23605Newport News, Virginia

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 23605.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 25% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5588th of 6,210 ZIP areas measured31
Schools3612th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured26
Growth5294th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured11
Housing affordability4162nd of 6,685 ZIP areas measured72
ClimateTop 19% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured79
Physical resilienceTop 15% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured85
AccessTop 43% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured95
Economic stability3666th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured57
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 4.3% and the Opportunity signal places 23605 in the bottom 10%.

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 ZIP profiles, placing 23605 in the top 15% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
13,332
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$53,815
Bottom 20% nationally
Density
3,637/sq mi
3.7 sq mi of land
Median age
34.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Newport News
Virginia
Metro area
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
Nearest major airport
PHF
8 mi · Newport News/Williamsburg Intl
Median home value
$194,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.3% is lower than 56% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

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

Median household income of $53,815 is below 80% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,753$53,815Bottom 20%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,546$30,007Bottom 27%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.9%Top 36%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute22.7 minBottom 23%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher19.1%Bottom 38%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment84,065Top 39%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-3.7%Bottom 8%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.0%Bottom 19%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force87,845Top 39%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation68.5%Top 19%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,130Bottom 32%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,430Bottom 42%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 40%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.3%Bottom 44%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202454k42k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $53,815 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Newport News, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.

27% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 46% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.9 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
26.7%
Bottom 11% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
45.6%
Bottom 14% in Virginia
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Heritage HighNewport News City Public Schools1,10614.2
Crittenden MiddleNewport News City Public Schools78137%47%
Carver ElementaryNewport News City Public Schools63417.114%32%
Achievable Dream Middle/HighNewport News City Public Schools49810.042%67%
Sedgefield ElementaryNewport News City Public Schools42515.79%38%
Huntington MiddleNewport News City Public Schools2927.9
Heritage High School Governor's STEM AcademyNewport News City Public Schools0

98.3% 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 →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 2% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,222 takes 27% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Cost of living
97.7

Prices here run about 2% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
27.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,222
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$194,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index97.7Bottom 40%of 6,0712023
Home price to income3.62Top 36%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate40.5%Bottom 6%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4676,933Top 23%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$75$1,222Top 34%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,207$194,900Bottom 43%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income27.2%Top 9%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.8%Bottom 41%of 33,0282024 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
11/ 100
Ranks 5294 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

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

Units permitted
86
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.5
Bottom 15% nationally
Year over year
−84%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
37.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Newport News, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 32°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.8 inches, including 2.7 inches of snow.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LANGLEY AFB, 6.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation47.8"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall2.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low32°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°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: heat wave, winter weather, 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 publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say 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 · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 23605 rather than 23605 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 8 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newport News/Williamsburg IntlPHF8 mi8,003 ft
Richmond IntlRIC59 mi9,003 ft
Kinston Rgnl Jetport At Stallings FldISO134 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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Area Score
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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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
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.

23605 vs Newport News

How this ZIP area compares with Newport News as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

23605
Newport News
Median household income
$53,815
vs
$69,634
Per capita income
$30,007
vs
$38,773
Population density
3,637/sq mi
vs
2,670/sq mi
Median home value
$194,900
vs
$260,600
Median gross rent
$1,222
vs
$1,339
Homeownership rate
40.5%
vs
48.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher
19.1%
vs
30.6%
Poverty rate
13.9%
vs
14.5%
Median age
34.4
vs
34.4

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.