Serving All of McLean, VA

McLean

Welcome to McLean, Virginia, where leafy suburban estates and centuries of Potomac River history sit just ten miles from the heart of Washington, D.C. As one of Fairfax County’s most prestigious communities, McLean blends old-money neighborhoods, top-ranked schools, and quick access to both the nation’s capital and the open countryside of Northern Virginia. Whether the home is a colonial tucked into Salona Village or a modern estate up in Langley Forest, residents count on dependable HVAC service in Mclean, VA, to keep things running through humid Mid-Atlantic summers and the cold snaps that roll through every winter.

The natural setting around McLean is genuinely remarkable. Great Falls Park, with its 76-foot cascades crashing through Mather Gorge, sits at the edge of the community along the Potomac. Scott’s Run Nature Preserve covers more than 300 wooded acres just off Georgetown Pike, with a waterfall trail that draws hikers year-round. Closer to the village center, McLean Central Park spans 28 acres next to the Dolley Madison Library and McLean Community Center, hosting free summer concerts at the gazebo and providing tennis courts, playgrounds, and walking paths for everyday recreation.

Daily life in McLean reflects a strong civic identity shaped by long-standing neighborhood associations, a deep school culture, and an unusually high concentration of professionals working in government, law, diplomacy, and technology. The community sits in the Dranesville Magisterial District and consistently appears among the wealthiest zip codes in the country, with 22101 and 22102 routinely cited in those rankings. The Alden Theatre at the McLean Community Center brings touring music, theater, and family programming into a 383-seat venue, and farmers’ markets, holiday events, and youth sports leagues fill out the calendar throughout the year.

Experience McLean, where suburban polish meets Potomac wilderness and where the rhythm of national affairs is never more than a short drive away.

McLean's Suburban Character

McLean has a quiet, residential character that sets it apart from the bustling commercial centers of nearby Tysons and Arlington. Homes here range from mid-century colonials on tree-lined streets to multi-acre estates set behind long private drives, and the community values this variety. Named for John Roll McLean, the publisher and owner of The Washington Post in the late 1800s, the area has long been associated with public figures, diplomats, intelligence officials, and even Supreme Court justices.

Cultural life in McLean revolves around the McLean Community Center, the Alden Theatre, and the network of parks that connect the residential neighborhoods. Free concerts at the McLean Central Park gazebo are a summer ritual. The Dolley Madison Library, originally opened in 1957, remains a community gathering place with programming for kids, teens, and adults. Clemyjontri Park, a two-acre Fairfax County playground designed for children of all abilities, draws families from across Northern Virginia.

Open space is a defining feature of the community. Great Falls Park alone covers about 800 acres along the Potomac, and Scott’s Run Nature Preserve, Turkey Run Park, and Fort Marcy add hundreds more acres of protected woodland just minutes from the village center. The Potomac Heritage Trail threads along the river, connecting McLean’s parks to the broader regional trail network.

Each neighborhood has its personality. Salona Village, anchored by the historic Salona estate that sheltered President James Madison during the War of 1812, retains an old-village feel near downtown. Langley Forest and Langley Farms are home to some of the region’s largest private estates. Chesterbrook Woods and Franklin Park appeal to families looking for established blocks with strong schools and short commutes. It’s worth noting that school boundaries in McLean can shift block by block, so verifying the boundaries for a specific address is standard before any home purchase.

Whether it’s the proximity to D.C., the depth of the school system, or the chance to live next to one of the most dramatic stretches of the Potomac River, McLean delivers a quality of life that few other Washington suburbs can match.

Neighborhoods and Zip Codes of McLean, VA

McLean is made up of distinct residential neighborhoods that share a postal city name but differ widely in atmosphere, architecture, and price. Here is a guide to some of McLean’s well-known neighborhoods and their zip codes.

Langley Forest (22101)

Langley Forest is one of McLean’s most exclusive residential enclaves, sitting just north of Georgetown Pike and east of the Capital Beltway. The neighborhood features expansive estate-style homes on large lots, with French colonial, modern, and transitional architectural styles all represented. Proximity to the Potomac River, the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and CIA headquarters at Langley gives this neighborhood a level of privacy and prestige that is hard to match anywhere else in Northern Virginia. Washington, D.C., sits about twenty minutes away by car.

