CRA Study: Loudoun Will Have Fastest Job Growth in the next 20 Years

[queenswake]

I guess it's not surprising considering that more federal government agencies are building satellite campuses out that way and room is running out within Fairfax County for these large campuses. It's only natural that it continues to move west. Which is good on one hand in that hopefully most of the workers working there will live in the area or west of that so they are not adding to the gridlock closer in. But the downside to that is that they limit their worker base. Fewer people living in Maryland and southern and eastern NOVA will want to commute that far. Additionally, so many jobs requires at least occasional travel to other government and commercial facilities in the DC area. It's a lot of time wasted when so many facilities are so spread out.

[EuroExpat]

Yay!! I hope this means shorter commute for many LoCo'ers in the future..

[globalburgh]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I was surprised to see LC projected as growing faster than Fairfax, especially since LC has so many growth restraints for the western half of the county. Also, Fairfax has been doing a really good job lately with courting California companies to move here. Maybe the Silver Line is part of the reason? (Although the Silver Line mostly has stations in Fairfax.)

There's always a proximity dividend. A lot of Fairfax success will spillover into Loudoun. The main driver is Dulles Airport. It's easy to set up shop in Loudoun and then fly anywhere in the world for business. On top of the airport is the large population of college educated workers. Talent is easy to find.

The only drag on growth in Loudoun is the approach to managing growth. The planning and zoning are oriented towards a bedroom community instead of a place of commerce. For better or for worse, that is changing.