Is This An Accurate Map of Virginia's Regions? (Chesapeake, Richmond: home, pool)

[manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

The Piedmont is actually one of the 5 physical regions of Virginia. I'm surprised you've never heard of it.

OP you may want to look at this Regions of Virginia

What makes 'Southern Virginia' distinct in some way from Central Virginia?

[JayJayCB]

The Piedmont seems accurate. In many ways, this area and the NC Piedmont are identical. People in towns like Clarksville and South Boston frequently travel down to Raleigh/Durham for amenities, while folks in Danville probably visit Greensboro all the time. In that manner, the two regions are connected to some extent. Go a little further north to Lynchburg and the southern flavor still exists, think of the similarities between Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham. I can't picture Liberty University being located in NOVA, or even Norfolk. When you reach Charlottesville, that's when you taste more cliche VA culture and less southern culture, unlike towns like Danville and South Boston further south that might as well be NC towns.

[HokieFan]

Inaccurate.

Orange County is NOT in Northern VA. It should be in the Piedmont region along with Madison, Culpeper.

Originally Posted by manitopiaaa

Northern Virginia: Some would say it ends at Prince William County. Others go down to Fredericksburg. In choosing what to add, I basically took the Media Market, took out Westmoreland (which is clearly Northern Neck) and then added Greene and Madison Counties to make the shape a little nicer. I think Greene is probably more in Charlottesville's sphere of influence while Madison is kind of a no man's land. But since Culpeper and Rappahannock were added to Washington's MSA in 2013, I think Madison's days of being outside the metro area are numbered.

Well, hey, as long as the shape looks nice.

IMO, the attached is a more accurate map of Virginia's regions. But even this map is not wholly accurate as "Hampton Roads" should be titled "Tidewater", and the Eastern Shore should be it's own region. At least, this is what I was taught while growing up in the Piedmont region.

[RVAbornandbred]

HokieFan's map is much more accurate.


Saying that, there is one issue that's difficult to categorize. Typically, Roanoke and Lynchburg have been "separate" areas. But the media market is the same, and nowadays Bedford has become a bedroom community for both.

And, on top of that, I don't think Lynchburg has a lot in common with Southside Virginia any longer. Lynchburg doesn't share much in common with Danville or Martinsville or South Hill.

So, even though it breaks a long tradition of treating Roanoke and Lynchburg separately, I'd put Lynchburg in the Roanoke area on these cultural maps of Virginia. Roanoke and Lynchburg share a lot more in common than Lynchburg does with Southside Virginia in 2016.

[JayJayCB]

Lynchburg is the Virginia Piedmont bordering on the Blue Ridge foothills, a bit like Charlottesville. I think it's far enough north to be separated from Southside Virginia, but barely. Go down the road to Farmville and you'll taste more Southside Virginia flavor. Roanoke is different, not as historic and firmly in the Blue Ridge as far as I'm concerned. Feels more like West Virginia in some ways. Still, both Lynchburg and Roanoke are close enough that a shared media market definitely makes sense.

Southside Virginia cities like Danville, South Boston, and South Hill truly have more in common with North Carolina towns right over the border (Reidsville, Roxboro, Oxford, Henderson, etc) than the rest of Virginia.

[manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by HokieFan

Inaccurate.

Orange County is NOT in Northern VA. It should be in the Piedmont region along with Madison, Culpeper.



Well, hey, as long as the shape looks nice.

IMO, the attached is a more accurate map of Virginia's regions. But even this map is not wholly accurate as "Hampton Roads" should be titled "Tidewater", and the Eastern Shore should be it's own region. At least, this is what I was taught while growing up in the Piedmont region.

Lake of the Woods is a DC exurb and the number of commuters into the DC Metro has boomed in Orange County in the past decade. If it's not in NoVA today, it's very, very close to it.

I disagree with the map you posted, though I'm coming around to the idea of Southside, even though I'm not exactly sure what makes it unique other than being slightly more culturally Southern than Piedmont. As for the map, I don't think NoVA is not just Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William. Stafford and Spotsylvania have little in common with the Northern Neck. And half of that Piedmont is growing rapidly due to DC commuters, like Culpepper. So I think my NoVA map is more accurate. I do think Page and Shenandoah could be moved to Shenandoah with Madison and Greene going to Piedmont.

