An overview of Hampton Roads

Home to 1.79 million people across 17 localities, Hampton Roads is Virginia’s second most populous region, just behind Northern Virginia. It also boasts the commonwealth’s biggest city by population: Virginia Beach, with 457,900 residents. Nearby Norfolk is the densest locality in the region, with 4,467 people per square mile, according to 2020 U.S. Census data.

Hampton Roads is also a major economic driver, as the home of the Port of Virginia; Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest Navy base; Naval Air Station Oceana, the Navy’s East Coast master jet base; Huntington Ingalls Industries, including its Newport News Shipbuilding division; and Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion offshore wind farm being constructed 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, for which monopile installation began in May. Also underway is the $3.9 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion, the state’s largest-ever highway project.

As for higher education, the region’s institutions include Christopher Newport University, Regent University, Virginia Wesleyan University, William & Mary, Old Dominion University, Hampton University, Norfolk State University, four community colleges and ECPI University, which is headquartered in Virginia Beach.