Data / Rankings / Unemployed people / Cities in Virginia

Cities in Virginia by unemployed people

Virginia Beach, VA had the highest unemployed people of 33 cities in 2020, at 14,869. Poquoson, VA had the lowest, at 270. The median was 1,464. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest14,869Virginia Beach, VA
Lowest270Poquoson, VA
Median1,46433 cities

All cities, 2020

Virginia Beach, VA: 14,869 personsVirginia Beach, VA14,869Richmond, VA: 10,898 personsRichmond, VA10,898Norfolk, VA: 10,067 personsNorfolk, VA10,067Newport News, VA: 8,077 personsNewport News, VA8,077Chesapeake, VA: 7,736 personsChesapeake, VA7,736Alexandria, VA: 6,165 personsAlexandria, VA6,165Hampton, VA: 5,695 personsHampton, VA5,695Portsmouth, VA: 4,421 personsPortsmouth, VA4,421Roanoke, VA: 3,909 personsRoanoke, VA3,909Suffolk, VA: 3,002 personsSuffolk, VA3,002Lynchburg, VA: 2,665 personsLynchburg, VA2,665Petersburg, VA: 1,954 personsPetersburg, VA1,954Danville, VA: 1,939 personsDanville, VA1,939Charlottesville, VA: 1,690 personsCharlottesville, VA1,690Harrisonburg, VA: 1,586 personsHarrisonburg, VA1,586Leesburg, VA: 1,465 personsLeesburg, VA1,465Manassas, VA: 1,464 personsManassas, VA1,464Hopewell, VA: 1,091 personsHopewell, VA1,091Fredericksburg, VA: 1,024 personsFredericksburg, VA1,024Winchester, VA: 899 personsWinchester, VA899Blacksburg, VA: 876 personsBlacksburg, VA876Staunton, VA: 801 personsStaunton, VA801Fairfax, VA: 765 personsFairfax, VA765Salem, VA: 758 personsSalem, VA758Waynesboro, VA: 720 personsWaynesboro, VA720Manassas Park, VA: 662 personsManassas Park, VA662Martinsville, VA: 644 personsMartinsville, VA644Colonial Heights, VA: 628 personsColonial Heights, VA628Bristol, VA: 587 personsBristol, VA587Williamsburg, VA: 578 personsWilliamsburg, VA578Radford, VA: 534 personsRadford, VA534Falls Church, VA: 323 personsFalls Church, VA323Poquoson, VA: 270 personsPoquoson, VA270Virginia Beach, VA: 14,869 personsVirginia Beach, VA14,869Richmond, VA: 10,898 personsRichmond, VA10,898Norfolk, VA: 10,067 personsNorfolk, VA10,067Newport News, VA: 8,077 personsNewport News, VA8,077Chesapeake, VA: 7,736 personsChesapeake, VA7,736Alexandria, VA: 6,165 personsAlexandria, VA6,165Hampton, VA: 5,695 personsHampton, VA5,695Portsmouth, VA: 4,421 personsPortsmouth, VA4,421Roanoke, VA: 3,909 personsRoanoke, VA3,909Suffolk, VA: 3,002 personsSuffolk, VA3,002Lynchburg, VA: 2,665 personsLynchburg, VA2,665Petersburg, VA: 1,954 personsPetersburg, VA1,954Danville, VA: 1,939 personsDanville, VA1,939Charlottesville, VA: 1,690 personsCharlottesville, VA1,690Harrisonburg, VA: 1,586 personsHarrisonburg, VA1,586Leesburg, VA: 1,465 personsLeesburg, VA1,465Manassas, VA: 1,464 personsManassas, VA1,464Hopewell, VA: 1,091 personsHopewell, VA1,091Fredericksburg, VA: 1,024 personsFredericksburg, VA1,024Winchester, VA: 899 personsWinchester, VA899Blacksburg, VA: 876 personsBlacksburg, VA876Staunton, VA: 801 personsStaunton, VA801Fairfax, VA: 765 personsFairfax, VA765Salem, VA: 758 personsSalem, VA758Waynesboro, VA: 720 personsWaynesboro, VA720Manassas Park, VA: 662 personsManassas Park, VA662Martinsville, VA: 644 personsMartinsville, VA644Colonial Heights, VA: 628 personsColonial Heights, VA628Bristol, VA: 587 personsBristol, VA587Williamsburg, VA: 578 personsWilliamsburg, VA578Radford, VA: 534 personsRadford, VA534Falls Church, VA: 323 personsFalls Church, VA323Poquoson, VA: 270 personsPoquoson, VA270
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2020
persons		Change on 2019
1Virginia Beach, VA14,869+137.3%
2Richmond, VA10,898+186.9%
3Norfolk, VA10,067+164.4%
4Newport News, VA8,077+161.6%
5Chesapeake, VA7,736+120.1%
6Alexandria, VA6,165+192.6%
7Hampton, VA5,695+136.3%
8Portsmouth, VA4,421+154.7%
9Roanoke, VA3,909+165.2%
10Suffolk, VA3,002+122%
11Lynchburg, VA2,665+104.2%
12Petersburg, VA1,954+164.1%
13Danville, VA1,939+101.6%
14Charlottesville, VA1,690+178.9%
15Harrisonburg, VA1,586+107.3%
16Leesburg, VA1,465+147.5%
17Manassas, VA1,464+163.3%
18Hopewell, VA1,091+162.3%
19Fredericksburg, VA1,024+126%
20Winchester, VA899+121.4%
21Blacksburg, VA876+21.2%
22Staunton, VA801+140.5%
23Fairfax, VA765+166.6%
24Salem, VA758+114.7%
25Waynesboro, VA720+141.6%
26Manassas Park, VA662+196.9%
27Martinsville, VA644+181.2%
28Colonial Heights, VA628+124.3%
29Bristol, VA587+118.2%
30Williamsburg, VA578+118.1%
31Radford, VA534+91.4%
32Falls Church, VA323+84.6%
33Poquoson, VA270+75.3%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents with no job who were available for work and had looked for work in the previous four weeks, or were waiting to be recalled from a layoff, 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. The survey definition, not a count of benefit claimants. 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: unemployment (measure 04), 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average (Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average, Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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/unemployed-people/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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2020.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average, Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average: Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2020. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average: Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2020.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), 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 unemployed people using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest unemployed people?

Virginia Beach, VA, with 14,869 in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest unemployed people?

Poquoson, VA, with 270 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 cities have no value for 2020 and are not ranked.

Unemployed people: other rankings

Cities in Virginia: more rankings