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Quite different, actually. In Connecticut, every square inch of the state is part of an incorporated municipality. And the municipal government is the only layer of local govt. So a municipality such as Norwalk exists within Fairfield County. You have the Norwalk govt., but no "county government" over it.
In Virginia, there are county governments, and most of the state is unincorporated. If you live in Fairfax County, you live "in the county." You have no city government. If you live in the City of Fairfax, you are in an island, entirely separate from Fairfax County. It's almost as if cities are their own small counties.
FYI - Arlington, VA is a county, but pretty much it's own city as well... so it'd be near the top of the list for the 2nd category listed. Having lived in Arlington, you view it more as a city.
It's technically a county, but it's really a city of about 200,000 people. Same schools, same court system, etc.
Same schools and same court system are attributes of every county in Virginia. It's geographically much smaller than other counties in VA, and it's densely populated, so "it feels like a city," but Arlington is and functions as a county. It's quite unusual. The only other real example of this I know of is Baltimore City in Maryland. Baltimore city is an independent entity, part of no county in MD. There are some cases of cities being coterminous with counties which used to contain them (Philadelphia, for example), but different from VA's independent city scheme.
Same schools and same court system are attributes of every county in Virginia. It's geographically much smaller than other counties in VA, and it's densely populated, so "it feels like a city," but Arlington is and functions as a county. It's quite unusual. The only other real example of this I know of is Baltimore City in Maryland. Baltimore city is an independent entity, part of no county in MD. There are some cases of cities being coterminous with counties which used to contain them (Philadelphia, for example), but different from VA's independent city scheme.
Yeah.. I'm not originally from VA, but lived there for quite a few years. To me, Arlington certainly feels and acts like a city. Residents often refer to being from "A-Town".. etc. Yeah, Ballston, Clarendon, Pentagon City, etc are all neighborhoods -- and feel like so. VAs county/city schemes are certainly interesting!
Yeah.. I'm not originally from VA, but lived there for quite a few years. To me, Arlington certainly feels and acts like a city. Residents often refer to being from "A-Town".. etc.
I grew up in VA, in an independent city. I remember filling out forms once in awhile, such as financial aid forms, voter registration, scholarship applications, etc.
Yeah, Arlington is not a city. It's a county. Used to live there. Also, grew up in Fairfax County, bordering Loudoun County. The top 3 counties are a testament to my home area's ability to milk the government.
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