Chesapeake city area

Population and density of Chesapeake city

The Census Bureau estimates that 255,332 people lived in Chesapeake city on July 1, 2025. That ranks #290 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #7 of 133 in Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 249,251, the population has grown by 6,081 (+2.4%), compared with +2.9% for Virginia as a whole.

With 338.5 square miles of land, that is 754 people per square mile (291 per km²), placing Chesapeake city #243 nationally for density and #42 in Virginia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Virginia median is 109. Put another way, there are about 0.848 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Chesapeake city

Every resident of Chesapeake city lives within Chesapeake city. The city and the county equivalent cover the same territory, 338.5 square miles of land in the 2026 place Gazetteer, so there are no separate towns or unincorporated areas to list.

Metropolitan area

Chesapeake city is a central county of the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 18 county equivalents have 1,797,213 residents on 3,201.9 square miles of land; Chesapeake city accounts for 10.6% of the land and 14.2% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #96 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #38 by population. It belongs to the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake, VA-NC Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

6 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Chesapeake city, and each lies mostly inside the county.

233202332123322233232332423325

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Chesapeake city

Chesapeake city shares a land border with 6 county equivalents, including 2 in North Carolina. It has more land than 5 of them. The largest neighbor is Suffolk city (399.2 mi²) and the smallest is Portsmouth city (33.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Chesapeake city forms a block of 1,571.2 mi² of land, of which it holds 21.5%.

How big is Chesapeake city compared with U.S. states?

Chesapeake city has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 3.1 times as much. Virginia’s county land could hold about 117 areas the size of Chesapeake city.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 18.4 miles (29.6 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Chesapeake city?

Chesapeake city has more land than 505 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Chesapeake city at #2,730 nationally by total area, 13 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 3.6%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 2.4 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Chesapeake city in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.