Editing Stafford County, Virginia (section)

===20th century to present===
[[File:Stafford County Courthouse 1929 - 3.jpg|thumb|Stafford County Courthouse in 1929]]
Stafford County has developed to be one of the core counties of the [[Washington metropolitan area]] and Northern Virginia, the seat of government and numerous major defense installations. [[Marine Corps Base Quantico]] occupies northern areas of this county. The FBI Academy, FBI National Laboratory and NCIS HQ are located on the Stafford side of MCBQ. Many residents commute north to work there and in other defense and federal facilities, as well as private companies, in Washington and its environs on Interstate Highway 95, U.S. Route 1, and by [[Virginia Railway Express]]. Stafford County is a suburban county and home to many Washington D.C. commuters and workers which work for the Federal Government. It is also home to many military families due to its proximity to MCBQ. These facts contribute to the high-income of families in Stafford County, and the high amount of home-ownership, and college graduates. Stafford County is also one of the few counties in America where black households make more than white households. In recent years Stafford County has experienced major suburbanization, and growth as more and more workers move to the suburbs for their families. Thus, many developers are currently active in Stafford County in housing and retail projects.

In the early morning hours of May 9, 2008, a [[Mid-May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence|tornado]] touched down in the southern part of the county, severely damaging about 140 suburban homes.<ref>{{cite news
   |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050900062.html
   |title=Area in 'a Daze' After Tornadoes
   |date=May 10, 2008
|newspaper=The Washington Post
   |access-date=May 10, 2008
| first1=Michael
| last1=Laris
| first2=Aaron C.
| last2=Davis}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news
 |url        = http://fredericksburg.com/News/Web/tornado
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140223025151/http://fredericksburg.com/News/Web/tornado
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-date = February 23, 2014
|title      = 2008 TORNADO COVERAGE
 |year       = 2008
 |work       = Fredericksburg.com
 |access-date = February 7, 2014
}}</ref>

The county was severely affected by "[[Snowmageddon]]," the massive blizzards of December 2009 and February 2010. Stafford received some of the heaviest snow in the D.C. metropolitan area, with about 25 inches of snow in December, and 19 inches in February.<ref>{{cite news
 |url        = http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/122010/12312010/597539
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140223022954/http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2010/122010/12312010/597539
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-date = February 23, 2014
|title      = Monster snow storm top story for 2010: Record snowfalls was top local story of 2010
 |date       = December 31, 2010
|work       = Fredericksburg.com
 |access-date = February 7, 2014
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
   |url=http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-371834
   |title=Snow blizzard hits Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia
   |date=December 19, 2009
|work=CNN
   |access-date=February 7, 2014
}}
</ref>