Virginia Beach city area

Population and density of Virginia Beach city

The Census Bureau estimates that 453,737 people lived in Virginia Beach city on July 1, 2025. That ranks #166 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #3 of 133 in Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 459,417, the population has declined by 5,680 (−1.2%), compared with +2.9% for Virginia as a whole.

With 244.7 square miles of land, that is 1,854 people per square mile (716 per km²), placing Virginia Beach city #87 nationally for density and #21 in Virginia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Virginia median is 109. Put another way, there are about 0.345 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 Virginia Beach city

Every resident of Virginia Beach city lives within Virginia Beach city. The city and the county equivalent cover the same territory, 244.7 square miles of land in the 2026 place Gazetteer, so there are no separate towns or unincorporated areas to list.

Metropolitan area

Virginia Beach 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; Virginia Beach city accounts for 7.6% of the land and 25.2% 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

12 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Virginia Beach city, and each lies mostly inside the county.

234512345223453234542345523456234572345923460234612346223464

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 Virginia Beach city

Virginia Beach city shares a land border with 3 county equivalents, including 1 in North Carolina. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Chesapeake city (338.5 mi²) and the smallest is Norfolk city (53.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Virginia Beach city forms a block of 898.4 mi² of land, of which it holds 27.2%.

How big is Virginia Beach city compared with U.S. states?

Virginia Beach city has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 4.2 times as much. Virginia’s county land could hold about 161 areas the size of Virginia Beach city.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 15.6 miles (25.2 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 Virginia Beach city?

Virginia Beach city has more land than 300 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 Virginia Beach city at #2,194 nationally by total area, 728 places closer to the top than its land rank. The water assigned to this geography moves it ahead of some county equivalents with more land.

Its water share is 50.8%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 49.6 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 Virginia Beach 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.