Fairview

"Fairview was founded in 1871, by Edward Sibley who was the beloved founder of the town. Prior to that, he was best known as a bootlegger, a womanizer, and a horse thief. Of course, no one remembers those parts of Edward's past. Luckily for him, history is designed to be rewritten."

Fairview is the small city where Desperate Housewives is set.

Geographic location
The state in which Fairview resides is ambiguous. License plates on local automobiles and driving licenses refer to "Eagle State". A letter written by Susan Mayer was addressed to Edie Britt in "Fairview, USA". A letter for Keith discovered by Bree lists his addres as "492 West Lincoln Avenue, Fairview, ES 00057-23423". The zip code for Wisteria Lane in Fairview, ES is 00057 (season five). The zip for the police department is 29102 and its area code is 456 (season one). Zip codes beginning with 29 are in South Carolina. The area code 456 is meant for International Inbound Calls. The real life zip code of 00057 is for the city of Maccarese in Italy.

Fairview is possibly southern, as the weather is generally warm, and "it doesn't rain very often, but when it does, it pours". No cold or snowy weather has been seen. However, Fairview and the vicinity has experienced violent tornadoes. Fairview is also situated on the coastline of a major body of water (either the ocean or one of the Great Lakes), and has a marina. The surrounding area seems to be hills, woodland, ponds, nearby lakes (Rockwater Lake and Torch Lake) and within a day's driving distance of rugged, mountainous desert terrain.

In season 2, Lonny Moon tells Susan Mayer that his wife and kids are "up in Minnesota," implying Fairview and Eagle State are south of Minnesota. At the end of season one in the flashback that reveals Mary Alice Young's secret, Felicia Tilman, while in Salt Lake City, Utah, says that she has family "way out in Fairview," implying that Fairview is a major town some distance away from Utah. Fairview is in a rural area, this is implied when Gabrielle goes for a modeling job and is only able to attain small time store work in season one. When she complains about her wage her agent says he is the only modeling agent in a 100 mike radius. Felicia mentions to Edie that there is a nice antique jewelry store in Salt Lake City, and Edie says she try’s to stear clear of Utah because “it’s too conservative for me” implying the culture in Eagle State is more liberal or libertarian, possibly more similar to colorado socialy, but not as right-wing as most of the heartland or bible belt states. The state was also established in the 1870’s during the frontier era.

Besides the tornadoes, many references imply that Fairview is located in the Midwest. In seasons 3 and 4 there are mentions of Purdue University and Notre Dame and in season 4 Mike Delfino insists his future son will be a fan of the Indianapolis Colts (even though he is from Utah), and Tom Scavo makes a reference to Peyton Manning, suggesting Fairview is located in Indiana, close to Chicago. There is also much mention of people flying in from Chicago's O'Hare airport.

New neighbors in the show such as Katherine Mayfair and Betty Applewhite have moved to Wisteria Lane from Chicago. Bob and Lee also have friends from Chicago who informed them of Katherine Mayfair's reasons for leaving the city. Local news stations have reported news from Chicago; however, a local television station bears call letters KQRY, implying that Fairview is west of the Mississippi River.

A few of the cities mentioned in the below section are named after cities in Wisconsin and Michigan. In real life there is a town of Fairview located in Illinois.