Richmond is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city since 1871. The city's population in the 2020 census was 226,610, up from 204,214 in 2010, making it Virginia's fourth-most populous city. The Richmond metropolitan area, with 1,260,029 people, is the Commonwealth's third-most populous. Law, finance, and government primarily drive Richmond's economy, and the downtown area has federal, state, and local governmental agencies, notable legal and banking firms, and several Fortune 500 companies, including Dominion Energy, WestRock, Performance Food Group, CarMax, ARKO, and Altria. The city is home to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, one of 13 such courts and a Federal Reserve Bank, one of 12 such banks. The metropolitan area has other large corporations, like Markel.
