McLean

History

The community received its name from John Roll McLean, the former publisher and owner of The Washington Post. Along with Stephen Benton Elkins in 1902, he bought the charter for the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad. Completed in 1906, it connected the area with Washington, D.C. McLean named a railroad station costing $1,500, of which $500 was raised locally, after himself, where the rail line (traveling on the present route of Old Dominion Drive) crossed the old Chain Bridge Road. The community itself was founded in 1910, when the communities of Lewinsville and Langley merged.

Geography

McLean is located on the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495) in Northern Virginia, central McLean is northwest of downtown Washington, D.C., and northeast of Fairfax, the county seat. The community lies in the Piedmont upland on the west bank of the Potomac River. The river forms the community's northern and eastern borders, and a number of its smaller tributaries flow north and northeast through the CDP. From west to east, these include Bull Neck Run, Scott Run, Dead Run, Turkey Run, and Pimmit Run. As an inner suburb of Washington, D.C., McLean is a part of both the Washington Metropolitan Area and the larger Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The CDP includes the unincorporated communities of Langley, Lewinsville, and West McLean. It borders several other Washington suburbs including: Potomac and Cabin John, Maryland, to the north; Brookmont, Maryland, to the northeast; Arlington to the southeast; Falls Church to the south; Idylwood, Pimmit Hills, and Tysons to the southwest; Wolf Trap to the west; and Great Falls to the northwest. McLean has a humid climate (Cfa) and is in hardiness zone 7a.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  201,735
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  160,240
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  157,685
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  148,513
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  134,414
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  132,830
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  128,351
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  122,453

Largest nearby schools

• OAKTON HIGH
  High · Vienna · 2,701 students · 17.5:1 ratio
• SOUTH LAKES HIGH
  High · Reston · 2,530 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• WOODSON HIGH
  High · Fairfax · 2,478 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• MCLEAN HIGH
  High · McLean · 2,441 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• JUSTICE HIGH
  High · Falls Church · 2,362 students · 16.2:1 ratio
• ANNANDALE HIGH
  High · Annandale · 2,182 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• MADISON HIGH
  High · Vienna · 2,135 students · 16.2:1 ratio
• LANGLEY HIGH
  High · McLean · 2,123 students · 18.1:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2025-10-27
  4 km E of Riverside, Maryland
• M 2.6 — 2021-06-25
  2 km SE of Woodlawn, Maryland
• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia
• M 3.6 — 2010-07-16
  5 km NNW of Barnesville, Maryland