Salona Village (22101)

Salona Village is McLean’s most walkable residential corridor, set near the downtown commercial core along Old Dominion Drive. The neighborhood is named for the historic Salona estate, the property that sheltered President James Madison after the burning of Washington in 1814 and later served as Camp Griffin during the Civil War. Today, Salona Village blends older colonial and Cape Cod homes with luxury new builds, and residents enjoy walking-distance access to local restaurants, coffee shops, and the McLean Community Center.

Chesterbrook Woods (22101)

Chesterbrook Woods is an established, family-oriented neighborhood positioned along Chain Bridge Road with quick access to the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Developed primarily in the 1960s, the area was originally a haven for military officers and government professionals, and that civic character endures today. The Chesterbrook Woods Citizens Association runs neighborhood programs, including snow removal, a welcoming committee, and a long-running block captain system that keeps the community connected.

Langley Farms (22101)

Langley Farms sits at the very top of McLean’s housing market, with multi-acre estates lining quiet winding roads off Georgetown Pike and Chain Bridge Road. Many of the properties here rarely appear on public listings, with transactions handled through agent relationships before reaching the open market. The neighborhood’s buyer profile overlaps with the intelligence and diplomatic communities based nearby, and the level of privacy and security is among the highest anywhere in the Washington region.

Franklin Park (22101)

Franklin Park offers a quieter, nature-adjacent setting in the western portion of McLean, with mature trees, generous lot sizes, and convenient access to parks and trails along the Potomac corridor. Families are drawn here for the quiet streets, the proximity to Langley High School, and the short commute to both the D.C. core and the office centers around Tysons. The neighborhood manages to feel set apart from urban life while remaining just a few minutes from every major amenity.

West McLean (22102)

West McLean covers the eastern McLean neighborhoods that sit closer to Tysons, providing residents with quick access to the Tysons Corner shopping district, the Silver Line Metro at McLean station, and the I-495 Express Lanes corridor. The area includes a mix of single-family homes, luxury townhouses, and modern condominium developments, and it attracts buyers seeking suburban living with urban conveniences within walking distance. The area’s growth has been steady as the broader Tysons district continues to develop.

From the estate corridors of Langley Forest to the walkable village center of Salona Village, McLean offers a residential character that few Washington suburbs can match.

Income and Education in McLean, VA

McLean ranks among the wealthiest communities in the United States, with a median household income reported by the U.S. Census Bureau at the top-coded figure of $250,001 for the McLean CDP in the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. The community sits at roughly double the median income for both Fairfax County and the broader Washington metropolitan area, and average household incomes for the 22101 and 22102 zip codes are higher still. McLean was ranked the third-wealthiest city in the United States in a 2018 Census Bureau analysis, and its cost of living continues to run well above national averages. Professional services, finance, technology, government contracting, and the diplomatic and intelligence sectors, anchored by nearby Langley, support the economy.

McLean’s identity centers on education. The community is served by Fairfax County Public Schools, one of the largest and highest-performing school systems in the country, and parents here pay close attention to school boundaries, AAP (Advanced Academic Program) placements, and pyramid feeder patterns. Public elementary schools serving McLean include Chesterbrook, Churchill Road, Haycock, Kent Gardens, Franklin Sherman, and Spring Hill. The two public middle schools, Cooper Middle School and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Middle School, both rank among the top public middle schools in Virginia.

Private school options are equally strong. The Potomac School, The Madeira School, The Langley School, BASIS Independent McLean, and Oakcrest School all operate in or near the community, drawing students from across Northern Virginia. Catholic options include Saint Luke School and Saint John School, both serving K-8.

The surrounding region has a strong representation of higher education. Marymount University in Arlington and George Mason University in Fairfax are a short drive away, and the University of Virginia maintains a Northern Virginia center in nearby Falls Church. The combination of strong public schools, respected private institutions, and university access just minutes away makes McLean a place where families can build long academic careers without ever moving far from home.

Schools in McLean, VA

Public Schools

McLean is served by Fairfax County Public Schools, one of the largest school divisions in the country, with a national reputation for academic strength and competitive athletics.

Langley High School sits on Georgetown Pike and serves the western McLean attendance zone, including Langley Farms, Langley Forest, Franklin Park, and the Georgetown Pike corridor. The school is known for its rigorous Advanced Placement program and for consistently placing graduates into selective colleges and universities. The mascot is the Saxons, with school colors of green and gold.

