AreaProfile

Newport News, Virginia

Area Profile

184,216 residents. Jobs, income, climate, physical risk, development and airport access for Newport News, in Newport News city.

62
Area Score
Top 50% of 133 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity107th of 139 published cities44
Growth134th of 134 published cities6
Housing affordabilityTop 26% of 150 published cities80
ClimateTop 23% of 149 published cities78
Physical resilienceTop 12% of 150 published cities85
Access88th of 149 published cities95
Economic stabilityTop 45% of 150 published cities56
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.3% and the Opportunity signal places Newport News in the bottom 23%.

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 city profiles, placing Newport News in the top 12% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
184,216
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$69,634
Top 46% 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 61% of the 140 measured US cities.

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

31% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 70% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$2,426$69,634Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,845$38,773Top 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.5%Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.1 minBottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher30.6%Top 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment84,065Bottom 3%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.7%Bottom 4%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.0%Bottom 20%June 2026
Labor force87,845Bottom 3%June 2026
Labor force participation67.1%Top 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,130Bottom 31%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,430Bottom 41%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 43%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Bottom 39%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032026/012026/066.52.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.3% in June 2026.
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.

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 31%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate48.2%Bottom 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±23182,052Top 1%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$25$1,339Top 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$5,844$260,600Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.1%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.2%Bottom 39%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 134 of 134 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 cities.

Units permitted
86
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.5
Bottom 4% 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
20202022202320242025647125
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

85 / 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, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

Taxes

AreaProfile does not yet publish tax comparisons. No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, methodology transparency and update cadence, and the product rule is to omit a dimension rather than estimate it. The Area Score is calculated without a tax component and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Nothing on AreaProfile is individualized tax advice.

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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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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
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)

Profile recalculated August 29, 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.

ZIP codes in Newport News

5 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
2360843,641$71,12663
2360242,265$79,47563
2360629,971$72,87461
2360126,645$71,27963
2360723,096$42,33453