James City County, Virginia

James City County, Virginia

James City County (formally, the County of James City) is a county located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a state of the United States. Its population was 67,009 (as of Census 2010), and it is often associated with Williamsburg, an independent city, and Jamestown which is within the county. As of 2007, the median household income was $70,487.

First settled by the English colonists in 1607 at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony, the County was formally created in 1634 as James City Shire by order of King Charles I. James City County is considered one of only five original shires of Virginia to still be extant today in essentially the same political form. The Jamestown 2007 celebration marked the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown.

Today, James City County remains an important site of growth and economic development. With an increasing population and a generous endowment of skilled labor, the County attracts not only new businesses and entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of an ideal mid-Atlantic location, and one of the northernmost right to work counties in the country, but also successful retirees seeking the mild seasonal climate and the abundance of cultural events, economic opportunities and historic activities offered. The County is home to the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park, the massive Kingsmill Resort, and the Williamsburg Pottery Factory. The Historic Jamestowne and Jamestown Settlement attractions combine with Colonial Williamsburg, and are linked to Yorktown by the National Park Service's bucolic Colonial Parkway, to make worldwide tourism to the Historic Triangle a major economic activity for the county. This highly developed tourist industry coupled with an open business climate, many favorable labor realities; high endowments of human capital from the nearby College of William and Mary and the presence of NASA, Jefferson Laboratory, and numerous defense contractors which give the region the highest concentration of scientists and engineers per capita in the nation; ensure James City County will remain not only a national historic treasure but a premier location for continued opportunity and prosperity.