Newport News & Hampton

The Virginia Peninsula's two largest cities — Newport News (pop. 186,247) and Hampton (pop. 137,148) — form a continuous urban corridor along the I-64 spine between the James and York rivers. Newport News stretches 25 miles from the shipbuilding yards of Huntington Ingalls Industries (the largest private employer in Virginia) at the southeastern tip to the suburban neighborhoods of Denbigh and Grafton in the north. City Center at Oyster Point is Newport News's mixed-use commercial hub. Hampton, one of America's oldest continuously inhabited English-speaking settlements (1610), is home to Joint Base Langley-Eustis (Air Force/Army), NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton University, and the Virginia Air & Space Science Center. Phoebus, Buckroe Beach, and Fox Hill provide waterfront living along the Chesapeake Bay, while Coliseum Central serves as the city's retail corridor.