 Many towns are as large as cities, but are not incorporated as cities and are situated within a parent county or counties.Eight independent cities—including Bedford, which gave up its city charter in 2013 and became a town—had 2010 populations of less than 10,000 with the smallest, Norton having a population of only 3,958.In 2010, the largest towns were Blacksburg (with 42,620 people) and Leesburg (42,616).