Cities in Virginia by employed residents, 2025

Virginia Beach, VA had the highest employed residents of 34 cities in 2025, at 225,705. Martinsville, VA had the lowest, at 5,594. The median was 16,402. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Highest225,705Virginia Beach, VA
Lowest5,594Martinsville, VA
Median16,40234 cities

All cities, 2025

Virginia Beach, VA: 225,705 personsVirginia Beach, VA225,705Richmond, VA: 125,913 personsRichmond, VA125,913Chesapeake, VA: 121,652 personsChesapeake, VA121,652Norfolk, VA: 102,947 personsNorfolk, VA102,947Alexandria, VA: 97,926 personsAlexandria, VA97,926Newport News, VA: 85,279 personsNewport News, VA85,279Hampton, VA: 64,135 personsHampton, VA64,135Suffolk, VA: 48,767 personsSuffolk, VA48,767Roanoke, VA: 46,991 personsRoanoke, VA46,991Portsmouth, VA: 41,919 personsPortsmouth, VA41,919Lynchburg, VA: 35,569 personsLynchburg, VA35,569Leesburg, VA: 28,952 personsLeesburg, VA28,952Harrisonburg, VA: 24,761 personsHarrisonburg, VA24,761Charlottesville, VA: 23,872 personsCharlottesville, VA23,872Manassas, VA: 23,358 personsManassas, VA23,358Blacksburg, VA: 20,324 personsBlacksburg, VA20,324Danville, VA: 16,893 personsDanville, VA16,893Fredericksburg, VA: 15,911 personsFredericksburg, VA15,911Herndon, VA: 14,843 personsHerndon, VA14,843Petersburg, VA: 14,450 personsPetersburg, VA14,450Fairfax, VA: 14,181 personsFairfax, VA14,181Winchester, VA: 14,136 personsWinchester, VA14,136Salem, VA: 12,976 personsSalem, VA12,976Staunton, VA: 12,864 personsStaunton, VA12,864Waynesboro, VA: 11,744 personsWaynesboro, VA11,744Manassas Park, VA: 9,727 personsManassas Park, VA9,727Hopewell, VA: 9,621 personsHopewell, VA9,621Colonial Heights, VA: 9,041 personsColonial Heights, VA9,041Radford, VA: 8,468 personsRadford, VA8,468Falls Church, VA: 8,082 personsFalls Church, VA8,082Bristol, VA: 7,103 personsBristol, VA7,103Williamsburg, VA: 6,783 personsWilliamsburg, VA6,783Poquoson, VA: 6,657 personsPoquoson, VA6,657Martinsville, VA: 5,594 personsMartinsville, VA5,594
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2025
persons
Change on 2024
1Virginia Beach, VA225,705-1.2%
2Richmond, VA125,913-0.2%
3Chesapeake, VA121,652-1.2%
4Norfolk, VA102,947-1.1%
5Alexandria, VA97,926-0.9%
6Newport News, VA85,279-1.1%
7Hampton, VA64,135-1.1%
8Suffolk, VA48,767-1.2%
9Roanoke, VA46,991-0.4%
10Portsmouth, VA41,919-1.1%
11Lynchburg, VA35,569-1.4%
12Leesburg, VA28,952-0.9%
13Harrisonburg, VA24,761-1.3%
14Charlottesville, VA23,872-1.1%
15Manassas, VA23,358-0.9%
16Blacksburg, VA20,324-2.7%
17Danville, VA16,893-0.4%
18Fredericksburg, VA15,911-0.9%
19Herndon, VA14,843-1%
20Petersburg, VA14,450-0.1%
21Fairfax, VA14,181-0.9%
22Winchester, VA14,136-1%
23Salem, VA12,976-0.3%
24Staunton, VA12,864-0.9%
25Waynesboro, VA11,744-0.8%
26Manassas Park, VA9,727-0.9%
27Hopewell, VA9,621-0.2%
28Colonial Heights, VA9,041-0.1%
29Radford, VA8,468-2.7%
30Falls Church, VA8,082-0.9%
31Bristol, VA7,103+0.9%
32Williamsburg, VA6,783-1.2%
33Poquoson, VA6,657-1.1%
34Martinsville, VA5,594-3.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents who did any work for pay or profit in the reference week, or were temporarily absent from a job, annual average. 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, whatever the place of work, and someone with two jobs counts once. 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: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. 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: employment (measure 05), annual average (Cities in Virginia by employed residents, 2025) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Virginia by employed residents, 2025. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/virginia-cities. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Cities in Virginia by employed residents, 2025. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/virginia-cities.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Virginia by employed residents, 2025 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/virginia-cities (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_virginia_by_2025,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Virginia by employed residents, 2025}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/virginia-cities. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. 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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Virginia by employed residents, 2025
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.CurrentU25-29
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/virginia-cities
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/virginia-cities.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU25-29. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  - 
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Cities in Virginia by employed residents using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"employed_residents","level":"municipality","within":"Virginia","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=employed_residents&level=municipality&within=Virginia&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which city has the highest employed residents?

Virginia Beach, VA, with 225,705 in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Martinsville, VA, with 5,594 in 2025.

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: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Virginia: more rankings