Fairfax (FCPS)	Teacher hiring freeze prompts staffing concerns; school board member calls for it to end	FOX 5
Apr. 15, 2026	Fairfax	Police department launches pre-academy recruitment program (WJLA frames it as a response to staffing shortages; FCPD reports a about 3% vacancy rate)	WJLA
Mar. 16, 2026	Arlington	Staff furloughs possible depending on tax revenue	ARLnow
Feb. 27, 2026	Arlington (APS)	School budget leaves almost $19M in unfunded needs	ARLnow
Dec. 8, 2025	Alexandria	Police union decries officer pay as collective bargaining reaches impasse	ALXnow
Dec. 3, 2025	Fairfax	Union contract raises ($51.6M) may not be honored if money isn't available; FCPS raises were trimmed in 2025 for that reason	FFXnow
Dec. 2, 2025	Fairfax	Sheriff's Office "on unsustainable trajectory" from turnover, staff say	FFXnow
Jun. 25, 2025	Arlington	Library warns of longer wait times after budget cuts	ARLnow
Apr. 1, 2025	Fairfax	Police offer $15K hiring bonus in recruitment push	FOX 5
Mar. 4, 2025	Statewide	Virginia schools still struggling to fill critical teaching positions	Virginia Mercury
Feb. 20, 2025	Prince William (PWCS)	Foreign teachers recruited to fill jobs at county schools	Prince William Times

Service cuts and deferred capital projects

Libraries, community centers and school renovations are the first things pushed out when the tax base cannot carry the capital plan.

Date	Locality	Finding	Source
Jul. 16, 2026	Fairfax (FCPS)	School board backs a sales-tax referendum to fund construction and maintenance	FFXnow
Jun. 29, 2026	Fairfax	Parks and human-services bond referendums headed to voters	FFXnow
Jun. 25, 2026	Stafford	Library services face cuts after $660K reduction despite tax hike	Potomac Local
Mar. 13, 2026	Fairfax	County on track to keep AAA rating, but capital project costs weigh on budget	FFXnow
Feb. 27, 2026	Arlington	Cherrydale library at risk of closing under proposed budget	WUSA9
Feb. 20, 2026	Fairfax	Revised bond plan delays library upgrades and Springfield community center	FFXnow
Feb. 2, 2026	Fairfax	Scott's Run Nature Preserve closed for urgent sewer repairs	Fairfax County
Dec. 18, 2025	Alexandria (ACPS)	Budget defers Cora Kelly project; K-8 conversions pushed to 2030	ALXnow
Sep. 15, 2025	Fairfax	Library system works to avoid "ugly" budget cuts	FFXnow
Jun. 30, 2025	Fairfax	$460M school bond referendum sought	FFXnow
Apr. 9, 2025	Prince William	Millions spent on canceled Route 28 Bypass must be repaid	Patch

Roads and transportation

The D.C. region ranked No. 1 for worst traffic in 2025 while the state faces a highway maintenance shortfall.

Date	Locality	Finding	Source
Sep. 18, 2026	Statewide	Virginia confronts $1.7B shortfall in highway maintenance funding	Virginia Mercury
Jun. 23, 2026	Region	Lawmakers weigh merging Northern Virginia transit agencies to cut costs	Virginia Mercury
Apr. 21, 2026	Region	"Gridlock nation": federal push to fix DMV's worst chokepoints	WJLA
Apr. 8, 2026	Prince William	Route 28 widening plan after bypass cancellation	FOX 5
Dec. 16, 2025	Region	Northern Virginia lawmakers make case for more Metro funding	WAMU
Nov. 18, 2025	Region	WMATA, COG and NVTC endorse $460M regional transit plan	Mass Transit
Jul. 23, 2025	Region	D.C. region's "brutal commute" ranks No. 1 for worst traffic in the country	InsideNoVa
Jul. 23, 2025	Region	D.C. beats Los Angeles for worst traffic	NBC4
Jul. 18, 2025	Region	NVTC backs regional transit funding plan	ALXnow
May 21, 2025	Region	Regional leaders draft proposal to modernize Metro funding	Virginia Mercury
Dec. 18, 2024	Loudoun	County's Metro subsidy bill rises under new formula	LoudounNow

Power, water and gas

The grid is the binding constraint. New lines and substations are contested in every county, and water systems are raising rates.

