McLean (/məˈkleɪn/ mə-KLAYN)[5] is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.

McLean is home to many wealthy residents such as diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency.

It is also the location of Salona, the former home of Light-Horse Harry Lee, the Revolutionary War hero.

The community received its name from John Roll McLean, the former publisher and owner of The Washington Post.

Along with Stephen Benton Elkins and French aristocrat Jean-Pierre Guenard, 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.

[8][9] The river forms the community's northern and eastern borders, and a number of its smaller tributaries flow north and northeast through the CDP.

The CDP includes the unincorporated communities of Langley, Lewinsville, and West McLean, and 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.

The three industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were: professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (27.8%); educational services, health care, and social assistance (17.7%); and public administration (16.6%).

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center is also located down the street from the CIA headquarters.

[17] The Mount Daniel School Park, operated by The City of Falls Church, is physically within the McLean CDP.