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 34 cities in 2024, at 234,963. Martinsville, VA had the lowest, at 6,094. The median was 17,234. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest234,963Virginia Beach, VA
Lowest6,094Martinsville, VA
Median17,23434 cities

All cities, 2024

Virginia Beach, VA: 234,963 personsVirginia Beach, VA234,963Richmond, VA: 130,457 personsRichmond, VA130,457Chesapeake, VA: 126,822 personsChesapeake, VA126,822Norfolk, VA: 107,865 personsNorfolk, VA107,865Alexandria, VA: 101,309 personsAlexandria, VA101,309Newport News, VA: 89,363 personsNewport News, VA89,363Hampton, VA: 67,323 personsHampton, VA67,323Suffolk, VA: 50,881 personsSuffolk, VA50,881Roanoke, VA: 48,794 personsRoanoke, VA48,794Portsmouth, VA: 44,069 personsPortsmouth, VA44,069Lynchburg, VA: 37,514 personsLynchburg, VA37,514Leesburg, VA: 29,961 personsLeesburg, VA29,961Harrisonburg, VA: 25,974 personsHarrisonburg, VA25,974Charlottesville, VA: 24,760 personsCharlottesville, VA24,760Manassas, VA: 24,187 personsManassas, VA24,187Blacksburg, VA: 21,736 personsBlacksburg, VA21,736Danville, VA: 17,901 personsDanville, VA17,901Fredericksburg, VA: 16,566 personsFredericksburg, VA16,566Herndon, VA: 15,348 personsHerndon, VA15,348Petersburg, VA: 15,221 personsPetersburg, VA15,221Winchester, VA: 14,725 personsWinchester, VA14,725Fairfax, VA: 14,661 personsFairfax, VA14,661Salem, VA: 13,410 personsSalem, VA13,410Staunton, VA: 13,344 personsStaunton, VA13,344Waynesboro, VA: 12,172 personsWaynesboro, VA12,172Hopewell, VA: 10,077 personsHopewell, VA10,077Manassas Park, VA: 10,064 personsManassas Park, VA10,064Colonial Heights, VA: 9,349 personsColonial Heights, VA9,349Radford, VA: 9,035 personsRadford, VA9,035Falls Church, VA: 8,362 personsFalls Church, VA8,362Bristol, VA: 7,312 personsBristol, VA7,312Williamsburg, VA: 7,165 personsWilliamsburg, VA7,165Poquoson, VA: 6,906 personsPoquoson, VA6,906Martinsville, VA: 6,094 personsMartinsville, VA6,094Virginia Beach, VA: 234,963 personsVirginia Beach, VA234,963Richmond, VA: 130,457 personsRichmond, VA130,457Chesapeake, VA: 126,822 personsChesapeake, VA126,822Norfolk, VA: 107,865 personsNorfolk, VA107,865Alexandria, VA: 101,309 personsAlexandria, VA101,309Newport News, VA: 89,363 personsNewport News, VA89,363Hampton, VA: 67,323 personsHampton, VA67,323Suffolk, VA: 50,881 personsSuffolk, VA50,881Roanoke, VA: 48,794 personsRoanoke, VA48,794Portsmouth, VA: 44,069 personsPortsmouth, VA44,069Lynchburg, VA: 37,514 personsLynchburg, VA37,514Leesburg, VA: 29,961 personsLeesburg, VA29,961Harrisonburg, VA: 25,974 personsHarrisonburg, VA25,974Charlottesville, VA: 24,760 personsCharlottesville, VA24,760Manassas, VA: 24,187 personsManassas, VA24,187Blacksburg, VA: 21,736 personsBlacksburg, VA21,736Danville, VA: 17,901 personsDanville, VA17,901Fredericksburg, VA: 16,566 personsFredericksburg, VA16,566Herndon, VA: 15,348 personsHerndon, VA15,348Petersburg, VA: 15,221 personsPetersburg, VA15,221Winchester, VA: 14,725 personsWinchester, VA14,725Fairfax, VA: 14,661 personsFairfax, VA14,661Salem, VA: 13,410 personsSalem, VA13,410Staunton, VA: 13,344 personsStaunton, VA13,344Waynesboro, VA: 12,172 personsWaynesboro, VA12,172Hopewell, VA: 10,077 personsHopewell, VA10,077Manassas Park, VA: 10,064 personsManassas Park, VA10,064Colonial Heights, VA: 9,349 personsColonial Heights, VA9,349Radford, VA: 9,035 personsRadford, VA9,035Falls Church, VA: 8,362 personsFalls Church, VA8,362Bristol, VA: 7,312 personsBristol, VA7,312Williamsburg, VA: 7,165 personsWilliamsburg, VA7,165Poquoson, VA: 6,906 personsPoquoson, VA6,906Martinsville, VA: 6,094 personsMartinsville, VA6,094
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

RankCities2024
persons		Change on 2023
1Virginia Beach, VA234,963-0.1%
2Richmond, VA130,457+0.5%
3Chesapeake, VA126,822+0.2%
4Norfolk, VA107,865-0.3%
5Alexandria, VA101,309+0.8%
6Newport News, VA89,363-0.3%
7Hampton, VA67,323+0.2%
8Suffolk, VA50,881+1.8%
9Roanoke, VA48,794+0.4%
10Portsmouth, VA44,069-0.3%
11Lynchburg, VA37,514-1%
12Leesburg, VA29,961-0.2%
13Harrisonburg, VA25,974-1.5%
14Charlottesville, VA24,760+0.1%
15Manassas, VA24,187+0.3%
16Blacksburg, VA21,736-1.3%
17Danville, VA17,901+0.9%
18Fredericksburg, VA16,566+1.6%
19Herndon, VA15,348n/a
20Petersburg, VA15,221+1.5%
21Winchester, VA14,725-1.4%
22Fairfax, VA14,661+2.6%
23Salem, VA13,410+0.9%
24Staunton, VA13,344+1.1%
25Waynesboro, VA12,172+1.2%
26Hopewell, VA10,077-0.4%
27Manassas Park, VA10,0640%
28Colonial Heights, VA9,349+0.4%
29Radford, VA9,035+0.8%
30Falls Church, VA8,362+0.5%
31Bristol, VA7,312-2.3%
32Williamsburg, VA7,165-0.6%
33Poquoson, VA6,906+1.7%
34Martinsville, VA6,094-1.2%

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. 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, 2024) [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, 2024. 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=2024. 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, 2024. 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=2024.

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, 2024 [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=2024 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_virginia_by_2024,
  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, 2024}},
  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=2024. 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, 2024
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=2024
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/virginia-cities?period=2024.
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 234,963 in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Martinsville, VA, with 6,094 in 2024.

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.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Virginia: more rankings