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Commonwealth's Counties

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The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties, along with 38 independent cities that are considered county-equivalents for census purposes.

Lee County Wise County Scott County Dickenson County Buchanan County Russell County Tazewell County Washington County Smyth County Bland County Wythe County Grayson County Carroll County Pulaski County Giles County Craig County Montgomery County Floyd County Patrick County Henry County Franklin County Roanoke County Alleghany County Bath County Highland County Rockingham County Augusta County Botetourt County Bedford County Pittsylvania County Halifax County Mecklenburg County Brunswick County Greensville County Southampton County Sussex County Isle of Wight Surry County Prince George County Dinwiddie County Nottoway County Amelia County Prince Edward County Charlotte County Lunenburg County Appomattox County Campbell County Amherst County Rockbridge County Rockingham County Augusta County Nelson County Buckingham County Albemarle County Fluvanna County Cumberland County Goochland County Powhatan County Shenandoah County Page County Madison County Greene County Warren County Frederick County Clarke County Loudoun County Fairfax County Fauquier County Arlington County Prince William County Stafford County King George County Spotsylvania Louisa County Orange County Culpeper County Rappahannock County Hanover County Henrico County Chesterfield County Charles City County New Kent County Westmoreland County Northumberland County Richmond County Lancaster County Essex County Middlesex County Mathews County King and Queen County Gloucester County King William County York County James City County Accomack County Northampton County Caroline County Fairfax County

In Virginia, cities are co-equal levels of government to counties, but towns are part of 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 Fairfax, Franklin, Richmond, and Roanoke. In the past they also included Norfolk and Alexandria, whose counties changed their names, ostensibly to end some of the confusion; as well as Bedford, where a city was surrounded by a county of the same name from 1968 until 2013, when the city reverted to town status. A city and county that share a name may be completely unrelated in geography. For example, Richmond County is nowhere near the City of Richmond, and Franklin County is even farther from the City of Franklin.

More Virginia counties are named for women than in any other state.

SOURCE: Wikipedia