Ok? Look, the fact that you are discussing city limits instead of MSAs, think that the DC metro is not giant despite being the nation’s sixth largest (4th by CSA), and think that pointing out that DC is the US’ 20th largest city is an intelligent point, demonstrates to me that you simply don’t have the level of sophistication in discussing demographics necessary to hold my interest in continuing the conversation. If you want to continue imagining that you live in the VA of 50 years ago, I ain’t gonna stop ya. Let me guess- you probably live west of I-81 and haven’t been to the eastern parts of the state in years. Getting warm?
The DC CSA is oversized. If you actually understood Mid-Atlantic subcultures, you would know that DC and Baltimore are close in geography but have remarkably different cultures and economies. And this dynamic is in effect in Virginia as well -- DC has a rather limited political and cultural influence on places like Culpeper and Front Royal, which are in the DC CSA for some reason. So throwing out this metric, I used a definition of NOVA that almost everyone in NOVA would deem fair:
Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Arlington, Alexandria, City of Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park
Notice how nowhere in my post did I argue DC was not a major influence on Northern Virginia! Or even Virginia as a whole. I merely showed how this is overstated in comparison to Atlanta in Georgia. If this argument makes me too much of an uneducated yokel in your mind, well, that's on you man.
Please stop this cringiness