[jeff22152]

The Piedmont region physically encompasses everything between the fall lines of the state's rivers that empty into the Chesapeake and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Tidewater region (much larger than Hampton Roads) is to the east.

To the larger point, though: there are several possible "regional" maps of Virginia. Maps depicting the state's geography, demographics, density, economic health, educational attainment, healthcare costs, metro regions, etc., will all be drawn differently. Same may use city and county boundaries; some may not (e.g., using Census tract boundaries instead).

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by manitopiaaa

Lake of the Woods is a DC exurb and the number of commuters into the DC Metro has boomed in Orange County in the past decade. If it's not in NoVA today, it's very, very close to it.

Do you have a source for this statement?

I'm genuinely curious as to approximately how many make the commute to NoVA. And I'm referring to the actual NoVA (Metro DC) - not the NoVA on your map. I know of only a couple of people that make that commute but LoW is bit of an outlier for OC. It always has been because of it's distance from the town of Orange, and it's proximity to Fredericksburg.

[manitopiaaa]

Originally Posted by HokieFan

Do you have a source for this statement?

I'm genuinely curious as to approximately how many make the commute to NoVA. And I'm referring to the actual NoVA (Metro DC) - not the NoVA on your map. I know of only a couple of people that make that commute but LoW is bit of an outlier for OC. It always has been because of it's distance from the town of Orange, and it's proximity to Fredericksburg.

Yes, I do have a source. 30-40% of those in Lake of the Woods commute to the Washington DC Metro Area. So that segment of Orange County would be a part of the MSA if it were its own county.



Source: http://statchatva.org/2015/11/23/northern-virginia/

People also often forget that Lake of the Woods has almost 2x the population of Orange nowadays. Orange is not the economic or population center of the County.

Here's a screenshot of the distribution of people within the County. Notice where the concentration is: not Orange but Lake of the Woods.

Orange County Population Distribution, 2014


Orange County Population Distribution, 2002


As Lake of the Woods continues to grow (and it has the potential to explode in size very quickly ala parts of Stafford and Spotsylvania did), it's almost assured that Orange County will make it into the DC Metro Area. I'd wager it's likely to happen in 2020. If 30-40% of a County's population hub commutes to an adjacent metro area, it's hard to argue it's outside of that metro area.

[manitopiaaa]

Just calculated a few numbers on commuter trends in Orange County, based Census ACS Commuter Statistics:

Orange County has 14,299 commuters
Of these, 5,175 commute internally within Orange County

The number commuting to Core Counties of the Washington Metro Area (MSA): 2,925
Washington DC: 327
Montgomery County, MD: 70
Alexandria city, VA: 93
Arlington County, VA: 145
Fairfax city, VA: 40
Fairfax County, VA: 341
Falls Church city, VA: 15
Fauquier County, VA: 301
Loudoun County, VA: 122
Manassas city, VA: 213
Manassas Park city, VA: 31
Prince William County, VA: 484
Stafford County, VA: 743

2,925 of 14,299 = 20.46%
25% is what's needed to join the MSA

Notice that the above is JUST Core Counties.

A ton of Orange County commuters go to Spotsylvania and Culpeper and Fredericksburg, which are not 'Core' and, thus, do not count for the 25% threshold:

The number commuting to Outlying Counties of the Washington Metro Area (MSA): 3,282
Clarke County, VA: 89
Culpeper County, VA: 1,458
Rappahannock County, VA: 43
Spotsylvania County, VA: 1,336
Fredericksburg city, VA: 356

22.95% of Orange County commuters commute to Outlying Counties of the Washington Metro Area.

So, in total, 43.41% commute to the DC Metro Area.

The only thing that's stopping Orange County from joining the DC metro area is 'Spotsylvania' being Outlying vs. Core. If Fredericksburg or Spotsylvania become 'Core' in 2020, Orange County joins the metro.