Cities and towns

Main article: Political subdivisions of Virginia

v t e Largest cities or towns in Virginia Source:[112]
	Rank	Name	County	Pop.
Virginia Beach Norfolk	1	Virginia Beach	Independent city	448,479	Chesapeake Arlington
	2	Norfolk	Independent city	246,139
	3	Chesapeake	Independent city	230,571
	4	Arlington	Arlington	224,906
	5	Richmond	Independent city	214,114
	6	Newport News	Independent city	182,020
	7	Alexandria	Independent city	148,892
	8	Hampton	Independent city	136,699
	9	Roanoke	Independent city	98,465
	10	Portsmouth	Independent city	96,205

Virginia counties and cities by population in 2010

Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 38 independent cities, the latter acting in many ways as county-equivalents.^[113] This general method of treating cities and counties on par with each other is unique to Virginia, with only three other independent cities in the United States outside Virginia, in three different states.^[114] Virginia limits the authority of cities and counties to countermand laws expressly allowed by the Virginia General Assembly under what is known as Dillon's Rule.^[115] In addition to independent cities, there are also incorporated towns which operate under their own governments, but are part of a county. Finally there are hundreds of unincorporated communities within the counties. Virginia does not have any further political subdivisions, such as villages or townships.
Virginia has 11 Metropolitan Statistical Areas; Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Richmond-Petersburg are the three most populous. Richmond is the capital of Virginia, and its metropolitan area has a population of over 1.2 million.^[116] As of 2010, Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the Commonwealth, with Norfolk and Chesapeake second and third, respectively.^[117] Norfolk forms the urban core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, which has a population over 1.6 million people and is the site of the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk.^[116][118] Suffolk, which includes a portion of the Great Dismal Swamp, is the largest city by area at 429.1 square miles (1,111 km²).^[119]
Fairfax County is the most populous locality in Virginia, with over one million residents, although that does not include its county seat Fairfax, which is one of the independent cities.^[120] Fairfax County has a major urban business and shopping center in Tysons Corner, Virginia's largest office market.^[121] Neighboring Prince William County is Virginia's second most populous county, with a population exceeding 450,000, and is home to Marine Corps Base Quantico, the FBI Academy and Manassas National Battlefield Park. Loudoun County, with the county seat at Leesburg, is both the fastest-growing county in Virginia and has the highest median household income ($114,204) in the country as of 2010.^[122] Arlington County, the smallest self-governing county in the United States by land area, is an urban community organized as a county.^[123] The Roanoke area, with an estimated population of 300,399, is the largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in western Virginia.^[124]