Before citizens can plan where they want to go, they must know where they are. For those who live, work or seek services in “Northern Virginia,” this is a significant problem because it is not clear where “Northern Virginia” starts or stops.

Geographic confusion has a greater impact in Northern Virginia than anywhere is the United States -- except perhaps Northern California, where residents periodically attempt to create a separate state. No one's started a serious secession movement for Northern Virginia yet, but that's not for a lack of a distinct regional identity that some down-staters have jokingly likened to "the People's Republic of Northern Virginia" or "Northern Occupied Virginia."

A secessionist movement is not likely to ever get off the ground, if for no other reason that the organizers are unlikely to ever agree upon a definition of the region. All the vituperation and confusion masks the fact that the official Federal designation based on the Year 2000 Census indicates that nearly one-third of all residents of Virginia are in Northern Virginia.  

Based on official and widely-used sources, Northern Virginia is region populated by 1.36 million to 3.0 million people -- a difference of 2X plus. This place, according to these sources, has an area of  between 280,000 acres and 3 million acres -- a difference of 10X plus. What exactly, and where exactly, is this mythical place?

The following is a summary of ‘official’ designations of “Northern Virginia.” The graphic below tracks the conflict definitions.

(1)     “Northern Virginia” is the area defined by the jurisdiction of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and other agencies and public offices serving this geography. This is the area covered by the widely-used multi-jurisdictional “Northern Virginia Street Map Book” (atlas) published by the Alexandria Drafting Company (ADC).

This definition of “Northern Virginia” includes the City of Alexandria, the Counties of Arlington and Fairfax plus the cities and towns surrounded by these jurisdictions and is 283,000 acres, 1,357,300 population, 4.8 person per acre density.

A recent use of this definition in the media is found in Robin Shulman's “Loudoun Considers Buying Bus Fleet,” The Loudoun Extra, The Washington Post,  13 July 2003, regarding the proposed use of buses to transport Loudoun residents to Northern Virginia. This geographic designation, adopted by many institutions and enterprises, has been reinforced with references such as “Free delivery within Northern Virginia.” 

(2)      “Northern Virginia” is the contiguous “urbanized” area in the northern part of Virginia as designated by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. While important for statistical purposes, this area is not easily identified, and maps are hard to find. Area codes recently lost their geographical meaning. Prior to that, this geography was roughly the area covered by Area Code 703. It was depicted on the cover of some telephone books. 

This definition of “Northern Virginia” covers (1) above plus ‘urban’ portions of Loudoun and Prince William Counties – it adds an undetermined area and population with approximately the same density.

This territory is rarely used, even in media coverage of census data. For instance, the annual stories of the Texas Transportation Institute’s traffic congestion report do not note that the urbanized area is the basis for travel tabulation for the northern part of Virginia.

(3)     “Northern Virginia” is the area covered by the Northern Virginia Planning District Commission (NVPDC), which was recently and confusingly named the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) as opposed to the Northern Virginia Subregional Commission. This territory is the same as the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Northern Virginia District (NV VDOT) and the Virginia portion of the Washington Metropolitan Area Council of Governments (Wash COG) membership area. It is also the jurisdiction of other institutions and agencies.

This definition of  “Northern Virginia” includes (1 & 2) above plus the remainder of Loudoun and Prince William Counties including the cities and towns completely surrounded by those counties, for total of 840,000 acres, 1,935,000 population, 2.3 person per acre density.

The media often uses this definition when reporting on activities of Washington COG, Northern Virginia VDOT and NVRC. It is also used to describe the area of some federal programs. See Maria Glod's “Task Force To Track Gangs: Area Police Share Fed Grant to Curb Gang Activity,”  Loudoun Extra, The Washington Post, 2 Feb 2003. The article lists the jurisdictions.

(4)     “Northern Virginia” is the Virginia portion of the Washington Metropolitan Area established by the 1980 Census also known as 1983 Washington MSA. This is the area included in the Virginia portion of the territory subject to Federal Air Quality Standards control of air quality.

This definition of “Northern Virginia” includes 1, 2 & 3 above plus Stafford County for a total of 1,013,000 acres, 2,026,200 population and 2.0 persons per acre density.

A recent use in the media is William Banigin's “Stafford Teens Charged in Burglary Ring,” The Washington Post, 14 July 2003. Stafford County is noted as one of the Northern Virginia jurisdictions in which the ring operated. This is also the Northern Virginia referred to in all media coverage of air quality in the National Capital Subregion.

(5)     “Northern Virginia” is the area of the “Regional Northern Virginia” atlas produced by the Alexandria Drafting Company. This new atlas contains the Northern Virginia atlas (1) plus the maps for Loudoun,  Prince William and Fauquier Counties. The atlas was first published in the late 1990's.

This definition of “Northern Virginia” includes 1, 2 & 3 above plus Fauquier County for a total of 1,280,000 acres, 1995,000 population and 1.6 persons per acre density.

Media coverage for definitions (5) through (9) is too confusing to sort out in this context. In general, “the regional press” and media outlets use varying geographies for Northern Virginia which include these areas, especially in sports, business and lifestyle coverage. The community media in the jurisdictions outside (3) almost always refer to Northern Virginia as being “over there,” a place apart from their community. Enterprises, institutions and agencies use differing geography depending on whether they seek to be inclusive or core focused.

(6)     “Northern Virginia” is the Virginia portion of the Washington-Baltimore Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) and the Washington Primary Metropolitan Statistical  Area (PMSA) as established by the 1990 Census. As noted in (7) below, this geographic configuration has been superceded by the 2000 Census, but it has become implanted in a number of formal and informal territorial agglomerations. 

This definition of Northern Virginia includes 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 above plus Clark, Culpeper, King George, Spotsylvania and Warren Counties and city of Fredericksburg for a total of 2,305,000 acres, 2,308,100 population and 1.0 persons per acre density.

(7)     “Northern Virginia” is the Virginia portion of the Washington PMSA as established by the 2000 Census. Between the time the Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget designated MSAs, PMSAs and CMSAs based on the 1990 Census covered by (6) above to those geographies based on the  2000, Census the definitions were changed. 

The change in definitions was made in reaction to the pressure from congressional offices, municipal officials, local chambers of commerce and others.  These entities did not want urban enclaves in their territory to be subsumed under the name of the region’s core jurisdictions from which they desire name differentiation, whether or not economic, social or physical differentiation exists in reality.  The reality of interconnection is, of course, the reason for calling the entire area “Northern Virginia.”  Two counties, Culpeper and King George, were dropped from the 1990 Census PMSA because the commuting percentage does not meet the new minimum standard.

This definition of “Northern Virginia” includes 1, 2, 3 & 6 above minus Culpeper and King George Counties for a total of 2,060,000 acres, 2,254,600 population and 1.1  persons per acre density.