Newport News city, VA

County Profile

184,216 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Newport News city, VA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 25% of 1,225 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity910th of 1,255 counties44
Schools909th of 973 counties14
Growth1222nd of 1,226 counties6
Housing affordability957th of 1,255 counties80
ClimateTop 10% of 1,254 counties78
Physical resilienceTop 11% of 1,255 counties88
AccessTop 17% of 1,255 counties95
Economic stabilityTop 38% of 1,255 counties70
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 4.3% and the Opportunity signal places Newport News city in the bottom 28%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 86 units authorized over the past twelve months, 84% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published profiles, placing Newport News city in the top 11% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
184,216
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$69,634
Top 38% nationally
Density
2,670/sq mi
69.0 sq mi of land
Median age
34.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Newport News city
Virginia
Metro area
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
Nearest major airport
PHF
4 mi · Newport News/Williamsburg Intl
Median home value
$260,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.3% is lower than 46% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 2.0% over the past year, to 84,065 employed residents.

31% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 78% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,426$69,634Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,845$38,773Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.5%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.1 minBottom 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher30.6%Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment84,065Top 30%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.7%Bottom 11%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.0%Bottom 21%June 2026
Labor force87,845Top 30%June 2026
Labor force participation67.1%Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 37%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Top 46%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.52.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.3% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202470k57k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $69,634 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers22,520$28,780
Retail Salespersons20,890$30,820
General and Operations Managers17,400$100,340
Registered Nurses16,870$89,450
Cashiers16,840$29,320
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand13,920$39,160

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

32% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 50% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.0 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
48
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
31.9%
Bottom 10% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
49.5%
Bottom 7% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Woodside HighNewport News City Public Schools1,72315.1
Menchville HighNewport News City Public Schools1,70713.7
Warwick HighNewport News City Public Schools1,62214.9
Denbigh HighNewport News City Public Schools1,26914.4
Heritage HighNewport News City Public Schools1,10614.2
Ethel M. Gildersleeve MiddleNewport News City Public Schools1,08754%55%
Ella J. Fitzgerald MiddleNewport News City Public Schools98850%61%
Mary Passage MiddleNewport News City Public Schools93142%52%
Homer L. Hines MiddleNewport News City Public Schools84632%43%
Crittenden MiddleNewport News City Public Schools78137%47%
Joseph H. Saunders ElementaryNewport News City Public Schools66018.917%35%
Achievable Dream AcademyNewport News City Public Schools64119.421%48%

98.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Virginia’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,339 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.7 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
23.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,339
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$260,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.74Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate48.2%Bottom 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±23182,052Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$25$1,339Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$5,844$260,600Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.1%Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.2%Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
6/ 100
Ranks 1222 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing — 2 consecutive years, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 183,056 in 2024.

At 0.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
86
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.5
Bottom 6% nationally
Year over year
−84%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
37.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
20202021202220232024186k183k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025647106
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−22%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 31°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 45.1 inches.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NEWPORT NEWS INTL AP, 4.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation45.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low31°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing39°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

88 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, coastal flooding and ice storm.

HurricaneElevated
Ice stormModerate
Coastal floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, heat wave, strong wind, lightning, earthquake, tornado, inland flooding, cold wave, hail, wildfire, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Newport News city records 8.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.4 per 100,000 residents in Newport News city.

Homicide
8.2
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.7
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
16.4
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
10.4
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Newport News city as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Newport News city rather than Newport News city itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 4 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newport News/Williamsburg IntlPHF4 mi8,003 ft
Richmond IntlRIC53 mi9,003 ft
Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings FldISO135 mi11,498 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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55
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in Newport News city, VA