The Majority of the people in Urban areas of Krishna district are engaged in trade and commerce. Agriculture is the most important occupation of the people of the district.
The District hosts many industries. KCP Sugar Factory at Vuyyur is one of the largest sugar plants in India. Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS) near Ibrahimpatnam is ranked as the No.1 Power generation unit in India for its high performance. Apart from this, many medium Scale Cement factories are there throughout the district. There are many small scale industries like musical instruments at Jaggayyapeta, gold-plated ornaments at Machilipatnam and Kondapalli toys. SIRIS Pharmaceutical Company at Vijayawada is another giant company manufacturing Allopathic medicines. The oldest port in Andhra Pradesh is at Machilipatnam. Bharat Electrical Limited (BEL) located at Machilipatnam and it is owned by the Indian Government & primarily manufactures advanced electronic products for the Indian Armed Forces. BEL is one of the eight PSUs under Ministry of Defence, Government Of India. It has even earned the government's Navratna status.
Household indicators
In 2007–2008 the International Institute for Population Sciences interviewed 1229 households in 34 villages across the district. They found that 94.7% had access to electricity, 93.4% had drinking water, 60.3% toilet facilities, and 45.5% lived in a pucca (permanent) home. 20.6% of girls wed before the legal age of 18 and 76.9% of interviewees carried a BPL card
