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Where am ILOCATED

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area is made up of 23 counties and equivalents in Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, and West Virginia; the largest are Fairfax County, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County. About 6,465,724 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 3.0% more than in April 2020.

District of Columbia, centralCharles County, outlyingFrederick County, outlyingMontgomery County, centralPrince George's County, centralArlington County, centralClarke County, outlyingCulpeper County, outlyingFairfax County, centralFauquier County, outlyingLoudoun County, centralPrince William County, centralRappahannock County, outlyingSpotsylvania County, outlyingStafford County, centralWarren County, outlyingAlexandria city, centralFairfax city, centralFalls Church city, centralFredericksburg city, outlyingManassas city, centralManassas Park city, centralJefferson County, outlyingWashingtonArlington
Central Outlying 23 counties and equivalents in Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, and West Virginia
Population, July 2025
6,465,724 3.0% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties and equivalents
23: 13 central, 10 outlying
Land area
6,034 sq mi (15,627 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
States
Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, West Virginia
Combined statistical area
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA
CBSA code
47900
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties and equivalents in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area, largest first

County or equivalentRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Fairfax CountyVirginiaCentral1,167,87318.1%
Montgomery CountyMarylandCentral1,074,58216.6%
Prince George's CountyMarylandCentral970,37415.0%
District of ColumbiaDistrict of ColumbiaCentral693,64510.7%
Prince William CountyVirginiaCentral502,9667.8%
Loudoun CountyVirginiaCentral449,7497.0%
Frederick CountyMarylandOutlying302,8834.7%
Arlington CountyVirginiaCentral243,9313.8%
Charles CountyMarylandOutlying176,5932.7%
Stafford CountyVirginiaCentral170,8032.6%
Alexandria cityVirginiaCentral160,6622.5%
Spotsylvania CountyVirginiaOutlying155,3882.4%
Fauquier CountyVirginiaOutlying76,5031.2%
Jefferson CountyWest VirginiaOutlying63,1021.0%
Culpeper CountyVirginiaOutlying57,6660.9%
Manassas cityVirginiaCentral44,3320.7%
Warren CountyVirginiaOutlying42,7400.7%
Fredericksburg cityVirginiaOutlying30,3930.5%
Fairfax cityVirginiaCentral26,7720.4%
Manassas Park cityVirginiaCentral16,5600.3%
Clarke CountyVirginiaOutlying15,6090.2%
Falls Church cityVirginiaCentral15,1590.2%
Rappahannock CountyVirginiaOutlying7,4390.1%

A central county or equivalent holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. An outlying county or equivalent is in the area because of commuting: at least a quarter of its workers have jobs in the central counties and equivalents, or at least a quarter of the people working there live in them. A county or equivalent belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal cities, largest first

  1. Washington681,294 people
  2. Arlington236,254 people
  3. Alexandria156,976 people
  4. Frederick83,395 people
  5. Gaithersburg69,825 people
  6. Bethesda69,397 people
  7. Rockville67,671 people
  8. Reston64,414 people
  9. North Bethesda49,677 people
  10. McLean49,627 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Metropolitan divisions

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area is big enough to be split into 3 metropolitan divisions, each a job center with the counties that commute to it.

Part of the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 8 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area2,857,781 people
  2. Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metro Area315,280 people
  3. Lexington Park, MD Metro Area211,176 people
  4. Chambersburg, PA Metro Area160,652 people
  5. Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area152,332 people
  6. Lake of the Woods, VA Micro Area40,083 people
  7. Easton, MD Micro Area38,238 people
  8. Cambridge, MD Micro Area33,628 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county or equivalent on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area35 mi northeast
  2. Lexington Park, MD Metro Area55 mi southeast
  3. Lake of the Woods, VA Micro Area56 mi southwest
  4. Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV Metro Area63 mi northwest
  5. Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area65 mi west
  6. Gettysburg, PA Metro Area65 mi north
  7. Chambersburg, PA Metro Area79 mi northwest
  8. Richmond, VA Metro Area98 mi south

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