The Richmond Region straddles the
Fall
Line, the meeting zone of the Coastal
Plain and the Piedmont. It is home to approximately 711,000 Virginians, a
gain in population of about 11 percent between 1980 and 1988. (The Richmond
MSA, which includes Petersburg, Hopewell and adjacent counties has a
population of 842,000.) Approximately 214,500 of the region's residents live
in the City of Richmond, a drop of about 4700 people from 1980.
However, this loss of population is substantially less than the drop of 30,000 from 1970 to 1980 and more than made up by migration into the suburban ring. Chesterfield, New Kent, and Hanover counties, in particular, have experienced growth rates of 32 percent, 26 percent, and 17 percent, respectively, over the last eight years.
Richmond is well situated to play an important role among Virginia's regions. It is located approximately equidistant from Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and Lynchburg and is very close to the state's center of gravity of population--which, in 1980 was located thirty miles west of Richmond near the Powhatan-Goochland County border. The city also benefits from an excellent position in reference to the state's transportation network, lying at the junction of I-64 and I-95, two of the most heavily traveled highways in the state, as well as along several major rail lines.
The outlook for the Richmond Region's economic future is a positive one, not because of any single factor but because of the diversity of the region's economy. Richmond's role as the state capital contributes to, but does not dominate, the region's economy, as does government-related employment in Northern Virginia or federal military spending in Hampton Roads. While there are 42,500 state workers in the region, this figure is only 9 percent of the labor force in the MSA. Another 17,700 people work for the federal government. In fact, when the number of state employees as a percentage of population is considered, Richmond is not heavily specialized in government employment. Banking, the manufacture of nondurable goods, transportation, and trade are greater relative specializations.
The Richmond MSA provides employment for a total of approximately 472,000 workers. In order of the number of workers, the major employment categories of the region are services; retail trade; manufacturing; state government; finance, insurance and real estate; local government; construction; wholesale trade; transportation and public utilities and federal government. Within the manufacturing category of some 63,700 employees, the largest category of workers is in the tobacco industry. Other important manufacturing categories are chemicals, printing and publishing, paper, and wood manufactures.
This economic diversity, which is typical of the entire Richmond region, helps to insulate it from hardship due to economic fluctuation in particular sectors of the economy. The region's location also allows it to benefit from growth in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and the Piedmont-Valley regions and, indeed, the state as a whole.
Landsat image of Richmond and central Virginia from NASA Observatorium