Chesapeake is a relatively large city located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 252,488 people and 61 associated neighborhoods, Chesapeake is the second largest community in Virginia.Unlike some cities, Chesapeake isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Chesapeake are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Chesapeake is a city of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Chesapeake who work in office and administrative support (10.57%), management occupations (10.32%), and sales jobs (9.21%). There are quite a few people in the armed forces living in Chesapeake, and when you visit or drive around town, you will see military people in and out of uniform, shopping, enjoying life, and being part of the community. Also of interest is that Chesapeake 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: 9.84% 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. The population of Chesapeake is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 21.84% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 35.76% of adults in Chesapeake have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Chesapeake in 2022 was $42,753, which is upper middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $171,012 for a family of four. However, Chesapeake contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Chesapeake is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Chesapeake home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Chesapeake residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Chesapeake include English, German, Irish, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Chesapeake is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
