THE ARLINGTON COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Chesapeake Rolling Coastal Plain setting.
Arlington County has 26 square miles of land in Virginia. 3 mapped landscape regions meet across Arlington County: Chesapeake Rolling Coastal Plain, Piedmont Uplands, Northern Inner Piedmont.
Irregular plains of sand, silt and clay support a mix of pine and hardwood landscapes. The region has more relief than the lower coastal plain, with generally gentle stream gradients.
Regional context: Southeastern Plains ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Arlington County intersects 3 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Chesapeake Rolling Coastal Plain42%
- Piedmont Uplands31%
- Northern Inner Piedmont27%
Northern Piedmont in Arlington County
Rounded low hills, open valleys and irregular plains form a transition between Appalachian highlands and the coastal plain. The underlying geology mixes metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks.
Read the regional source ↗Piedmont in Arlington County
The Piedmont is a belt of irregular plains and hills between the Appalachians and the coastal plain. A complex mixture of older rocks underlies its pine and hardwood woodland landscapes.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Arlington County
The atlas lists 1 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Arlington County, including Arlington. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Arlington County by land and water
The Census records 0.11 square miles of water within Arlington County, or 0.4% of its total area. That share is close to Arlington County’s 0.4%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
The Census boundary meets Alexandria city, Fairfax County, Falls Church city within Virginia. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.