Biggest Cities in Virginia

Virginia's largest cities split between the independent-city pattern unique to Virginia (cities are legally independent of counties), the Hampton Roads metro on the Chesapeake, and the Northern Virginia DC suburbs.

Virginia Beach — 460,000
Virginia's largest city by population — a sprawling oceanfront city at the southeastern tip of Virginia. Virginia Beach combines 35+ miles of Atlantic beach, the significant naval presence (Naval Station Norfolk and Oceana NAS are adjacent), the fishing village character of the Chesapeake Bay shore, and the resort strip. The oceanfront boardwalk and the Oceanfront resort district draw major tourism. Virginia Beach is one of the largest cities in the US by land area (248 square miles).

Chesapeake — 250,000
The second-largest city in Virginia by land area — a largely suburban and industrial city in Hampton Roads that includes Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge within its limits. The Great Dismal Swamp (the largest swamp in the eastern US, a refuge for runaway enslaved people on the Underground Railroad) is a remarkable ecological and historical resource within a suburban city.

Norfolk — 238,000
The center of the Hampton Roads military complex — Naval Station Norfolk (the world's largest naval station by ship count), NFWS (Navy aircraft operations), and the Joint Forces Command headquarters make Norfolk the most militarily significant medium city in the US. The Chrysler Museum of Art (one of the finest regional art museums in the mid-Atlantic — free admission) and the Granby Street arts corridor give it cultural depth.

Arlington — 240,000
Technically a county (but with city-equivalent functions) — Arlington's Crystal City (Amazon HQ2), Rosslyn (high-rise office corridor across from Georgetown), Clarendon (restaurant and bar scene), and Pentagon City make it the most economically dense county in the US. The Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery are Arlington landmarks.

Richmond — 230,000 (metro: 1.3 million)
Virginia's capital — a city of dual identities (capital of the Confederacy, capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia). The Museum of the Confederacy, the American Civil War Museum, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (the largest art museum in the southeastern US), the Richmond floodwall and Canal Walk, and the Carytown shopping district give Richmond more urban culture per capita than its size suggests.