These Are The 10 Cities In Virginia With The Lowest Unemployment Rate

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If you find yourself dissatisfied with where your career is, but not your home, you might be looking for a new job within your community — but how hard will finding one be in your hometown? To help, we present to you the cities in Virginia with the strongest job markets by unemployment rates.

Many people live where they do because a job brought them there, but if you’re trying to live up to a millennial stereotype and move to Virginia for some arbitrary reason… or even looking for a new job or moving to a state first and getting a job after, then the job market’s strength is especially important for you.

Well we went to the source of all things demographic data – the Census – to figure out which cities have the lowest unemployment. We set a threshold of city population and found data for each city in the Old Dominion and crunched the numbers to find the cream of the crop:

Even if you’re an employer looking for a strong community to relocate to, a highly employed population is a powerful indicator of a community’s overall health. And, in that regard, Vienna takes the cake as the place in Virginia with the lowest unemployment rate.

Read on to see how we help you identify those places in Virginia that have the most robust job force.

Or for more Virginia job information, check out:

How We Determined The Cities In Virginia With The Lowest Unemployment Rates

Before we could dive into what Virginia’s most employed cities were, we needed to know where to look in the first place. We settled upon any place with over 12,000 people and data available for our criteria.

This left us with 38 places in Virginia.

We then looked at the unemployment rates to determine the cream from the crop when it comes to low unemployment, and our data comes directly from the latest American Community Survey from the Census.

We thought the rate alone was representative of the current state of each city’s job market with the potential for a person to get a job there, whether they were making an intrastate, interstate, or intercity job transfer.

We ranked all the cities for the criteria from one to 38 with one being the “most employed city in Virginia”. Where there was a tie, the winner went to the bigger city.

If your city or town isn’t among the top ten, jump down to the bottom of the post to see a detailed chart. Otherwise, learn more about how the top ten cities achieved their potential.

1. Vienna

Population: 16,173
Unemployment Rate: 3.2%
Vienna comes in at the top of our list, taking the cake and not sharing a bit of it with only 3.2 percent unemployment, easily blowing away the competition as the top contender.

Certain perks come with being the gold medalist like always having a job.

2. Christiansburg

Population: 21,427
Unemployment Rate: 3.9%
You might say that second place is actually the first place loser, but Christiansburg doesn’t… because it doesn’t look nearly as good on a dating profile as as “first runner-up” or “silver medalist”.

3. Falls Church

Population: 13,074
Unemployment Rate: 4.2%
And rounding out our champions’ podium is Falls Church, earning the bronze medal with a score of 4.2 percent in the unemployment rate category.

4. Charlottesville

Population: 44,505
Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
Following right behind in the number four slot is Charlottesville. With a population of 44505 residents, Charlottesville is a solid place to move in Virginia if you plan on getting your career search started.

5. Leesburg

Population: 46,211
Unemployment Rate: 4.3%
The coveted #5 spot has fallen to the residents in Leesburg. Numbering around 46211 people, this city is doing it big with decidedly desirable unemployment rate of 4.3%.

I’m really happy for them, you know, what with their stable careers and all.

6. Manassas Park

Population: 14,992
Unemployment Rate: 4.4%
The city of Manassas Park is coming in at #6 with some solid numbers — not enough to blow you away, but enough to make you think twice about moving to another city you were thinking of just because of the dog parks.

7. Poquoson

Population: 12,103
Unemployment Rate: 4.5%
Taking the bittersweet #7 spot is the town of Poquoson. With a unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, this city is doing big things like a boss — like the one that’ll be hiring you in this solid job market.

8. Alexandria

Population: 146,422
Unemployment Rate: 4.5%
Coming in at #8, Alexandria has a job market strong enough to tempt people away from some of Virginia’s flashier cities where the unemployment rate isn’t as competitive.

9. Salem

Population: 25,120
Unemployment Rate: 4.8%
Finishing strong at #9 the town of Salem, where the unemployment rate is strong enough to keep this city, which is not at allknown as “The City of Hopes and Dreams”, but should consider adopting it.

10. Waynesboro

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 21,177
Unemployment Rate: 4.9%
Rounding out our list and coming in at #10 is the city of Waynesboro, Virginia. Don’t forget, just because it’s last place in this top ten list, that’s still out of 38.

Waynesboro’s parents are still proud of its life choices.

There You Have It – Unemployment Across Virginia

There you have it folks, the Ten Cities With the Lowest Unemployment in the state of {state}. They have the numbers and jobs to back it up.

If you’re just dying to move to the {nickname} and feel like throwing caution to the wind and moving-first- getting-employed-later, stick to the cities in our top ten.

If you’d like more information on different cities and states around the U.S. be sure to visit www.zippia.com to have all of your questions answered — and if you’re a recent college graduate thinking about moving states, check out which states college grads tend to stay in and which states they abandon.

Here’s a quick look are the places in Virginia with the highest unemployment rate:

Petersburg
Hopewell
Danville

Detailed List Of Cities With The Lowest Unemployment In Virginia

City	Rank	Unemployment
Vienna	1	3.2%
Christiansburg	2	3.9%
Falls Church	3	4.2%
Charlottesville	4	4.3%
Leesburg	5	4.3%
Manassas Park	6	4.4%
Poquoson	7	4.5%
Alexandria	8	4.5%
Salem	9	4.8%
Waynesboro	10	4.9%
Fairfax	11	5.4%
Staunton	12	5.6%
Virginia Beach	13	6.1%
Herndon	14	6.2%
Harrisonburg	15	6.5%
Winchester	16	6.7%
Blacksburg	17	7.5%
Chesapeake	18	7.5%
Manassas	19	7.5%
Culpeper	20	7.9%
Lynchburg	21	8.0%
Suffolk	22	8.0%
Roanoke	23	8.3%
Colonial Heights	24	8.3%
Williamsburg	25	8.5%
Radford	26	8.8%
Fredericksburg	27	8.9%
Newport News	28	9.1%
Front Royal	29	9.6%
Hampton	30	9.8%
Richmond	31	10.0%
Bristol	32	10.7%
Norfolk	33	10.9%
Martinsville	34	11.5%
Portsmouth	35	11.6%
Danville	36	12.7%
Hopewell	37	12.8%
Petersburg	38	13.0%

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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