The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties, along with 38 independent cities that are considered county-equivalents for census purposes
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all municipalities incorporated as “cities” have been “independent cities”, also called “free cities”, since 1871, when a revised state constitution took effect following the American Civil War and the creation of West Virginia.
Outgrowth of the early colonial charter system that Virginia had and a few centuries of evolution from that point. In at least a few cases was a “great” way to maintain segregation, but many of the cities were independent well before that point and some actually ended up annexing the county they were initially independent from, leading to the weird situation in the southeastern tip where there are seven “cities”, almost all of which are county-sized
What’s with all the specks in Virginia? Some weird Commonwealth bs?
Yep. There are 95 counties and 38 independent cities (the blobs).
They are independent cities. They are separate legal entities from the counties that surround them. Not sure why cities in VA do that though.
Outgrowth of the early colonial charter system that Virginia had and a few centuries of evolution from that point. In at least a few cases was a “great” way to maintain segregation, but many of the cities were independent well before that point and some actually ended up annexing the county they were initially independent from, leading to the weird situation in the southeastern tip where there are seven “cities”, almost all of which are county-sized