What are the Twin Counties?
The Twin Counties is the regional name for Carroll County and Grayson County in Southwest Virginia, and in practice it also takes in the independent City of Galax between them. It is a usage, and no statute or ordinance defining it was found. Twin County E-911 and the Twin County Chamber of Commerce each name Carroll, Grayson and Galax as the localities they cover.
Five regional names, and the localities each one lists
The clearest way to see what the Twin Counties covers is to read how the bodies that carry the name describe themselves. Each one lists its own localities, and the lists line up.
| Name | What it says it covers | Where it is |
|---|---|---|
| Twin County E-911 | The 911 answering point for Carroll County, the City of Galax and Grayson County | 353 N Main St, Galax, in the Harold Snead Public Safety Building |
| Twin County Chamber of Commerce | Represents Carroll, Grayson and Galax | 1117 E Stuart Drive, Suite 153, Galax |
| Twin County Regional Airport | A regional name; the airport itself sits in Carroll County | 11 miles northeast of Galax |
| Twin County Regional Healthcare | Describes Galax as the center of the Twin Counties of Grayson and Carroll | Galax |
| Twin County Region study | Named in Carroll County's 2024 plan as prepared on behalf of the Counties of Carroll and Grayson and the City of Galax | A study, not an office |
The 911 arrangement is the most formal of the five. Grayson County's plan says the service is organized and administered by the Twin County E-911 Regional Commission, made up of two members each from Grayson County, Carroll County and the City of Galax, and that it receives all 911 and 988 emergency calls from the three localities. Carroll County's plan describes the same commission from its side, with two representatives from each locality.
Read across the table and a pattern shows. The name counts two counties. Every body that spells out its localities, the E-911 commission, the chamber and the regional study, adds the City of Galax beside them. The hospital puts Galax at the center of the Twin Counties, and the airport carries the regional name on Carroll County ground.
Two counties in the name, and a city in the middle that belongs to neither
The name counts two counties, and only two of the three localities are counties. Galax is an independent city between Carroll and Grayson, separate from both county governments, so it cannot be counted as a third county. It sits in the middle of the region all the same, and the regional bodies name it outright.
That explains why the hospital describes Galax as the center of the Twin Counties rather than as part of one of them, and why the E-911 commission and the chamber each list the city next to the two counties instead of folding it into either. Galax's own status, and why a deed to city land still goes to a county clerk, is worked through in what county Galax is in.
The name is a usage. No statute, ordinance or state designation defining the Twin Counties turned up among the government sources read for this answer, and the bodies that use the name each draw their own service area. So when a document or an organization says Twin Counties, read the localities it lists rather than assuming a fixed legal boundary behind the phrase.
The region is not a single jurisdiction for land either. The three localities keep separate rulebooks: Grayson County and the City of Galax have zoning ordinances, Carroll County has no county zoning ordinance, and each keeps its own subdivision review, permit desk and assessment. Those differences, office by office, are on the six counties and the City of Galax page.
What a shared regional name does and does not change for a piece of land
For someone buying or selling land here, the Twin County name turns up in a few practical places and stays out of most of the transaction.
Shared: the 911 center, and Carroll's address questions
Twin County E-911 is the answering point for all three localities. Carroll County's new-dwelling cover sheet tells applicants whose project will need a 911 address, or who are not sure, to contact the Twin County E-911 Commission. What an E911 address is, and how the request works for a tract with nothing built on it yet, is covered in getting a 911 address for vacant land.
Not shared: permits, plats, taxes and the deed book
The building permit, subdivision plat review and the real estate tax bill stay with the county or the city that holds the ground. A deed is recorded in the county or city where the land lies, with one wrinkle for Galax, whose charter sends deeds for city land to a county clerk's office. For a tract with a Galax address, the first question is which side of the city line it is on, and the city's land, utilities, offices and the East Stuart Drive corridor are on the Galax VA real estate page.
Crossing the region: the New River Trail
Some features cross the region without belonging to it. New River Trail State Park passes through Grayson, Carroll, Wythe and Pulaski counties and Galax, so it reaches past the Twin Counties into two more counties; the New River Trail answer covers the park itself.
Buying or selling land in Carroll County, Grayson County or the City of Galax?
Name the road or the tax map number, and Lowell will start with which of the three localities holds the ground, since the regional name does not settle whose rules apply. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Is Wythe County part of the Twin Counties?
Not in the usage the regional bodies publish. Twin County E-911 is the answering point for Carroll County, the City of Galax and Grayson County, and the Twin County Chamber of Commerce represents Carroll, Grayson and Galax. Wythe County appears in neither list. No legal definition of the Twin Counties was found to settle it, so ask any particular organization which localities it serves today.
Why is Galax not counted as one of the twins?
Because Galax is not a county. It is an independent city between Carroll and Grayson, separate from both county governments. The regional bodies still include it: Twin County E-911 and the Twin County Chamber of Commerce each name the City of Galax beside the two counties, and Twin County Regional Healthcare describes Galax as the center of the Twin Counties.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- E-911 (answering point for Carroll County, City of Galax and Grayson County) City of Galax
- Home page (representing Carroll, Grayson and Galax; address) Twin County Chamber of Commerce
- About TCRH Twin County Regional Healthcare
- Comprehensive Plan 2022, Amendment 1, adopted January 8, 2024 (independent city; Twin County Regional Airport) City of Galax
- 2024 Comprehensive Plan (Twin County E-911; Twin County Region study) Carroll County, Virginia
- Comprehensive Plan 2024 (Twin County E-911 Regional Commission) Grayson County, Virginia
- Building Official cover sheet, new dwelling (911 address) Carroll County, Virginia
- Charter of the City of Galax (recording of deeds) Virginia General Assembly
- New River Trail State Park Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation