Fairfield, CA

Fairfield is one city with three separated urban areas. Central Fairfield contains the older civic core and downtown. Cordelia lies west at the Interstate 80 and 680 junction, divided from the center by the farms and vineyards of Suisun Valley. Northeast Fairfield reaches toward Travis Air Force Base and the Fairfield-Vacaville Hannigan train station. Hills constrain the north and west, while the Suisun Marsh begins south of neighboring Suisun City. Its roughly 85,000 acres of tidal marsh, managed wetlands, and waterways form the largest remaining wetland around San Francisco Bay. Highways, agricultural land, hills, and marsh make the choice of neighborhood consequential because the nearest station, shopping district, and public center differ across Fairfield. Travis Air Force Base dominates the northeastern working landscape.

ATTRCoolcaesar at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0

The federal government selected the site in 1942, and Fairfield annexed the installation in 1966. The 60th Air Mobility Wing operates C-5M, C-17, and KC-46A aircraft for strategic airlift and refueling. It is the Air Force's largest air-mobility organization by personnel and handles more cargo and passengers than any other United States military air terminal. County government, NorthBay Health, logistics, retail, and food and beverage manufacturing add other major workplaces. Jelly Belly makes that manufacturing sector unusually public by routing visitors along an elevated lane above its active Fairfield production floor. The city's economy is split among a military complex, central public institutions, highway logistics sites, health care, and factories. The central district began with a county-seat bargain.

ATTRUnited States Army Air Forces / Public domain

Clipper captain Robert H. Waterman laid out Fairfield in 1856 and named it for his Connecticut hometown; Cordelia was named for his wife. Two years later, Solano County voters moved the seat from Benicia, and Waterman donated sixteen acres at Texas and Union streets for public buildings. County courts and offices, City Hall, the Civic Center Library, and downtown businesses still gather around Texas Street. Fairfield's 1971 Civic Center added landscaped grounds and municipal buildings several blocks north of the original donation. A hearing, council meeting, library visit, or downtown errand still leads residents to the administrative center established in the nineteenth century. Movement through that center was changing in 2026. The Suisun-Fairfield station serves Capitol Corridor trains near downtown, while the city-operated Fairfield-Vacaville Hannigan station serves the northeast; FAST buses and on-demand service connect each with surrounding districts.

ATTRAngelo V. / CC0

West Texas Street is a major route from Interstate 80 toward civic, educational, shopping, and recreation destinations. During July 2026 construction, the segment from Pennsylvania Avenue to Beck Avenue was reduced to one through lane in each direction, with temporary pedestrian paths on portions of the south side and completion projected for summer. First established in 1990, the Fairfield Farmers Market continued at the downtown County Green on Texas Street each Thursday beginning in May and running through September 2026. The market, construction corridor, and county offices all occupy the historic center, while rail and highway routes reach Fairfield's more distant sections.