Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Suffolk grades D overall, 230th among Virginia's 249 graded towns, mostly because of safety. Its crime rate is higher than 75% of U.S. towns, with 381 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. It also has a long history, with 26 places on the National Register. 16% of the land in Suffolk is conserved, above both Virginia’s towns (4.6%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). Its National Register listings include St. John's Church and Glebe Church. Suffolk's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 82% of U.S. towns.
Where Suffolk beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,395 in 1860, a low of 930 in 1870, 94,324 in 2020. The archive holds 5 maps from 1919 on.
26 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Suffolk is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Suffolk, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Suffolk.
Suffolk fares better on crime within Virginia than nationally, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims and trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
287 miles of trail in 28 parks and preserves. Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, at 34,901 acres with 34.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge | 34.9 mi | 34,901 |
| 2. South Quay Sandhills Natural Area Preserve | 19.9 mi | 2,994 |
| 3. Lone Star Lakes Park | 7.2 mi | 1,001 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Suffolk City Public Schools. Two of its 24 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| King's Fork MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 986 | C− |
| King's Fork HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,686 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
At 31.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 61% of Virginia’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 2,204 to 1,683 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Suffolk’s violent crime rate is 3.6 per 1,000 residents, above both the Virginia town median (2.3) and the median of U.S. towns (1.6). Suffolk reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 75% report less.
| Suffolk | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.6 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 12.3 per 1,000 residents | 14.6 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
163 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 24 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 71% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 163 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Suffolk.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Suffolk has mild winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Suffolk is 89°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in 5 of Suffolk’s working residents works in town. Suffolk’s average trip to work is 30 minutes. Jobs based in Suffolk grew to 30,435 in 2023, 6,537 more than in 2013.
| Suffolk | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 22% | 4.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 11% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $93,000 | $102,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Virginia average. Suffolk has grown 11% since 2020, to 104,699 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 33% of Suffolk adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
| Suffolk | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 33% | 44% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 16% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 24% | 23% | 22% |
51.4% women, 48.6% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Virginia, 50.6% of residents are women. Median age: women 39.7, men 37.6.
| Suffolk | VA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.4% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.2% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.9% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.4% | 13.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14% | 13.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.3% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.5% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.2% | 9.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8.8% | 8.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 25.2% | 23.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 23.3% | 17.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.4% | 7.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.3% | 23.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.1% | 18.5% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Against the 9,615 U.S. towns with household incomes like Suffolk’s, it is less healthy than 76%, so it trails even them.
Suffolk beats the Virginia average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 42% of adults have obesity in Suffolk.
| Suffolk | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 34% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 33% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 36% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | Suffolk | VA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 9.8% | 7.1% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 14.1% | 10.9% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 16.5% | 13.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The typical Suffolk home is worth about $387,000, up 2.8% in a year, 6% below the Virginia typical home.
| Suffolk | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 57% | 47% | 48% |
| Median rent | $1,563 a month | $1,764 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
None within 15 miles of Suffolk; the nearest are
About 6 of every 100 Suffolk residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Virginia.
84,585 counted in 2010 and 94,324 in 2020; an estimated 104,699 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 10.9% since 2020, after 11.5% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
26 places in Suffolk on the National Register of Historic Places.
30 notable people were born in Suffolk.
Independent city in the United States
Suffolk (locally SUF-uuk) is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of 2020, the population was 94,324. It is the 10th-most populous city in Virginia, the largest city in Virginia by boundary land area as well as the 16th-largest in the country. Suffolk is located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. This also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, and smaller cities, counties, and towns of Hampton Roads. With miles of waterfront property on the Nansemond and James rivers, present-day Suffolk was formed in 1974 after consolidating with Nansemond County and the towns of Holland and Whaleyville.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Suffolk.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suffolk | #230 | D | C− | C | C | C+ |
| Portsmouth | #243 | D− | C | D− | D | C− |
| Chesapeake | #200 | C | C− | C | B+ | B− |
| Newport News | #227 | D | C | D | C | C |
| Carrsville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Carrsville isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Suffolk with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Suffolk grades D overall, better than 10% of U.S. towns and #230 of 249 in Virginia. It grades C+ for health, C for safety and C for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. That is 4.7 years of the area's median household income ($82,330 across the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
30 notable people were born here, including Charlie Byrd and Della H. Raney.
