Roanoke is located midway between New York, NY and Atlanta, GA. on I-81. The city is the center of one of Virginia’s largest metropolitan regions, and a hub of transportation, finance, and industry for the southwestern part of the state. The city is at the heart of the beautiful Roanoke Valley which is between the Blue Ridge and Virginia Alleghany Highlands. With Roanoke’s position on the East Coast, it has ready access to almost two-thirds of the nations total population, and all within a radius of 500 miles. Roanoke is a thriving community that counts residents inside the city limits at over 97,000 and within the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area the population is more than 303,000. Roanoke is the commercial and cultural hub of much of the surrounding area of Virginia and Southwest Virginia.