Riva is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,257 at the 2020 census. The area is scenic, especially where the two-lane Riva Road crosses the South River on a bridge. The area is growing with large new homes as the suburbs of Annapolis grow outward. Riva is bordered by Annapolis to the north, Edgewater to the east, and Davidsonville to the west.

Annapolis is the capital of the state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baltimore and about 30 miles (50 km) east of Washington, D.C., Annapolis forms part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census recorded its population as 40,812, an increase of 6.3% since 2010.