@TheMarkw758
Arlington is not a city, but a county. Fairfax County dominates Northern Virginia.
@TheVagolfer
And....we're not a state...we're a Commonwealth.
@akurbyburby
Of all the states I've visited, Virginia probably has the strongest extremes of country/rural and urban. Strange state
@fredholley6248
As a VA resident, a few comments. VA cities cannot 'annex' into their adjoining county since 1975 or so. This was done to 'protect' the counties from being overrun or swallowed (hello Nansemond County and Warwick, or rather goodbye). This thru the wrench 100% in the other direction so that now places like Richmond, which was mentioned (and earlier had swallowed Manchester in the early 1900's) cannot 'grow', their borders are forever fixed. No matter how much the counties grow next to it, (and I've witnessed things built 50 foot from the border just for the tax purposes) they are stuck. This is why Richmond as a city has seen its population (although SLIGHTLY growing in the last 10-15 years) fall from 250K in 1950 to 225K currently while the 'metro' has gone from 500K to 1.3 million during the same time.
@tomsmith5584
One quirk of Virginia is that the state maintains all roads in counties, except Henrico and Arlington counties, but not in independent cities. This was from the great depression when the counties didn't have enough money to maintain their roads, so the state took over responsibility. You can tell the secondary state roads because they all have a number above 600 and all are shown inside a white circle on highway signs as compared to the rounded arrowhead for primary state highways.
@robynkolozsvari
so to explicitly state something i think Beaver was alluding to, another complication is that Arlington is a county, not a city, and all land within it is unincorporated. if it were a city it'd be the third most populous in the state, but it isn't so it doesn't make the list. so Virginia has counties, cities, county-like cities, and city-like counties!
@OBG791
As someone who’s lived in Virginia my whole life I always thought this was the norm for the rest of the country until I started looking at maps of other states
@centredoorplugsthornton4112
Chesapeake and Virginia Beach were created by merging much smaller cities with neighboring counties in 1963. Same with Suffolk in 1974. The Hampton Roads area technically has no counties, just cities.
@jamesderekhowell3293
Norfolk resident here appreciating you stating that Hampton Roads is underrated, and bringing a concise explanation of Virginia's (and other) independent city quirks in another well done video. Keep up the good content!
@anthonygilford3097
Fun fact Fairfax County Courthouse is an enclave of Fairfax City
@BitmappedWV
Blacksburg is incorporated, just as a town rather than a city. That means it gets to rely on the county for schools and courts rather than having to pay for their own system. Some independent cities, like Bedford and Clifton Forge, have given up their city status and gone back to being towns because they decided the benefits of being an independent city weren’t worth the costs.
@kurtisokc
One quirk that you forgot to mention is that Arlington, Virginia is legally a county and not a city or town. The US census bureau also classifies it as a census designated place with a boundary that is coextensive with Arlington County.
@accooper97
Being from Virginia, growing up, I thought county meant you lived in a rural area and everyone else lives in a city. I didn’t realize practically every other city is in a county or a county itself.
@AndyDrake-FOOKYT
I like this. This way the people in the rural areas aren't outnumbered by the votes of people in the city. Cities can have the policies that they desire while rural areas can have their own.
@SeanA099
I grew up in Virginia there’s usually a lot of overlap in government services. Usually the courts are consolidated and often schools are as well. At least that’s how it worked in Fairfax City/County
@Peculiar_Velocity
Nova isn’t just Arlington/Alexandria, it’s Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William and is even creeping into Stafford and Spotsylvania now and has a few million people.
@all_time_Jelly_Fish
Really interesting stuff. Having lived in Virginia my whole life, i didn't realize how unusual city being separate entities from counties was.
@ashextraordinaire
Never heard anyone refer to my home area as "fascinating and underappreciated," but I'll take it. We used to have counties -- Norfolk, Princess Anne, Nansemond, Elizabeth City, etc. -- and as a result, genealogy and land records research are, well, interesting. (Also thank you for pronouncing Norfolk and Suffolk correctly!)
@brianarbenz1329
I worked for the U.S. Census Bureau for 24 years, doing surveys and studies, and Virginia’s independent city system made data regarding that state more complicated.
@BeaverGeography