Data / Rankings / Unemployed people / Cities in Virginia

Cities in Virginia by unemployed people

Virginia Beach, VA had the highest unemployed people of 34 cities in 2024, at 6,545. Poquoson, VA had the lowest, at 172. The median was 614. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest6,545Virginia Beach, VA
Lowest172Poquoson, VA
Median61434 cities

All cities, 2024

Virginia Beach, VA: 6,545 personsVirginia Beach, VA6,545Richmond, VA: 4,312 personsRichmond, VA4,312Norfolk, VA: 3,731 personsNorfolk, VA3,731Chesapeake, VA: 3,694 personsChesapeake, VA3,694Newport News, VA: 3,099 personsNewport News, VA3,099Alexandria, VA: 2,457 personsAlexandria, VA2,457Hampton, VA: 2,442 personsHampton, VA2,442Portsmouth, VA: 1,686 personsPortsmouth, VA1,686Roanoke, VA: 1,605 personsRoanoke, VA1,605Suffolk, VA: 1,535 personsSuffolk, VA1,535Lynchburg, VA: 1,443 personsLynchburg, VA1,443Danville, VA: 935 personsDanville, VA935Harrisonburg, VA: 876 personsHarrisonburg, VA876Blacksburg, VA: 844 personsBlacksburg, VA844Petersburg, VA: 758 personsPetersburg, VA758Leesburg, VA: 737 personsLeesburg, VA737Charlottesville, VA: 621 personsCharlottesville, VA621Manassas, VA: 607 personsManassas, VA607Fredericksburg, VA: 508 personsFredericksburg, VA508Winchester, VA: 450 personsWinchester, VA450Hopewell, VA: 439 personsHopewell, VA439Salem, VA: 389 personsSalem, VA389Staunton, VA: 365 personsStaunton, VA365Herndon, VA: 360 personsHerndon, VA360Fairfax, VA: 349 personsFairfax, VA349Waynesboro, VA: 336 personsWaynesboro, VA336Radford, VA: 332 personsRadford, VA332Williamsburg, VA: 301 personsWilliamsburg, VA301Colonial Heights, VA: 295 personsColonial Heights, VA295Martinsville, VA: 279 personsMartinsville, VA279Bristol, VA: 270 personsBristol, VA270Manassas Park, VA: 251 personsManassas Park, VA251Falls Church, VA: 204 personsFalls Church, VA204Poquoson, VA: 172 personsPoquoson, VA172Virginia Beach, VA: 6,545 personsVirginia Beach, VA6,545Richmond, VA: 4,312 personsRichmond, VA4,312Norfolk, VA: 3,731 personsNorfolk, VA3,731Chesapeake, VA: 3,694 personsChesapeake, VA3,694Newport News, VA: 3,099 personsNewport News, VA3,099Alexandria, VA: 2,457 personsAlexandria, VA2,457Hampton, VA: 2,442 personsHampton, VA2,442Portsmouth, VA: 1,686 personsPortsmouth, VA1,686Roanoke, VA: 1,605 personsRoanoke, VA1,605Suffolk, VA: 1,535 personsSuffolk, VA1,535Lynchburg, VA: 1,443 personsLynchburg, VA1,443Danville, VA: 935 personsDanville, VA935Harrisonburg, VA: 876 personsHarrisonburg, VA876Blacksburg, VA: 844 personsBlacksburg, VA844Petersburg, VA: 758 personsPetersburg, VA758Leesburg, VA: 737 personsLeesburg, VA737Charlottesville, VA: 621 personsCharlottesville, VA621Manassas, VA: 607 personsManassas, VA607Fredericksburg, VA: 508 personsFredericksburg, VA508Winchester, VA: 450 personsWinchester, VA450Hopewell, VA: 439 personsHopewell, VA439Salem, VA: 389 personsSalem, VA389Staunton, VA: 365 personsStaunton, VA365Herndon, VA: 360 personsHerndon, VA360Fairfax, VA: 349 personsFairfax, VA349Waynesboro, VA: 336 personsWaynesboro, VA336Radford, VA: 332 personsRadford, VA332Williamsburg, VA: 301 personsWilliamsburg, VA301Colonial Heights, VA: 295 personsColonial Heights, VA295Martinsville, VA: 279 personsMartinsville, VA279Bristol, VA: 270 personsBristol, VA270Manassas Park, VA: 251 personsManassas Park, VA251Falls Church, VA: 204 personsFalls Church, VA204Poquoson, VA: 172 personsPoquoson, VA172
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2024
persons		Change on 2023
1Virginia Beach, VA6,545+4%
2Richmond, VA4,312+7.6%
3Norfolk, VA3,731+7%
4Chesapeake, VA3,694+5.9%
5Newport News, VA3,099+8%
6Alexandria, VA2,457+10.9%
7Hampton, VA2,442+7.4%
8Portsmouth, VA1,686+9.8%
9Roanoke, VA1,605+8.7%
10Suffolk, VA1,535+8.8%
11Lynchburg, VA1,443+4.9%
12Danville, VA935+13.6%
13Harrisonburg, VA876+9.5%
14Blacksburg, VA844+11.3%
15Petersburg, VA758+12.5%
16Leesburg, VA737+15%
17Charlottesville, VA621+7.4%
18Manassas, VA607+12%
19Fredericksburg, VA508+11.4%
20Winchester, VA450+9%
21Hopewell, VA439+7.1%
22Salem, VA389+9.3%
23Staunton, VA365+13.4%
24Herndon, VA360n/a
25Fairfax, VA349+11.9%
26Waynesboro, VA336+9.4%
27Radford, VA332+14.9%
28Williamsburg, VA301+7.5%
29Colonial Heights, VA295+11.3%
30Martinsville, VA279+9%
31Bristol, VA270+5.1%
32Manassas Park, VA251+10.1%
33Falls Church, VA204+6.3%
34Poquoson, VA172+12.4%

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. 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, 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average, Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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/unemployed-people/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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2024.

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, 2024 [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=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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average: Cities in Virginia by unemployed people, 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/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2024. 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, 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/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2024
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/virginia-cities?period=2024.
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 6,545 in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest unemployed people?

Poquoson, VA, with 172 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Unemployed people: other rankings

Cities in Virginia: more rankings