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Portsmouth, Virginia has 5 accredited schools offering engineering programs. Portsmouth has a population of about 97,299. Median household income is $58,972 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 23.2% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metro area, the top-earning engineering-related role is Architectural and Engineering Manager at a median $161,340 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer engineering programs near Portsmouth, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Portsmouth city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Portsmouth. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Virginia schools on the Virginia engineering page.
Portsmouth is part of the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metro area (BLS area code 47260). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Virginia statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineer | $94,680 | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $96,711 |
| Electrical Engineer | $103,210 | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $105,424 |
| Mechanical Engineer | $100,280 | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $102,431 |
| Chemical Engineer | $136,380 | VA statewide | $139,305 |
| Aerospace Engineer | $139,010 | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $141,992 |
| Biomedical Engineer | $102,720 | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $104,923 |
| Environmental Engineer | $102,110 | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $104,300 |
| Architectural and Engineering Manager | $161,340 | Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC | $164,801 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 97,299 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $58,972 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 23.2% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 97.9 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
| Engineering-related employment in Portsmouth (city) County | 410 workers, 32 establishments | BLS QCEW 2024 annual |
Accredited schools offering engineering programs near Portsmouth are listed on this page, ranked by BOC Score and distance from the city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS and College Scorecard data on every site update, so it stays current as programs open and close.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying engineering-related roles near Portsmouth are: Architectural and Engineering Manager ($161,340), Aerospace Engineer ($139,010), Chemical Engineer ($136,380). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Virginia statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Norfolk, VA is 6.2 miles from Portsmouth and has its own set of local engineering programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Portsmouth’s median household income of $58,972 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Portsmouth while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Virginia public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Portsmouth:
Data verified: July 23, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
