You might want to consider Fairfax City. It is in the middle of the areas you describe but if you are a resident of the City of Fairfax you pay City taxes and those are lower than Fairfax County. You still get Fairfax County Schools. I live here and it is very close to Fair Oaks, Fair Lakes, Route 50 (Chantilly), Route 66, Burke, Fairfax Station and Clifton. City services are excellent too.

Anonymous wrote:id stay away from chantilly. we love the burke/fairfax station area, especially burke centre. clifton is okay, but just lost its only elementary school.

OK, I think it is goofy to write off an entire area. There are parts of Chantilly that are not as nice as others, but there are some great neighborhoods and schools, too.

OP, you say you live in Fair Lakes already. Do you like it? Does it make sense for your commutes to your jobs? We live closeby in Greenbriar, and are pretty happy with what we have here and what is closeby.

I think you need to be more specific about what you are looking for. I think there are good neighborhoods in any of the locations you asked about. Where do you commute to? What is your price range? What type of community amenities area you looking for?

OP, how old are you and DH? My friend lived in Clifton about 20 years ago. Residents were particularly touchy about calling Clifton only the tiny downtown area with the general store and railroad track, not much more. That area had old rickety houses with land (likely densely developed by now), and some newer houses that were worth about the same amount as the former, but they refused to say it was Clifton - even though the post office called and still calls it Clifton. I imagine now that their elementary is closed, their children are all together -egads! Except that most of the people who had a problem calling the latter Clifton were old hags who had lived there forever and were slightly backwoods, to be nice. I don't know what it was called before that.
Some people will try to downgrade where you live if they do not (can not afford to) live there, I suppose. My friends house was a very nice, large, traditional colonial (not a tract home) FWIW. Maybe some of the locals are touchy about change, but if you have lived elsewhere in the U.S., you likely will not care less and they will actually come across as the crazy ones
I have heard good things about Burke and Fairfax Station, but do not know if they have the same hang ups.
Where do you commute? If you are far away, it may really be an issue.
How did you decide on these areas?

id stay away from chantilly. we love the burke/fairfax station area, especially burke centre. clifton is okay, but just lost its only elementary school.

What are you looking to spend? When you say Clifton and Fairfax Station are you talking about the areas that are 1/4 acre lots with tract homes or the 5 acre areas?

Right now we are on the Fair Lakes side of Fairfax. I want to get a good feel for the other areas, any thoughts on these areas?