The NUWC Newport Division is on station at NS Newport, which is partly within the city limits of Newport, Rhode Island. Newport has about 25,000 people, and is in Newport County, which has a population of about 83,000 people. Other nearby small communities include Jamestown (5,000), Little Compton (4,000), Middletown (16,000), Portsmouth (17,000), and Tiverton (16,000).

The state capital and largest city in Rhode Island is Providence (182,000), about 40 minutes north in good traffic. The entire state of Rhode Island is within an hour's travel of Newport; both the eastern Connecticut and southern Massachusetts are within an hours travel as well. Traffic can be a limiter, but there are dozens of towns and villages within a reasonable half-hour commute.

Local Housing Rental Prices: The average apartment rent in the Newport area ranges from $925 to $1200 per month, with a median of about $1700 per month.

Local Housing Purchase Prices: The average price for a house in Newport in the last few years was about $402,000, compared to about $260,000 for Rhode Island.

Short Description of the Area: Newport and surrounding area are one of the more populated cities of Rhode Island, making up a medium sized community. Newport in on the south end of the state, on Aquidneck Island, which is the original Rhode Island island (Aquidneck was the native word for the island, and it became a term for the island to avoid confusion with the state). This is a fairly active port city with warm summers and cool winters.

Counties and Local Government: The state of Rhode Island does not really have county governments any more, with most of the local county government functions handled by either town or state offices as appropriate. This is partly because Rhode Island is such a small state - it only ever had five counties to begin with, and the entire state is smaller than over one hundred counties in other states. In the modern world improved communication and vehicle speed makes it much easier to perform local government functions than in the 1600s, when Rhode Island was founded.

Climate and Weather: The area has a humid climate, with winter temperatures ranging from the low 40s to low 20s and summer temperatures ranging from the low 80s to low 60s. Summers are generally warm with up to five inches of rain in a month. Winters are cool or chilly; snow is unusual, but can happen, and occasional serious storms rolling in from the northeast or off the Atlantic.