Dale City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Washington, D.C. It is an annex of Woodbridge. As of 2020, the total population was 72,088.

The community is roughly bounded by Hoadly Road to the northwest, Prince William Parkway to the north, Smoketown Road to the northeast, Gideon Drive to the east, and Cardinal Drive to the south.

Dale City was the idea of a real estate developer, Cecil Don Hylton, who chose the term because it aptly described the "hills and dales" of the rolling Virginia Piedmont, where he developed the community. Hylton began his career as a "huckster", a young man who sold farm goods and produce at the farmers' market in Washington, DC. He later began a sod business after several requests from his regular clients. Hylton ran several dozen trucks and pioneered new technologies in the industry. After the post-war housing boom, he moved into homebuilding. Throughout Hylton's career, he constructed apartments, commercial shopping centers, and over 22,000 homes. Along the way, he began his own sewer company, Dale Service Company, as well as the first cable television companies in Prince William County.

Hylton's company, Hylton Enterprises, began in Dale City in 1960 approximately one mile east of Interstate 95 and continued to build west towards Hoadly Road (State Route 642). By 1969, the first six communities were completed. Many more were added in the 1970s and 1980s.

Several places in Dale City are named after Hylton, such as C.D. Hylton High School and the Hylton Memorial Chapel. More recently, the Hylton Foundation underwrote a major new addition to Potomac Hospital in nearby Woodbridge. Hylton's companies have branched into new markets, especially real estate of existing houses. Hylton Realty now sells property in and near Dale City. Hylton Enterprises manages commercial properties still controlled by the Hylton family, including several shopping centers, as well as several oddly-shaped parcels of unimproved land. These parcels were land that could not be built on or were proffered to the county; Andrew Leitch Park is one such parcel that has been given to the local Park Authority.

Because Dale City was built before most of eastern Prince William County was developed, it has its own water and sewer systems, separate from the ones in Occoquan, Woodbridge, Dumfries, Triangle, and Lake Ridge. Water service is provided by Virginia-American Water Company, and since 2013, Virginia-American also provides sewer service to Dale City through their purchase of the Dale Service Corporation.

Russell House and Store is a historic early 19th century building, located on Minnieville Road.

Each of the communities (often referred to as neighborhoods) ends in 'dale'. The streets along Dale Boulevard (generally) proceed alphabetically when followed from east to west starting from Gideon Dr. and ending at Hoadly Rd.: Ashdale, Barksdale, Birchdale, Cherrydale, Cloverdale, Darbydale, Emberdale, Evansdale, Forestdale, Glendale, Hillendale, Kerrydale, Kirkdale, Lindendale (which includes Surrydale Ct.), Mapledale, Nottingdale, Orangedale, Princedale, Queensdale, Ridgedale, Silverdale, and Trentdale. Most street names in each neighborhood begin with the first letter of the neighborhood.