page_title: Northern Virginia
section_title: Definition
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Virginia / Etymology / Definition
caption_attribution_description: 2005 Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia Combined Statistical Area.
context_page_description: Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. With an estimated 3,159,639 residents in 2019, it is the most populous region of Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area.
  Communities in the region form the Virginia portion of the Washington metropolitan area and the larger Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. Northern Virginia has a significantly larger job base than either Washington or the Maryland portion of its suburbs, and is the highest-income region of Virginia, having several of the highest-income counties in the nation.
  Northern Virginia's transportation infrastructure includes major airports Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International, several lines of the Washington Metro subway system, the Virginia Railway Express suburban commuter rail system, transit bus services, bicycle sharing and bicycle lanes and trails, and an extensive network of Interstate highways and expressways.
context_section_description: The most common definition of Northern Virginia includes the independent cities and counties on the Virginia side of the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget within the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
  Most narrowly defined, Northern Virginia consists of the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford as well as the independent cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
  Businesses, governments and non-profit agencies may define the area considered "Northern Virginia" differently for various purposes. Many communities beyond the areas closest to Washington, DC also have close economic ties, as well as important functional ones, to Northern Virginia, especially regarding roads, railroads, airports, and other transportation.
caption: A map of the former Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area
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