Regional briefing: Hampton Roads jobs, population and housing trends and what they mean for Poquoson
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Summary
The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission presented benchmarks showing modest regional population growth, 2025 job contractions tied to federal civilian workforce cuts, and mixed housing signals; presenters said Poquoson saw stronger population and construction growth in 2024 relative to regional averages.
The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission presented a regional benchmarking briefing to the Poquoson City Council ahead of the city’s budget retreat.
Nikki Johnson, HRPDC regional economist, summarized the “Little Book of Big Data,” a pocket version of the commission’s annual benchmarking study. She said Hampton Roads’s population grew at an average annual rate of about 0.2% from 2020 to 2024 and that net international migration has become a larger contributor to regional growth; by contrast, Poquoson’s 2024 population surge was driven chiefly by net domestic in-migration.
Johnson reported that the region saw a full job recovery by 2023 but experienced a contraction in 2025. She attributed the 2025 job decline in Hampton Roads largely to reductions in the federal civilian workforce (the region is home to one of the largest federal civilian presences); HRPDC counted a loss of about 6,000 federal civilian positions in 2025. Labor-force participation and employment fell in the region over the past year, with a small uptick in December data that Johnson said may indicate the trough has passed.
On housing, Johnson said existing home sales ticked up in 2025 as mortgage rates eased from over 7% toward about 6%, which helped sales recover; however, new residential construction remained at historic lows through October 2025. Johnson noted that Poquoson recorded its highest level of new construction on record in 2024, driven in part by a local development legacy that boosted permits.
Council members asked about historical building-permit data; Johnson said her permit dataset begins in 1990 but she would look for earlier census-era records.
The HRPDC briefing was provided as background for council budget discussions. Council members were encouraged to review HRPDC and HRTPO materials online to comment on draft regional transportation and planning documents.