State of the Region Reports

2024 State of the Region Report is Now Available!

The 2024 State of the Region Report is divided into seven parts:

As Good As It Gets? The Economy of Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads’ economy was a study in contrasts in 2024. For the first time in almost two decades, the regional economy grew in four consecutive years. A record number of individuals were in the civilian labor force and employed, and employers reported a record number of jobs. Job growth, however, lagged our peers. Now is the time to invest in key industry clusters to spur private-sector job growth in the region and build upon our recent economic fortunes.

Defense, the Port, and Tourism: The Pillars of the Economy
There was (mostly) good news to report about the pillars of the Hampton Roads economy in 2024. More defense spending flowed into the region. While cargo traffic declined at the Port of Virginia in 2023, the declines were mainly driven by outbound cargo traffic. The declines at the Port were also proportionally less than many other ports across the nation. Nominal hotel revenues continued to climb, but real hotel revenues fell in 2023 as occupancy rates dipped slightly. The hotel industry, however, continued to outperform the state and the nation.

If You Zone It, They Will Come: The Supply of Housing in Hampton Roads
The recent rise in housing prices in Hampton Roads has priced many families out of the American dream of owning a home. Even though fewer houses sold in 2023, median single-family prices continued to rise. In this chapter, we discuss one factor that influences the supply of housing: local regulations and policies. We discuss how these policies and regulations may influence decisions to build and ask what can be done to increase the supply of housing in Hampton Roads for aspiring homeowners and renters.

Public Libraries: Enriching lives in Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is home to 63 public libraries across 13 library systems. These public libraries do much, much more than simply lending books. Access is free, and everyone is welcome. This chapter provides an overview of Hampton Roads’ public libraries—how they function and how they are funded, and the diversity of services and resources they offer to our residents. We focus on the innovative ways that public libraries have evolved to meet their communities’ changing needs.

Are Disability Rates Rising in Hampton Roads?
In this chapter, we examine one particular corner of a much larger disability story — those individuals who have a work history and subsequently seek to receive income from the Social Security Administration because of that disability. Contrary to what many people believe, both the number of applications for worker disability and rates of approval of those applications have trended downward in recent years. We explore the differences in disability rates and workers across Hampton Roads.

The Greying of Hampton Roads
In 2010, the median age of the resident population of Hampton Roads was 35.7 years. By 2019, the median age had increased to 36.8 years, rising to 37.1 years in 2021 and 37.3 years in 2022. The number of residents aged 65 and over continued to rise. How is Hampton Roads aging compared to Virginia and the United States? In this chapter, we explore how the region is aging, how it may age in the future, and how this may impact the region’s economic prospects.