Chesapeake city vs Virginia Beach city

A side-by-side comparison of Chesapeake city and Virginia Beach city: population, income, housing, and more.

Chesapeake city and Virginia Beach city are counties in Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Virginia Beach city has the higher population (457,066 vs 251,153 in Chesapeake city). Chesapeake city has the higher median household income ($94,189 vs $90,685 in Virginia Beach city). Virginia Beach city has the higher median home value ($366,300 vs $359,100 in Chesapeake city).

Population, income & housing

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
Population	251,153	457,066
Median age	37.7 yrs	37.4 yrs
Median household income	$94,189	$90,685
Median home value	$359,100	$366,300
Median gross rent	$1,523	$1,649
Housing units	95,997	190,734
Homeownership rate	73.8%	64.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.4%	40.4%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
Population	239,982 → 251,153 (+4.7%)	450,201 → 457,066 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$78,640 → $94,189 (+19.8%)	$76,610 → $90,685 (+18.4%)
Median home value	$273,700 → $359,100 (+31.2%)	$280,800 → $366,300 (+30.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,279 → $1,523 (+19.1%)	$1,367 → $1,649 (+20.6%)

Chesapeake city

Population

239,982251,153

Median household income

$78,640$94,189

Median home value

$273,700$359,100

Median gross rent

$1,279$1,523

Virginia Beach city

Population

450,201457,066

Median household income

$76,610$90,685

Median home value

$280,800$366,300

Median gross rent

$1,367$1,649

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
Under 5	6.2%	6.0%
5 to 17	18.2%	16.1%
18 to 24	8.0%	8.5%
25 to 34	13.7%	15.7%
35 to 44	14.8%	14.1%
45 to 54	12.2%	11.7%
55 to 64	12.8%	12.6%
65 to 74	8.9%	9.2%
75 and over	5.2%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
White (non-Hispanic)	54.4%	59.4%
Black or African American	28.5%	18.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.7%	7.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.2%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	7.4%	8.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
No high school diploma	6.6%	5.3%
High school graduate	24.1%	21.3%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	22.4%	25.0%
Graduate or professional degree	14.0%	15.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
Drove alone	77.4%	75.3%
Carpooled	8.1%	7.5%
Public transit	0.6%	0.8%
Walked	0.9%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	11.5%	12.7%
Other means	1.5%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
1-unit, detached	67.3%	54.8%
1-unit, attached	13.4%	18.3%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	12.0%
20 or more units	4.7%	7.7%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Chesapeake city	Virginia Beach city
Poverty rate	8.7%	8.4%
Average household size	2.67	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	26	23
Median year structure built	1989	1984