Tysons Corner is an unincorporated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., between McLean, Virginia and Vienna, Virginia, along the Capital Beltway (I-495). Recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place, the community's population was 18,540 as of the 2000 census. It is home to Tysons Corner Center, a super-regional shopping mall, and to a second, more upscale mall called Tysons Galleria, which neighbors it on the other side of Virginia Route 123. As of 2005, Tysons Corner has 25.6 million square feet (2,400,000 m²) of office space and over 4 million square feet (372,000 m²) of retail space (largest on the East Coast after New York City), making it an important business district in its own right and the classic example of an edge city.
Since Tysons Corner is an unincorporated place it has no zipcode of its own, so often places are referred to as being in McLean, or Vienna.

Tysons Corner serves as the "downtown" of Fairfax County, and secondary “downtown” of Washington, D.C., with one quarter of all office space and one eighth of all retail in Fairfax County.  With the extension of Metro's Silver Line, Fairfax County plans to make Tysons Corner into a true city, with multiple modes of transit, pedestrian-friendly street design, and ground-level retail.

Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia, in the United States. As of 2005, the estimated population of the county is 1,041,200; making it by far the most populous jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and larger than seven states. It is the most populous jurisdiction in the Greater Washington Area and has the highest median household income ($100,318 - first to reach six figures) of any county in the United States, recently surpassing its neighbor, Loudoun County.

Fairfax County was formed in 1742 from the northern part of Prince William County. It was named for Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693-1781), proprietor of the Northern Neck. The oldest settlements in Fairfax County were located along the Potomac River. George Washington settled in Fairfax County and built his home, Mount Vernon facing the river. Gunston Hall, the home of George Mason is located nearby. Modern Fort Belvoir is partly located on the estate of Belvoir Manor, built along the Potomac by William Fairfax in 1741. Thomas Sixth Lord Fairfax, the only member of the British nobility ever to reside in the colonies, lived at Belvoir before he moved to the Shenandoah Valley. The Belvoir mansion and several of its outbuildings were destroyed by fire immediately after the Revolutionary War in 1783, and George Washington noted the plantation complex gradually deteriorated into ruins. The CIA is located in a secluded area of the county. In 1757, the northwestern two-thirds of Fairfax County became Loudoun County. In 1789 part of Fairfax County was ceded to the federal government to form Alexandria County of the District of Columbia. Alexandria County was returned to Virginia in 1846, reduced in size by the secession of the independent city of Alexandria in 1870, and renamed Arlington County in 1920. The Fairfax County town of Falls Church became an independent city in 1948. The Fairfax County town of Fairfax became an independent city in 1961.
Located near Washington, D.C., Fairfax County was an important region in the Civil War. The Battle of Chantilly or Ox Hill, during the same campaign as the second Battle of Bull Run, was fought within the county; Bull Run straddles the border between Fairfax and Prince William County. For most of the Civil War, Union troops occupied the county, though the population remained sympathetic to the Confederacy. The growth of the Federal Government in the years during and after World War II spurred rapid growth in the county. As a result, the once rural county began to become increasingly suburban. Other large businesses continued to settle in Fairfax County and the opening of Tysons Corner Center spurred the rise of Tysons Corner itself. The technology boom and a steady government-driven economy also created rapid growth and an increasingly growing and diverse population. The economy has also made Fairfax County one of the wealthiest counties in the nation.