The Fredericksburg Area, or Region, may refer to a number of perspectives of the Fredericksburg area including and surrounding the City of Fredericksburg, VA. These differing perspectives of the Fredericks Region can infer a variety of geographic coverage. We look at living & working, demographics, media coverage, service areas, and government entities.Finally, we consider our place within the concept of Northern, VAThe Greater Fredericksburg Area has many interpretations, see below, but we focus on the City of Fredericksburg, and parts of its surrounding counties.
Living & Working
Graphic created by BradMandell from FreeMapTools and Google Maps - 25 mile green zone extended to 35 miles
The Fredericksburg Region often means the area where people live and work. Sometimes they are referring to the City of Fredericksburg and its commuter suburbs, but that often transforms into people working in the suburbs and living in the exurbs. Because of our reliance on the automobile, the growth of the suburbs and exurbs has followed the road system rather than other modes of transportation.
Downtown Fredericksburg is less than 52 miles from downtown DC, so the area is a mix of Fredericksburgers, Northern Virginians, and "DC Area Residents". The patterns also follow the historical path of Interstate 95 and Route 17. Fredericksburg is also less than 60 miles from Richmond, so some of our residents work in the greater Richmond metro area.
Commuting by automobile impacts regional definition and growth because the controlling variable is usually commute time versus commute distance. The balance between the capacity of the road network and the volume of traffic has a tendency over time to equalize and impact and control growth.
Government Entities
Graphic by BradMandell We start with the City of Fredericksburg surrounded by Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties and the nearly adjacent King George, Caroline, Culpeper, and Fauquier Counties. Fredericksburg is also a draw on some folks in southeastern Prince William County, in eastern Orange County, and western Westmoreland County.We could extend the area's reach to some towns within a wider radius to include Warrenton, Culpeper, Orange, Ashland, Tappahannock, and even La Plata, MD.See Also:Politics
Demographics
The Fredericksburg Region is within the Census Bureau's Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area and also within the included Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The inclusion of Fredericksburg is another rationale for including it in "Northern Virginia".
This statistical treatment allows one to look at the defined area in terms of a number of data points.
Economic Areas
Graphic by BradMandell from VA Performs The State of Virginia divides the state into eight economic regions and includes the City of Fredericksburg as well as Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties in the Northern Region.The assignment gives some credence to treating Fredericksburg as part of "Northern Virginia".
Media Markets
The Fredericksburg Region could refer to the areas served by the Fredericksburg local media - newspapers, radio, and television outlets. Lots of data is gathered and managed by this "media market" definition. The media market definition can push the Fredericksburg Region across the river into Maryland.
- Newspaper coverage -
- Radio coverage -
- Television coverage -
Service Areas
The Fredericksburg Region might also refer to a variety of areas served by various government or nonprofit organizations. These definitions are usually very specific to the servicing unit and can vary from the immediate city area, to the county, to all of Northern Virginia.
Where We Belong
Northern Virginia
DC Metro
Discussion
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