McLean High School serves the eastern and central McLean zone, covering Chesterbrook, Evans Farm, Salona Village, and the Tysons-adjacent neighborhoods. Located on Davidson Road, the school enrolls roughly 2,400 students and offers a comprehensive AP curriculum, strong athletics, and a long-running performing arts program. The Highlanders compete in the Liberty District.

James Fenimore Cooper Middle School serves grades 7 and 8 for the Langley pyramid, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Middle School serves the McLean pyramid. Longfellow’s Science Olympiad team has won 19 Virginia state championships since 2002, and the school’s Chamber Orchestra was invited to perform at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago, one of only three middle schools worldwide to receive that invitation.

Elementary Schools serving McLean include Chesterbrook Elementary, Churchill Road Elementary, Franklin Sherman Elementary, Kent Gardens Elementary, Haycock Elementary, and Spring Hill Elementary. Kent Gardens also operates the only French Dual Language Immersion program in Fairfax County Public Schools. Boundary adjustments approved in 2023 took effect with the 2024-2025 school year to relieve crowding at Kent Gardens, which had been operating at 121 percent of program capacity.

Private Schools

The Potomac School is an independent K-12 school located on Watson Road in McLean, founded in 1904. The school is recognized for academic rigor, a strong arts program, and competitive athletics across more than two dozen sports.

The Madeira School is a girls’ boarding and day school located on a wooded campus along the Potomac River. Founded in 1906, Madeira serves grades 9 through 12 and is recognized for its co-curriculum, a signature program that places juniors in internships across the Washington region.

The Langley School is an independent preschool-through-eighth-grade institution serving McLean families since 1942, with a focus on small class sizes, project-based learning, and a tight-knit community atmosphere.

BASIS Independent McLean is a private school serving toddlers through 12th grade, with a globally benchmarked, subject-matter expert curriculum and exceptional outcomes in math, science, and the humanities.

Oakcrest School is an all-girls Catholic school serving grades 6 through 12, located on a 17-acre campus in Vienna and drawing students from across the McLean and Northern Virginia areas.

Higher Education

George Mason University, the largest public research university in Virginia, is located about 9 miles southwest of McLean in Fairfax. Mason offers more than 200 degree programs and is recognized for its strength in law, public policy, business, and computer science.

Marymount University is located in Arlington, about ten minutes from McLean by car. Marymount is a private Catholic university with strong programs in nursing, business, design, and fashion.

University of Virginia Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church offers UVA graduate programs, and continuing education within a short drive of McLean, and the University of Mary Washington’s Stafford Campus and the broader Washington-area university ecosystem are all easily accessible.

Public Transportation and Major Highways in McLean, VA

McLean’s location at the northern edge of the Capital Beltway gives residents access to one of the densest transportation networks in the country, with Metrorail, regional bus service, and four major limited-access highways all within minutes of the community.

Public Transportation

Washington Metro Silver Line serves McLean directly at the McLean station, located at 1824 Dolley Madison Boulevard. Opened in 2014 as part of Silver Line Phase 1, the station provides one-seat rides to Tysons, Arlington, downtown Washington, and onward through the Metrorail network. Trains run roughly every six minutes during peak hours and every twelve to fifteen minutes at other times. Three additional Silver Line stations, Tysons, Greensboro, and Spring Hill, sit a short drive away in the Tysons district.

Fairfax Connector is Fairfax County’s local bus system, and several routes serve McLean directly, including routes 427, 480, 703, 721, and 722, all of which connect to the McLean Metro station for transfers to Metrorail.

Metrobus, operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, runs the A70 route through McLean linking the community to Arlington and other regional destinations.

Capital Bikeshare maintains stations near the McLean Metro and throughout the Tysons area, with bike racks and lockers available at each station for residents commuting by bicycle.

Major Highways

Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway) runs directly through McLean, providing the community’s primary high-speed connection to the rest of the Washington region, Maryland via the American Legion Bridge, and the broader Interstate Highway System. The 495 Express Lanes Extension, which opened to traffic on November 22, 2025, lengthens the toll lanes northward through McLean from the Dulles Toll Road to the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

Interstate 66 meets I-495 just south of McLean and provides the primary east-west connection between Northern Virginia and downtown Washington, with the I-66 Inside the Beltway Express Lanes operating during peak hours.

George Washington Memorial Parkway is a 25-mile scenic National Park Service parkway running from Mount Vernon north along the Potomac River, with its northern terminus at I-495 in McLean. The parkway provides a no-trucks-allowed, tree-lined commuter route into Arlington, the Pentagon, and downtown D.C.

Virginia Route 123 (Dolley Madison Boulevard / Chain Bridge Road) runs through the heart of McLean, connecting the community to Tysons to the south and the Chain Bridge crossing into Washington to the north.

Virginia Route 193 (Georgetown Pike) is the historic east-west route through McLean, running from Chain Bridge Road in Langley west to Great Falls and Dranesville. Designated a Virginia Byway, Georgetown Pike retains a rural, two-lane character even within the community.

Dulles Toll Road / Dulles Access Highway (Route 267) connects directly from the Capital Beltway and provides high-speed access west to Reston, Herndon, and Washington Dulles International Airport.

Things To Do in McLean, VA

From the thundering cascades of the Potomac at Great Falls to the nation’s only national park devoted to the performing arts, the McLean area offers diverse experiences for visitors seeking history, nature, and culture. Here are five exceptional activities, all within a 30- to 45-minute drive of 8328 Georgetown Pike in McLean.

Great Falls Park

Great Falls Park, about a ten-minute drive west on Georgetown Pike, is the most dramatic natural landmark in the entire Washington region. The park covers 800 acres along the Potomac River, where the river drops 76 feet through a series of jagged cascades into the narrow Mather Gorge below. Hiking trails along the cliffs offer some of the most spectacular river views on the East Coast, and the historic Patowmack Canal, the first canal in the United States to use locks to lift boats, runs along the park’s western edge. Class V and VI whitewater draws expert kayakers and rafters, while the river trail is popular with families and dog walkers. Virginia bluebells peak in mid-April, making spring the busiest season for visitors.

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

Located in Vienna, about a twenty-minute drive from McLean, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is the only national park in the country dedicated solely to the performing arts. The park sits on 117 acres of protected land, and its crown jewel, the Filene Center, is a 7,000-seat outdoor amphitheater that hosts more than 70 performances every summer. Past seasons have featured artists ranging from Diana Ross and John Legend to Paul Simon and Kacey Musgraves, alongside opera, dance, and family programming. The Barns at Wolf Trap, an intimate indoor venue, hosts year-round acoustic and chamber performances. Picnicking on the lawn is part of the tradition, and parking is always free.

Tysons Corner Center

A short 10 to 15 minutes from Georgetown Pike, Tysons Corner Center is one of the largest and most established super-regional malls in the Mid-Atlantic. Opened in 1968 as one of the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping centers in the Washington region, the property has grown to roughly 1.8 million square feet, with anchor stores including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, and Nordstrom. The shopping list includes everything from luxury labels to mainstream retailers, and the dining options go from quick-casual to upscale. Tysons Galleria, across the street, adds another tier of designer shopping with brands like Gucci, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

About a thirty-minute drive west of McLean via the Dulles Toll Road, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s companion facility in Chantilly, Virginia. Opened in 2003 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first powered flight, the center fills two enormous hangars with thousands of aviation and space artifacts that could never fit on the National Mall. Headline attractions include the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, an Air France Concorde, and the Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar, where visitors can watch Smithsonian specialists at work restoring aircraft. The Donald D. Engen Observation Tower offers a working view of arrivals and departures at neighboring Washington Dulles International Airport. Admission is free, and the center is open every day except December 25.

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens

About a fifteen to twenty-minute drive south to Vienna, Meadowlark Botanical Gardens covers 95 acres of curated gardens, native plant collections, and quiet woodland trails operated by NOVA Parks. The grounds include roughly 30 distinct themed gardens, three small lakes stocked with koi and turtles, and the centerpiece Korean Bell Garden anchored by a three-ton handcrafted bell decorated with Korean and Virginia symbols of peace. A restored 18th-century log cabin and a bonsai pavilion curated by the Northern Virginia Bonsai Society add a quieter, more contemplative side to the visit. Cherry blossoms typically bloom alongside the trees at the Tidal Basin in late March or early April, and the annual Winter Walk of Lights from mid-November through early January transforms a half-mile path with more than 500,000 LED displays. Paved paths make most of the property accessible to strollers and wheelchairs.