Photo: U.S. Navy photo · Public domainUnemployment in Portsmouth (6.6%) is higher than in 79% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.4 in Norfolk. For jobs and income Portsmouth is better than 34% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A). Working from home is the commute for 9% of workers (Virginia 18%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Portsmouth: the gist
Inside Portsmouth’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Portsmouth’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Portsmouth could be anywhere from C to C+.
How a workday changes Portsmouth
On a workday 31,830 residents head out to work, 6,752 work right here, and 23,570 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.79 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Chesapeake
Where Portsmouth clocks in
19% of workers
16% of workers
13% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Portsmouth
30,322 jobs are based in Portsmouth.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Portsmouth, 2014 → 2024: 30,035 → 30,322. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portsmouth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes each way for Portsmouth’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Portsmouth workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 41,486 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Virginia: 83% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How many miles Portsmouth commutes
About 15% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Portsmouth, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 45,445 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 76% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 34% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.0% of Portsmouth households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Portsmouth’s commuters take a bus or train.
371st of 447: where Portsmouth ranks among U.S. towns of 68,000 to 131,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | Bethesda MD | 69,397 | $192K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Centreville VA | 71,706 | $140K | 7.2% | 4.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Dale City VA | 71,016 | $112K | 7.0% | 5.0% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 210 | Suffolk VA | 104,699 | $93K | 9.4% | 5.0% | 22% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 369 | East Orange NJ | 72,159 | $61K | 16.4% | 9.2% | 8% | C |
| 370 | Dearborn MI | 105,611 | $65K | 24.3% | 6.6% | 23% | C |
| 371 | Portsmouth VA | 96,777 | $60K | 17.3% | 6.6% | 18% | C |
| 372 | Warren Township IN | 107,778 | $59K | 17.2% | 6.9% | 13% | C |
| 373 | Temple TX | 98,412 | $68K | 16.0% | 6.6% | 42% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 447 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Portsmouth, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Bordering towns draw 50% of Portsmouth’s workers
The biggest share goes to Chesapeake (19%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Portsmouth workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | – | C | A | 24 min | $60,491 |
| Chesapeake | 19% | B+ | B+ | 26 min | $95,373 |
| Suffolk | 6% | B+ | C+ | 30 min | $92,666 |
| Norfolk | 16% | C+ | A+ | 23 min | $66,109 |
| Hampton | 3% | C+ | A− | 23 min | $69,621 |
| Newport News | 6% | C+ | A | 23 min | $69,634 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Portsmouth’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Portsmouth: questions
What is the median household income in Portsmouth?
$60,491 (±$1,948) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Portsmouth?
17.3%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Portsmouth?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Portsmouth work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chesapeake (19%, 13 mi), Norfolk (16%, 8 mi), Virginia Beach (13%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Portsmouth walkable?
Portsmouth is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Portsmouth without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 34% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Portsmouth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Portsmouth
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.