Portsmouth city vs Suffolk city

A side-by-side comparison of Portsmouth city and Suffolk city: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Portsmouth city has the higher population (97,299 vs 96,638 in Suffolk city). Suffolk city has the higher median household income ($90,089 vs $58,972 in Portsmouth city). Suffolk city has the higher median home value ($329,600 vs $229,400 in Portsmouth city).

Population, income & housing

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
Population	97,299	96,638
Median age	35.8 yrs	38.7 yrs
Median household income	$58,972	$90,089
Median home value	$229,400	$329,600
Median gross rent	$1,266	$1,484
Housing units	43,233	39,651
Homeownership rate	56.9%	70.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.2%	32.4%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
Population	95,097 → 97,299 (+2.3%)	90,093 → 96,638 (+7.3%)
Median household income	$52,175 → $58,972 (+13.0%)	$74,884 → $90,089 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$170,900 → $229,400 (+34.2%)	$254,400 → $329,600 (+29.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,048 → $1,266 (+20.8%)	$1,201 → $1,484 (+23.6%)

Portsmouth city

Population

95,09797,299

Median household income

$52,175$58,972

Median home value

$170,900$229,400

Median gross rent

$1,048$1,266

Suffolk city

Population

90,09396,638

Median household income

$74,884$90,089

Median home value

$254,400$329,600

Median gross rent

$1,201$1,484

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
Under 5	7.1%	6.3%
5 to 17	16.1%	17.4%
18 to 24	9.1%	7.9%
25 to 34	16.6%	13.4%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.8%
45 to 54	10.6%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.6%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.1%
75 and over	5.8%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
White (non-Hispanic)	35.9%	46.5%
Black or African American	51.2%	41.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.4%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.7%
Two or more races	5.7%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
No high school diploma	10.8%	8.2%
High school graduate	31.7%	26.1%
Some college or associate's	34.3%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	8.3%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
Drove alone	73.1%	81.4%
Carpooled	11.9%	6.5%
Public transit	1.3%	0.2%
Walked	3.1%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.9%	9.3%
Other means	2.5%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
1-unit, detached	61.1%	73.6%
1-unit, attached	9.2%	6.3%
2 to 4 units	9.6%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	13.0%	8.4%
20 or more units	6.4%	4.4%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Portsmouth city	Suffolk city
Poverty rate	17.6%	9.9%
Average household size	2.38	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	23	30
Median year structure built	1966	1994