Work & commute · Portsmouth

Work & commute in Portsmouth, VA

Most working residents leave Portsmouth for work: only 17% work in town. The top destinations are Chesapeake (19%), Norfolk (16%) and Virginia Beach (14%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

17%

6,556 of 38,941 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 32,385 Portsmouth residents head out of town to work, 6,556 work right here, and 23,484 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portsmouth.

32,385live here, work elsewhere

6,556live and work here

23,484work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portsmouth goes to work

Chesapeake13.2 mi away

19%7,381

Portsmouth (in town)right here

17%6,556

Norfolk7.7 mi away

16%6,399

Virginia Beach19.4 mi away

14%5,316

Newport News17.1 mi away

6%2,458

Suffolk19 mi away

6%2,380

Hampton13.2 mi away

3%1,261

Richmond76.7 mi away

1%410

Smithfield15.9 mi away

1%198

Arlington144.9 mi away

0%173

Everywhere elseother towns and states

16%6,409

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Portsmouth commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

54%

29%

14%

54%Under 10 mi

29%10–24 mi

3%25–50 mi

14%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portsmouth is balanced between jobs and homes

0.77jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.77 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Portsmouth are

30,040 jobs are based in Portsmouth. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portsmouth’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Portsmouth

30,040 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month56%

Jobs Portsmouth residents hold

38,941 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month50%

−2%

Jobs based in Portsmouth, 2013 → 2023: 30,705 → 30,040. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.