Alexandria has seen a drop in citywide employment since the start of the second Trump administration.
Total employment reported in the city by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the first quarter of 2026 was 79,000, down 2.6% from the first quarter of 2025. Updated figures were reported Aug. 28.
The drop in total employment was less than in the District of Columbia and localities immediately adjacent to it:
- The District of Columbia, with 715,700 total jobs, and Arlington, with 172,000, each lost 4.5% during the period
- Montgomery County recorded a drop of 4% to 440,700
- Prince George’s County dipped 2.9% to 320,400
D.C. and Arlington saw the largest declines in the country, on a percentage basis, during the period. The localities have some of the largest concentrations of federal government facilities in the region, as well as private sector firms with federal contracts.
According to analysts at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
“Within Washington, the largest employment decrease occurred in combined government, with a loss of 25,704 (-11%). Within Arlington, the largest employment decrease occurred in professional and business services, with a loss of 3,563 (-5.6%).”
Fairfax County saw a 2.1% decline to 622,800 jobs during the period.
Jurisdictions in the outer suburbs fared better, with Loudoun County seeing an employment uptick of 2.8% to 206,100 and Prince William County recording growth of 1% to 146,400.
The quarterly report counts those employed within localities. It is different from monthly unemployment data, which counts individuals by place of residence, no matter where they are employed.
The data counts workers covered by federal unemployment insurance programs covering both the private sector and federal government. The quarterly survey of the nation’s 376 largest U.S. counties — and, in Virginia, independent cities — represented just under three-quarters of those covered nationally.
From March 2025 to March 2026, employment increased in just 151 of the 376 communities in the survey. Nationally, employment was up 0.1% to 154.8 million.
Employment declines in the inner Northern Virginia suburbs were part of the reason Virginia’s total employment dropped 0.2% year over year for the quarter, to just over 4.1 million.
Among major jurisdictions elsewhere in the commonwealth:
- Chesterfield County: Employment was down 0.7% to 148,300
- Henrico County: Down 0.4% to 190,700
- Chesapeake: Down 0.8% to 106,000
- Newport News: Down 0.7% to 101,900
- Norfolk: Down 1% to 142,200
- Virginia Beach: Up 0.6% to 180,800
Image via Tim Gouw/Unsplash
