23185 — Williamsburg, Virginia

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 23185. Its median household income runs 39% above Williamsburg as a whole, which is why this ZIP carries a profile of its own.

63out of 100
Area Score
Top 32% of 3,113 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
Opportunity2,320th of 3,116 ZIP areas measured43
SchoolsTop 37% of 3,047 ZIP areas measured60
GrowthTop 47% of 3,124 ZIP areas measured52
Housing affordability2,097th of 3,112 ZIP areas measured60
ClimateTop 21% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured78
Physical resilienceTop 15% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured85
AccessTop 50% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured92
Economic stabilityTop 45% of 3,127 ZIP areas measured57
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable ZIP areas measured: unemployment is 5.3% and the Opportunity signal places 23185 in the bottom 26%. The unemployment rate is published for Williamsburg, VA, which contains 23185, rather than for 23185 alone.

In the public schools here, 84% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.5 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 34% of renter income here, above the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.4 times what its owners earn.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
55,270
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$105,431
Top 15% nationally
Density
966/sq mi
57.2 sq mi of land
Median age
40.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Williamsburg
Virginia
Nearest major airport
PHF
14 mi · Newport News/Williamsburg Intl
Median home value
$429,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Williamsburg, VA, which contains 23185, is 5.3% — higher than in all but 19% of the 3,127 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment across Williamsburg, VA, which contains 23185, fell 1.7% over the past year, to 6,745 employed residents.

52% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 89% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,5902024 ACS 5-Year$105,431Top 15%of 31,0492024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,2462024 ACS 5-Year$50,928Top 19%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year7.0%Top 31%of 32,8462024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.2 min2024 ACS 5-Year25.5 minTop 38%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year51.6%Top 11%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year68.1%26th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentWilliamsburg, VA’s figureJuly 20266,745Bottom 1%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Williamsburg, VA’s figureJuly 2026−4.3%Bottom 6%of 3,127July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Williamsburg, VA’s figureJuly 2026−1.7%Bottom 29%of 3,127July 2026
Labor forceWilliamsburg, VA’s figureJuly 20267,1221st percentileof 3,127July 2026
Labor force participation ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year78.7%Top 48%of 32,8832024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageVirginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$64,130Bottom 37%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Median annual wageVirginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$49,430Bottom 47%of 2,7602025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year1.0%80th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Williamsburg, VA’s figureJuly 2026−0.1%Bottom 49%of 3,127July 2026
Unemployment rateWilliamsburg, VA’s figureJuly 20265.3%Bottom 19%of 3,127July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year17.3%78th percentileof 32,7982024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

2021202220232024105k92k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $105,431 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

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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 Williamsburg, VA, the city containing this ZIP code.

84% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 79% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.5 students for every full-time teacher across 8 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.5
across 8 of them
Math proficiency
84.0%
Top 44% in Virginia
Reading proficiency
79.0%
Top 46% in Virginia
All 9 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Berkeley MiddleWilliamsburg-James City County Public Schools66614.886%83%
Magruder ElementaryYork County Public Schools61014.591%85%
Queens Lake MiddleYork County Public Schools55413.587%84%
James Blair MiddleWilliamsburg-James City County Public Schools50513.382%73%
Matthew Whaley ElementaryWilliamsburg-James City County Public Schools48514.377%72%
Clara Byrd Baker ElementaryWilliamsburg-James City County Public Schools45711.182%77%
James River ElementaryWilliamsburg-James City County Public Schools44911.871%61%
Waller Mill ElementaryYork County Public Schools44514.493%93%
Middle Peninsula Juvenile Detention HomeDepartment of Education State-Operated Educ Prgms0———

51.4% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Virginia’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 2% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 97.7, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area is up 43% over five years, and up 3.6% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,765 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.64% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,800, some 21% above the $1,489 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,800 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $72,000 a year, about 68% of the median household income here of $105,431.

The typical renter household here spends 34% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,489 a month.

A median home at $429,500 costs 3.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $124,548, above the historic benchmark of about 3 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.

Published for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
34.2%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,800
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,489
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$429,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against 23185’s median household income of $105,431, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area’s figure202397.7Top 45%of 2,7372023
Home price change (1 year)the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+3.6%61st percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+43.4%50th percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+78.2%22nd percentileof 3,0712026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year3.4Bottom 28%of 29,2752024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year71.7%33rd percentileof 32,7502024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5842024 ACS 5-Year22,87398th percentileof 33,4602024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,590Bottom 31%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$2,500Bottom 28%of 3,031FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,800Bottom 34%of 3,031FY2026
Median gross rent ±$992024 ACS 5-Year$1,489Bottom 22%of 26,3962024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,0262024 ACS 5-Year$429,50083rd percentileof 30,8122024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1232024 ACS 5-Year$2,76566th percentileof 28,9352024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,7362024 ACS 5-Year$124,548Top 14%of 29,8022024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.03%2024 ACS 5-Year0.64%27th percentileof 24,0992024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year34.2%Bottom 20%of 26,2472024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2432024 ACS 5-Year1,07897th percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year4.7%71st percentileof 32,9612024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year7.3%52nd percentileof 32,7882024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4122024 ACS 5-Year2,73998th percentileof 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

52/ 100
Top 47% of 3,124 published ZIP 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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 35 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for Williamsburg, VA, which contains 23185, rather than for 23185 alone.

At 2.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas. The permit rate is published for Williamsburg, VA, which contains 23185, rather than for 23185 alone.

Units permitted
35
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.2
Bottom 40% nationally
Year over year
+46%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Williamsburg, 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 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, 13.7 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND5.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals45.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals31°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals39°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

85 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 53% of it. Inland flooding and tornado are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 85% of measured US ZIP areas.

HurricaneElevated
Ice stormModerate
DroughtElevated
EarthquakeModerate
Coastal floodingModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, inland flooding, winter weather, lightning, wildfire, tornado, strong wind, cold wave, hail, volcanic activity, tsunami, avalanche.

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 offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Homicide
6.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around 23185 (Williamsburg city) rather than 23185 itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. A ZIP area is not a jurisdiction, so no department reports for one. Williamsburg carries the figure where its department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Newport News/Williamsburg Intl at 14 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year93.2%Top 30%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle14 miTop 39%of 3,127NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 9%of 3,127NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year5.0%Top 33%of 32,6632024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newport News/Williamsburg IntlPHF14 mi8,003 ft
Richmond IntlRIC39 mi9,003 ft
Washington Dulles IntlIAD125 mi11,500 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
63
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—

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

23185 vs Williamsburg

How this ZIP area compares with Williamsburg as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like — a gap here is a real difference between the two places, not two surveys disagreeing.

23185
Williamsburg
Median household income: 23185 is the more favorable of the two.
Median household income
$105,431
vs
$75,604
Per capita income: 23185 is the more favorable of the two.
Per capita income
$50,928
vs
$37,442
Population density
966/sq mi
vs
1,768/sq mi
Median home value
$429,500
vs
$428,100
Median gross rent: Williamsburg is the more favorable of the two.
Median gross rent
$1,489
vs
$1,407
Homeownership rate
71.7%
vs
53.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 23185 is the more favorable of the two.
Bachelor's degree or higher
51.6%
vs
45.8%
Poverty rate: 23185 is the more favorable of the two.
Poverty rate
7.0%
vs
10.6%
Median age
40.2
vs
23.7

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.