Norfolk is a relatively large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 232,995 people and 80 associated neighborhoods, Norfolk is the fourth largest community in Virginia.Norfolk is a military town: the armed forces employs 8.24% of the workforce, making the military a major focus of life in the city. In the civilian sector, Healthcare and Retail are important in the local economy and are the city’s largest civilian employers, employing 14.13% and 11.46% of the civilian workforce respectively. Also of interest is that Norfolk 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: 7.29% 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. Norfolk is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery. The education level of Norfolk citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 32.17% of adults in Norfolk have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Norfolk in 2022 was $35,761, which is middle income relative to Virginia, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $143,044 for a family of four. However, Norfolk contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Norfolk is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Norfolk home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Norfolk residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Norfolk include German, Irish, English, Italian, and African. The most common language spoken in Norfolk is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Tagalog.
