Norfolk is a relatively large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 232,995 people and 80 associated neighborhoods, Norfolk is the fourth largest community in Virginia.
8.24% of the workforce is employed in the armed forces, making the military a huge focus of life in Norfolk. Even though it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy. The Healthcare and Retail industries respectively employ 14.13% and 11.46% of the civilian workforce.
Also of interest is that Norfolk has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.29% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Another interesting thing about Norfolk, despite not being a huge city, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.
One of the nice things about Norfolk is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
In terms of college education, Norfolk is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 32.17% of adults in Norfolk have a college degree.
The per capita income in Norfolk in 2022 was $35,761, which is middle income relative to Virginia, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $143,044 for a family of four. However, Norfolk contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Norfolk is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Norfolk home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Norfolk residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Norfolk include German, Irish, English, Italian, and African.
The most common language spoken in Norfolk is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog.