Portsmouth

Population & Demographics

Portsmouth, VA

Portsmouth is home to 97,190 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 42,476 resident workers commute each day.

VirginiaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2023
97,190
people
Population

97,190 residents

Median age 35.9 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).

Portsmouth population & demographics

Who lives in Portsmouth — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
97,190
Median age
35.9yrs
Median household income
$60,491
Median home value
$246,900
Median gross rent
$1,300/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
24.3%
Poverty rate
17.3%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Race & ethnicity in Portsmouth

How Portsmouth breaks down by race and ethnicity — each bar is that group’s share of the population, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).

Black50.2%
White35.4%
Two or more races6.5%
Hispanic or Latino5.4%
Asian1.6%
Some other race0.7%
American Indian / Alaska Native0.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander0.0%

Race across Portsmouth

Each dot is a group of people, placed in their 2020 Census block and colored by race or ethnicity — the pattern shows where groups live across Portsmouth.

Portsmouth at a glance
Employed Residents
42,476
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
6.2mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
17.0%
Share working within the area
Work from home
8.7%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Chesapeake
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Portsmouth proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Portsmouth commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

61
Commute Score

61 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Portsmouth

42,476 commutes, one dot at a time

Portsmouth

Where 42,476 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Portsmouth, by worker count.

1Chesapeake5.9 mi7,998
2Portsmouth0.0 mi7,239
3Norfolk6.2 mi6,935
4Virginia Beach14.1 mi5,875
5Newport News18.8 mi2,614
6Suffolk14.7 mi2,566
7Hampton14.4 mi1,381
8Richmond78.7 mi454

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Portsmouth.

1Portsmouth0.0 mi7,239
2Chesapeake5.9 mi5,524
3Virginia Beach14.1 mi4,293
4Norfolk6.2 mi3,402
5Suffolk14.7 mi2,654
6Hampton14.4 mi1,037
7Newport News18.8 mi917
8Richmond78.7 mi228

Top industries

The sectors that employ Portsmouth’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance19.1%
ADAdministrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services14.7%
RTRetail Trade9.6%
EDEducational Services8.6%
TRTransportation and Warehousing7.1%
AFAccommodation and Food Services7.1%
COConstruction6.1%
PAPublic Administration6.1%
MFManufacturing4.3%
Connectivity

Internet options for Portsmouth

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

4 providers · 1 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps100%
5 Gbps
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Portsmouth

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).