The Commonwealth of Virginia is divided into 95 counties, along with 38 independent cities that are considered county-equivalents for census purposes, totaling 133 second-level subdivisions.

[3] At least two constitutional officers—treasurer and commissioner of the revenue—were required to be elected solely by the residents of the city.

[3] However, cities that were classified as second class cities at the time of the adoption of the 1971 Virginia Constitution were authorized to continue sharing their court system and three constitutional officers with the adjacent county.

In the past they also included Norfolk and Alexandria, whose counties changed their names, ostensibly to end some of the confusion; as well as Bedford, where a city was surrounded by a county of the same name from 1968 until 2013, when the city reverted to town status.

A city and county that share a name may be completely unrelated in geography.