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Arlington County is a county and census-designated place in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The land that became Arlington was originally donated by Virginia to the United States government to form part of the new Federal capital district. On February 27, 1801, a year after moving from the temporary National Capital at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, occupying the Federal City in the District of Columbia, the United States Congress organized the area as a subdivision of the District of Columbia named "Alexandria County". In 1846, Congress returned the land southwest of the Potomac River, donated by the Commonwealth of Virginia due to issues involving Congressional representation and the abolition of slavery. The General Assembly of Virginia changed the county's name to Arlington in 1920 to avoid confusion with the adjacent City of Alexandria. Arlington County shares with a portion of the independent City of Alexandria the distinction of being once in Virginia, then ceded to the U.S. government to form the District of Columbia, and later retroceded to Virginia.
The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the south bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C. Arlington is also bordered by Fairfax County and the City of Falls Church to the northwest, west and southwest, and the City of Alexandria to the southeast. With a land area of 26 square miles, Arlington is among the geographically smallest self-governing counties in the United States, and due to state law regarding population density, has no other incorporated towns within its borders. Given these unique characteristics, for statistical purposes the County is included as a central city of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA by the United States Census Bureau. As of the 2010 census, the population was 207,627. in 2013, the population was estimated to be 227,146, It would be the fourth-largest city in the state if it were incorporated as such.
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