Northern Virginia – locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA – comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward from Washington, D.C. With 2.8 million residents (about a third of the Commonwealth), it is the most populous region of Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area.Communities in the region form the Virginia portion of the Washington metropolitan area and the larger Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Northern Virginia has a significantly larger job base than either Washington or the Maryland portion of its suburbs, and is the highest-income region of Virginia, having several of the highest-income counties in the nation.Northern Virginia's transportation infrastructure includes major airports Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International, several lines of the Washington Metro subway system, the Virginia Railway Express suburban commuter rail system, transit bus services, bicycle sharing and bicycle lanes and trails, and an extensive network of Interstate highways and expressways.
Notable features of the region include the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, and the many companies which serve them and the U.S. federal government. The area's attractions include various monuments and Colonial and Civil War-era sites such as Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetery.