Newport News city vs Richmond city

A side-by-side comparison of Newport News city and Richmond city: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Richmond city has the higher population (227,595 vs 184,774 in Newport News city). Newport News city has the higher median household income ($66,718 vs $62,671 in Richmond city). Richmond city has the higher median home value ($328,100 vs $243,300 in Newport News city).

Population, income & housing

	Newport News city	Richmond city
Population	184,774	227,595
Median age	34.2 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$66,718	$62,671
Median home value	$243,300	$328,100
Median gross rent	$1,285	$1,314
Housing units	81,850	112,848
Homeownership rate	48.1%	43.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.1%	44.1%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Newport News city	Richmond city
Population	179,673 → 184,774 (+2.8%)	226,622 → 227,595 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$53,215 → $66,718 (+25.4%)	$47,250 → $62,671 (+32.6%)
Median home value	$194,000 → $243,300 (+25.4%)	$230,500 → $328,100 (+42.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,057 → $1,285 (+21.6%)	$1,025 → $1,314 (+28.2%)

Newport News city

Population

179,673184,774

Median household income

$53,215$66,718

Median home value

$194,000$243,300

Median gross rent

$1,057$1,285

Richmond city

Population

226,622227,595

Median household income

$47,250$62,671

Median home value

$230,500$328,100

Median gross rent

$1,025$1,314

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Newport News city	Richmond city
Under 5	7.0%	5.9%
5 to 17	16.3%	11.7%
18 to 24	11.6%	11.7%
25 to 34	16.5%	21.6%
35 to 44	12.9%	13.5%
45 to 54	10.2%	10.1%
55 to 64	11.8%	11.9%
65 to 74	8.2%	8.7%
75 and over	5.5%	4.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Newport News city	Richmond city
White (non-Hispanic)	39.8%	41.0%
Black or African American	40.4%	41.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	3.3%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.9%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	10.5%	10.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Newport News city	Richmond city
No high school diploma	8.2%	10.7%
High school graduate	29.8%	21.2%
Some college or associate's	32.9%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	17.7%	26.0%
Graduate or professional degree	11.4%	18.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Newport News city	Richmond city
Drove alone	74.3%	64.9%
Carpooled	8.7%	7.8%
Public transit	1.9%	3.6%
Walked	3.6%	4.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.1%
Worked from home	9.3%	16.9%
Other means	1.9%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Newport News city	Richmond city
1-unit, detached	49.6%	45.1%
1-unit, attached	9.5%	7.4%
2 to 4 units	8.1%	11.8%
5 to 19 units	20.7%	14.8%
20 or more units	9.4%	20.1%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Newport News city	Richmond city
Poverty rate	15.1%	18.8%
Average household size	2.35	2.13
Mean commute (minutes)	23	22
Median year structure built	1979	1959