Washington, D.C. Metro Area Counties

23 counties · 6.5 million people (2025) · 6,034 sq mi

The Washington, D.C. metro area (officially the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area) has 23 counties in District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, with 6,465,724 people in 2025. Fairfax County is the most populous.

Map of the 23 counties of the Washington, D.C. metro area with county names and major cities
The 23 counties of the Washington, D.C. metro area (yellow) with the largest cities. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
PDF (Letter) 564 KBPNG (2400 px) 282 KB

The 23 counties of the Washington, D.C. metro area

Sorted by population. 13 are central counties (the urban core); the others are outlying counties tied to it by commuting.

CountyStateCounty seatPopulation 2025Change since 2020Land area (sq mi)Type
Fairfax CountyVirginiaFairfax1,167,873+1.5%391Central
Montgomery CountyMarylandRockville1,074,582+1.2%493Central
Prince George's CountyMarylandUpper Marlboro970,374+0.3%483Central
District of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia–693,645+0.6%61Central
Prince William CountyVirginiaManassas502,966+4.3%335Central
Loudoun CountyVirginiaLeesburg449,749+6.8%516Central
Frederick CountyMarylandFrederick302,883+11.5%661Outlying
Arlington CountyVirginiaArlington243,931+2.2%26Central
Charles CountyMarylandLa Plata176,593+6%458Outlying
Stafford CountyVirginiaStafford170,803+8.8%269Central
Alexandria cityVirginiaAlexandria160,662+0.8%15Central
Spotsylvania CountyVirginiaSpotsylvania Courthouse155,388+10.9%402Outlying
Fauquier CountyVirginiaWarrenton76,503+4.8%648Outlying
Jefferson CountyWest VirginiaCharles Town63,102+9.4%209Outlying
Culpeper CountyVirginiaCulpeper57,666+9.7%379Outlying
Manassas cityVirginiaManassas44,332+3.6%10Central
Warren CountyVirginiaFront Royal42,740+5%215Outlying
Fredericksburg cityVirginiaFredericksburg30,393+8.6%10Outlying
Fairfax cityVirginiaFairfax26,772+10.9%6Central
Manassas Park cityVirginiaManassas Park16,560−3.8%3Central
Clarke CountyVirginiaBerryville15,609+5.5%176Outlying
Falls Church cityVirginiaFalls Church15,159+3.4%2Central
Rappahannock CountyVirginiaWashington7,439+1.2%266Outlying

The metro area is part of the larger Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area.

Printable map

The PDF is a vector file for Letter paper; the PNG is 2400 pixels wide. Both are free to use with a credit to WhichCounty.

County maps of District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia

Other metro areas

Sources