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Stafford is an unincorporated community of about 121,100 people (2005) in the northern part of the U.S. state of Virginia, located 10 miles (16 km) north of Fredericksburg. Stafford is located midway between the metropolitan areas of Washington, D. C. and Richmond, the capital of Virginia. It is the county seat of Stafford County. The Marine Corps Base Quantico is located north of the community. U.S. Highway 1, Interstate 95, and Virginia Railway Express commuter trains pass through Stafford. Like the rest of Northern Virginia, as well as central Maryland, modern Stafford has been shaped by its proximity to the nation's capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the federal civil service, the U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to provide services to the federal government. The latter are known locally as beltway bandits, after the Capital Beltway, an interstate highway that circles Washington, D.C.