The Northern Piedmont is a diverse, rapidly growing, nonmetropolitan region concentrated primarily on the Piedmont and partly on the Coastal Plain. The economic base of this large region is diverse and defies simple generalization. Employment in construction is important to all three planning districts, due to rapid population growth in the region as well as to long-distance commuting by some construction workers living in the region to jobs in Washington and Richmond.
Government is a large employer also.
Another concentration of government workers is located in the Charlottesville metropolitan area. This area has almost 21,200 state employees, many related to the University of Virginia , as well as 1,300 federal workers. Agriculture is a major employer in planning districts 9 and 10. Interestingly, a disproportionate number of industrial workers in the Northern Piedmont work for foreign-affiliated companies. Although it should be noted that Stafford County , part of the Washington D.C. MSA since 1983, is still considered part of Planning District 16 by Virginia and in this paper.