List of counties in Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties and 39 independent cities, which are considered county-equivalents for census purposes. Note that the map in this article, taken from the official United States Census Bureau site, includes Clifton Forge as an independent city. This reflected the political reality at the time of the 2000 Census. However, in 2001, Clifton Forge relinquished its city charter and reincorporated as a town in Alleghany County, as in Virginia all municipalities incorporated as towns are included within counties. For some counties, for statistical purposes, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines any independent cities with the county that it was once part of (before the legislation creating independent cities took place in 1871).

Many county seats are politically not a part of the counties they serve; under Virginia law, all municipalities incorporated as cities are independent cities and are not part of any county. Some of the cities in the Hampton Roads area (Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, and Suffolk) were formed from an entire county. These cities are no longer county seats, since the counties ceased to exist once the cities were completely formed, but are functionally equivalent to counties.

It is also worthy of note that there are several counties and cities which have the same name, but are separate politically. These currently include Bedford, Fairfax, Franklin, Richmond, and Roanoke, and in the past included Norfolk and Alexandria, whose counties changed their names, ostensibly to end some of the confusion. Similarity in their names does not necessarily mean that the current counties and cities which share names are close geographically. Richmond County is nowhere near the City of Richmond, and Franklin County is even further from the City of Franklin.

The map below may be clicked upon to go to any of the counties (or named Independent cities) shown.

List of 95 counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia (link shown under Fips County Code are for the U.S. Census Bureau Statistics Info Page for that county):

List

Former Counties of Virginia:
Bermuda Hundred (1617- Original county of the Colony under England
Kecoughtan (1617- Original county of the Colony under England

See also

• List of West Virginia counties, as West Virginia was, until June 1863, part of Virginia

References

1. ^ "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA.gov. http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/codes/va.html. Retrieved 2008-02-23. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} National Association of Counties. "NACo - Find a county". http://www.naco.org/Template.cfm?Section=Find_a_County&Template=/cffiles/counties/state.cfm&state.cfm&statecode=VA. Retrieved 2007-04-26. 
3. ^ "Virginia Historical Counties". Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. Chicago: Newberry Library. Retrieved 2010-07-10. Select the map for December 31, 1634 (the earliest date available).
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} "Virginia Historical Counties". Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. Chicago: Newberry Library. Retrieved 2010-07-09. Compare the maps for July 9 and July 10, 1902.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s} Census Office. Fourteenth Census of the United States (1920), I:148.