Data / Rankings / Civilian labor force / Cities in Virginia

Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force

Virginia Beach, VA had the highest civilian labor force of 33 cities in 2020, at 228,682. Martinsville, VA had the lowest, at 6,125. The median was 17,878. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest228,682Virginia Beach, VA
Lowest6,125Martinsville, VA
Median17,87833 cities

All cities, 2020

Virginia Beach, VA: 228,682 personsVirginia Beach, VA228,682Richmond, VA: 126,291 personsRichmond, VA126,291Chesapeake, VA: 119,412 personsChesapeake, VA119,412Norfolk, VA: 109,234 personsNorfolk, VA109,234Alexandria, VA: 98,642 personsAlexandria, VA98,642Newport News, VA: 89,282 personsNewport News, VA89,282Hampton, VA: 65,614 personsHampton, VA65,614Roanoke, VA: 48,602 personsRoanoke, VA48,602Suffolk, VA: 45,049 personsSuffolk, VA45,049Portsmouth, VA: 44,234 personsPortsmouth, VA44,234Lynchburg, VA: 37,481 personsLynchburg, VA37,481Leesburg, VA: 28,052 personsLeesburg, VA28,052Harrisonburg, VA: 25,549 personsHarrisonburg, VA25,549Charlottesville, VA: 24,500 personsCharlottesville, VA24,500Manassas, VA: 23,047 personsManassas, VA23,047Blacksburg, VA: 19,414 personsBlacksburg, VA19,414Danville, VA: 17,878 personsDanville, VA17,878Petersburg, VA: 15,307 personsPetersburg, VA15,307Fredericksburg, VA: 15,053 personsFredericksburg, VA15,053Winchester, VA: 14,654 personsWinchester, VA14,654Fairfax, VA: 13,050 personsFairfax, VA13,050Salem, VA: 12,589 personsSalem, VA12,589Staunton, VA: 12,477 personsStaunton, VA12,477Waynesboro, VA: 10,998 personsWaynesboro, VA10,998Hopewell, VA: 10,182 personsHopewell, VA10,182Manassas Park, VA: 10,135 personsManassas Park, VA10,135Colonial Heights, VA: 8,921 personsColonial Heights, VA8,921Radford, VA: 7,842 personsRadford, VA7,842Falls Church, VA: 7,768 personsFalls Church, VA7,768Bristol, VA: 7,603 personsBristol, VA7,603Williamsburg, VA: 6,712 personsWilliamsburg, VA6,712Poquoson, VA: 6,325 personsPoquoson, VA6,325Martinsville, VA: 6,125 personsMartinsville, VA6,125Virginia Beach, VA: 228,682 personsVirginia Beach, VA228,682Richmond, VA: 126,291 personsRichmond, VA126,291Chesapeake, VA: 119,412 personsChesapeake, VA119,412Norfolk, VA: 109,234 personsNorfolk, VA109,234Alexandria, VA: 98,642 personsAlexandria, VA98,642Newport News, VA: 89,282 personsNewport News, VA89,282Hampton, VA: 65,614 personsHampton, VA65,614Roanoke, VA: 48,602 personsRoanoke, VA48,602Suffolk, VA: 45,049 personsSuffolk, VA45,049Portsmouth, VA: 44,234 personsPortsmouth, VA44,234Lynchburg, VA: 37,481 personsLynchburg, VA37,481Leesburg, VA: 28,052 personsLeesburg, VA28,052Harrisonburg, VA: 25,549 personsHarrisonburg, VA25,549Charlottesville, VA: 24,500 personsCharlottesville, VA24,500Manassas, VA: 23,047 personsManassas, VA23,047Blacksburg, VA: 19,414 personsBlacksburg, VA19,414Danville, VA: 17,878 personsDanville, VA17,878Petersburg, VA: 15,307 personsPetersburg, VA15,307Fredericksburg, VA: 15,053 personsFredericksburg, VA15,053Winchester, VA: 14,654 personsWinchester, VA14,654Fairfax, VA: 13,050 personsFairfax, VA13,050Salem, VA: 12,589 personsSalem, VA12,589Staunton, VA: 12,477 personsStaunton, VA12,477Waynesboro, VA: 10,998 personsWaynesboro, VA10,998Hopewell, VA: 10,182 personsHopewell, VA10,182Manassas Park, VA: 10,135 personsManassas Park, VA10,135Colonial Heights, VA: 8,921 personsColonial Heights, VA8,921Radford, VA: 7,842 personsRadford, VA7,842Falls Church, VA: 7,768 personsFalls Church, VA7,768Bristol, VA: 7,603 personsBristol, VA7,603Williamsburg, VA: 6,712 personsWilliamsburg, VA6,712Poquoson, VA: 6,325 personsPoquoson, VA6,325Martinsville, VA: 6,125 personsMartinsville, VA6,125
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2020
persons		Change on 2019
1Virginia Beach, VA228,682-1.9%
2Richmond, VA126,291+0.1%
3Chesapeake, VA119,412-1.6%
4Norfolk, VA109,234-0.5%
5Alexandria, VA98,642-2.1%
6Newport News, VA89,282-0.3%
7Hampton, VA65,614-0.4%
8Roanoke, VA48,602-0.3%
9Suffolk, VA45,049-0.5%
10Portsmouth, VA44,234+0.9%
11Lynchburg, VA37,481-2.2%
12Leesburg, VA28,052-1.5%
13Harrisonburg, VA25,549-3.2%
14Charlottesville, VA24,500-4.3%
15Manassas, VA23,047-1.9%
16Blacksburg, VA19,414-5.1%
17Danville, VA17,878+0.3%
18Petersburg, VA15,307+2.3%
19Fredericksburg, VA15,053-1.7%
20Winchester, VA14,654-1.4%
21Fairfax, VA13,050-1.5%
22Salem, VA12,589-1.4%
23Staunton, VA12,477-0.7%
24Waynesboro, VA10,998-0.7%
25Hopewell, VA10,182+0.4%
26Manassas Park, VA10,135-2.7%
27Colonial Heights, VA8,921-1.1%
28Radford, VA7,842-2%
29Falls Church, VA7,768-3.6%
30Bristol, VA7,603+1%
31Williamsburg, VA6,712+0.4%
32Poquoson, VA6,325-3.7%
33Martinsville, VA6,125+2%

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed plus unemployed residents, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, not jobs: for wage and salary jobs by state use oews_employment. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2020 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average (Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force, 2020. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/virginia-cities?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/virginia-cities?period=2020.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/virginia-cities?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_virginia_by_2020,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force, 2020}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/virginia-cities?period=2020. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force, 2020
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/virginia-cities?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/virginia-cities?period=2020.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in Virginia by civilian labor force using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Virginia Beach, VA, with 228,682 in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Martinsville, VA, with 6,125 in 2020.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 cities have no value for 2020 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Virginia: more rankings