Date	Locality	Finding	Source
Sep. 16, 2026	Dominion / Loudoun	Homeowners fight ruling allowing Golden-to-Mars high-voltage line through their properties	WJLA
Sep. 4, 2026	Dominion / Fairfax, Alexandria	Overnight storm knocks out power for thousands; flood rescues in Alexandria	FFXnow, ALXnow
Jul. 20, 2026	Dominion / Loudoun	SCC rejects last-minute bid to pause lines through Loudoun Valley Estates	WUSA9
Jul. 16, 2026	Dominion / Loudoun	Dominion "minutes away" from putting every Ashburn data center on generators during heat wave	LoudounNow
Jul. 10, 2026	Dominion / Fauquier	Remington Technology Park approved for on-site gas fuel cells; without them, staff said construction would likely be delayed until at least 2030 under Dominion's revised energization schedule	FauquierNow
Jul. 1, 2026	Loudoun	Crash knocks out power to thousands amid triple-digit heat	FOX 5
Jun. 5, 2026	Dominion / Culpeper	County asks PJM to scrap Dominion substation and transmission project	WJLA
Apr. 28, 2026	Loudoun	Another proposed substation meets board opposition	LoudounNow
Apr. 16, 2026	Loudoun	Sterling residents raise alarms over off-grid data center	LoudounNow
Mar. 17, 2026	Region	Thousands without power after storms; Stafford hit hardest	InsideNoVa, Potomac Local
Feb. 17, 2026	PJM	Board approves $11.8B transmission expansion	Utility Dive
Jan. 19, 2026	Potomac River	Sewage spill in the Potomac	VDH
Dec. 19, 2025	Fairfax	Utility bills set to rise in 2026	Fairfax Times
Nov. 30, 2025	Fairfax Water	Rate hike proposed	Annandale Today
Nov. 24, 2025	Loudoun Water	Rates rise Jan. 1	Loudoun Times-Mirror
Aug. 14, 2025	Dominion / Loudoun	Neighbors fight proposed transmission lines for Data Center Alley	Virginia Mercury
Jul. 30, 2025	PJM	Projected data center growth drives capacity prices up tenfold	IEEFA
May 12, 2025	Dominion / Fauquier, Loudoun, PW	Public meetings on major transmission project across three counties	FauquierNow
Mar. 6, 2025	Warrenton	Residents complain of gas odor	WUSA9
Jan. 6, 2025	Fairfax	Environmental council worried about data centers' impact on local water supply	FFXnow
Jan. 2, 2025	Prince William Water	Rate hike explained; PFAS treatment is a looming about $389M cost not yet in rates	Prince William Times
Dec. 26, 2024	Prince William Water	Largest water rate hike in 20 years begins 2025	Prince William Times
Apr. 8, 2024	Dominion / Loudoun	Dominion filed its SCC application for the Route 7 transmission lines and the board voted to participate in the case: the start of the current round of line fights	Loudoun Times-Mirror

Primary sources

Where to check the numbers yourself

Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, Comparative Report of Local Government Revenues and ExpendituresEvery locality's revenue and spending on one basis, each fiscal year. Our revenue tables come from the FY2025 report.
Virginia Department of Taxation, Assessment/Sales Ratio StudyEffective true tax rates, which compare tax to market value across localities. We use the 2025 study.
JLARC, Data Centers in Virginia (2024)The General Assembly's own study of the industry's fiscal, energy and water effects.
Virginia Department of Education, Local Composite IndexThe state's measure of each school division's ability to pay, used to split state school funding.
Loudoun County budget, Fairfax County budget, Prince William County budget, Arlington County budgetAdopted budgets, revenue estimates and tax rate ordinances. Each county also publishes an annual assessment report.
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community SurveyPopulation, income, housing costs, education and commute times by locality.
U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsJobs located in each locality and average wages (QCEW); unemployment by locality (LAUS).
Virginia State Police, Crime in VirginiaViolent and property crime by locality.
Virginia State Corporation CommissionTransmission line and substation cases, utility rate filings.

The locality dataset

Behind this page is a working dataset covering the 13 localities in our region, with statewide Virginia totals alongside for comparison: about 28 headline measures per locality across income and cost of living, safety, taxes, government revenue and spending, economic development and data centers. Every value carries its period, source, URL and a confidence note, and the whole set was independently re-verified in October 2026.

We will publish it here as a download once the first public release is ready. In the meantime, ask us for any figure and we'll send it with its source.

Using our figures

You are welcome to use anything on this page. Cite the original source where we give one, and link to this page where the figure is our own calculation. If you find an error, tell us. We will correct it here and say what changed.