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 2021, at 8,351. Poquoson, VA had the lowest, at 173. The median was 765. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest8,351Virginia Beach, VA
Lowest173Poquoson, VA
Median76533 cities

All cities, 2021

Virginia Beach, VA: 8,351 personsVirginia Beach, VA8,351Richmond, VA: 6,123 personsRichmond, VA6,123Norfolk, VA: 6,068 personsNorfolk, VA6,068Newport News, VA: 4,768 personsNewport News, VA4,768Chesapeake, VA: 4,657 personsChesapeake, VA4,657Alexandria, VA: 3,627 personsAlexandria, VA3,627Hampton, VA: 3,492 personsHampton, VA3,492Portsmouth, VA: 2,846 personsPortsmouth, VA2,846Roanoke, VA: 2,269 personsRoanoke, VA2,269Suffolk, VA: 1,958 personsSuffolk, VA1,958Lynchburg, VA: 1,720 personsLynchburg, VA1,720Petersburg, VA: 1,293 personsPetersburg, VA1,293Danville, VA: 1,189 personsDanville, VA1,189Harrisonburg, VA: 951 personsHarrisonburg, VA951Charlottesville, VA: 884 personsCharlottesville, VA884Manassas, VA: 828 personsManassas, VA828Leesburg, VA: 765 personsLeesburg, VA765Hopewell, VA: 682 personsHopewell, VA682Blacksburg, VA: 657 personsBlacksburg, VA657Fredericksburg, VA: 627 personsFredericksburg, VA627Winchester, VA: 511 personsWinchester, VA511Staunton, VA: 460 personsStaunton, VA460Salem, VA: 442 personsSalem, VA442Fairfax, VA: 432 personsFairfax, VA432Waynesboro, VA: 423 personsWaynesboro, VA423Martinsville, VA: 407 personsMartinsville, VA407Colonial Heights, VA: 393 personsColonial Heights, VA393Manassas Park, VA: 351 personsManassas Park, VA351Bristol, VA: 340 personsBristol, VA340Radford, VA: 334 personsRadford, VA334Williamsburg, VA: 328 personsWilliamsburg, VA328Falls Church, VA: 216 personsFalls Church, VA216Poquoson, VA: 173 personsPoquoson, VA173Virginia Beach, VA: 8,351 personsVirginia Beach, VA8,351Richmond, VA: 6,123 personsRichmond, VA6,123Norfolk, VA: 6,068 personsNorfolk, VA6,068Newport News, VA: 4,768 personsNewport News, VA4,768Chesapeake, VA: 4,657 personsChesapeake, VA4,657Alexandria, VA: 3,627 personsAlexandria, VA3,627Hampton, VA: 3,492 personsHampton, VA3,492Portsmouth, VA: 2,846 personsPortsmouth, VA2,846Roanoke, VA: 2,269 personsRoanoke, VA2,269Suffolk, VA: 1,958 personsSuffolk, VA1,958Lynchburg, VA: 1,720 personsLynchburg, VA1,720Petersburg, VA: 1,293 personsPetersburg, VA1,293Danville, VA: 1,189 personsDanville, VA1,189Harrisonburg, VA: 951 personsHarrisonburg, VA951Charlottesville, VA: 884 personsCharlottesville, VA884Manassas, VA: 828 personsManassas, VA828Leesburg, VA: 765 personsLeesburg, VA765Hopewell, VA: 682 personsHopewell, VA682Blacksburg, VA: 657 personsBlacksburg, VA657Fredericksburg, VA: 627 personsFredericksburg, VA627Winchester, VA: 511 personsWinchester, VA511Staunton, VA: 460 personsStaunton, VA460Salem, VA: 442 personsSalem, VA442Fairfax, VA: 432 personsFairfax, VA432Waynesboro, VA: 423 personsWaynesboro, VA423Martinsville, VA: 407 personsMartinsville, VA407Colonial Heights, VA: 393 personsColonial Heights, VA393Manassas Park, VA: 351 personsManassas Park, VA351Bristol, VA: 340 personsBristol, VA340Radford, VA: 334 personsRadford, VA334Williamsburg, VA: 328 personsWilliamsburg, VA328Falls Church, VA: 216 personsFalls Church, VA216Poquoson, VA: 173 personsPoquoson, VA173
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2021
persons		Change on 2020
1Virginia Beach, VA8,351-43.8%
2Richmond, VA6,123-43.8%
3Norfolk, VA6,068-39.7%
4Newport News, VA4,768-41%
5Chesapeake, VA4,657-39.8%
6Alexandria, VA3,627-41.2%
7Hampton, VA3,492-38.7%
8Portsmouth, VA2,846-35.6%
9Roanoke, VA2,269-42%
10Suffolk, VA1,958-34.8%
11Lynchburg, VA1,720-35.5%
12Petersburg, VA1,293-33.8%
13Danville, VA1,189-38.7%
14Harrisonburg, VA951-40%
15Charlottesville, VA884-47.7%
16Manassas, VA828-43.4%
17Leesburg, VA765-47.8%
18Hopewell, VA682-37.5%
19Blacksburg, VA657-25%
20Fredericksburg, VA627-38.8%
21Winchester, VA511-43.2%
22Staunton, VA460-42.6%
23Salem, VA442-41.7%
24Fairfax, VA432-43.5%
25Waynesboro, VA423-41.3%
26Martinsville, VA407-36.8%
27Colonial Heights, VA393-37.4%
28Manassas Park, VA351-47%
29Bristol, VA340-42.1%
30Radford, VA334-37.5%
31Williamsburg, VA328-43.3%
32Falls Church, VA216-33.1%
33Poquoson, VA173-35.9%

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 2021 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, 2021) [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, 2021. 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=2021. 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, 2021. 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=2021.

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, 2021 [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=2021 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_virginia_by_2021,
  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, 2021}},
  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=2021. 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, 2021
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=2021
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2021.
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 8,351 in 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest unemployed people?

Poquoson, VA, with 173 in 2021.

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 2021 and are not ranked.

Unemployed people: other rankings

Cities in Virginia: more rankings