Virginia Paycheck Calculator & Income Tax Rates (2026)

Virginia applies 4 rates to taxable income — that is, income after the state standard deduction or exemption. Only the slice of income inside each band is taxed at that band's rate.

Virginia's effective state rate climbs with income as more of your salary lands in higher bands. The last column shows the state rate on your next dollar at each level.

Virginia's joint brackets are the same as single brackets, so the marriage effect here comes from the deduction and the federal side. On $100,000 a joint return keeps $80,195 versus $74,121 for a single filer.

Virginia's income tax is graduated only in name. The four brackets — 2%, 3%, 5% and 5.75% — top out at just $17,000 of taxable income, and those thresholds have not moved since 1990, so a teacher and a surgeon both pay 5.75% on nearly every marginal dollar. The rates are unchanged for 2026, and repeated Republican efforts to cut the top rate have failed in the General Assembly; the compromise has been a temporarily enhanced standard deduction of $8,500 for single filers and $17,000 for joint filers that lawmakers keep extending budget to budget. Virginia starts from federal adjusted gross income and follows federal itemizing rules, with a handful of subtractions — chiefly for retirement income and military pay — that do most of the work of differentiating taxpayers. The brackets are the same for every filing status, which creates a marriage penalty that a small spouse tax adjustment credit only partly offsets.

The standard deduction is $8,500 for single filers and $17,000 for joint filers under the current budget, with a $930 personal exemption per person and an additional $800 for taxpayers 65 or older or blind. Itemizing on the Virginia return is allowed only if you itemized federally. Low-income workers can claim either a nonrefundable credit equal to 20% of the federal EITC or a refundable credit equal to 15%. Contributions to a Virginia529 account are deductible up to $4,000 per account per year.

Virginia's constitution reserves the income tax to the state, so no city or county levies one. Localities fund themselves through real estate and vehicle property taxes, the business license (BPOL) gross-receipts tax, and local meals and lodging taxes — Richmond's meals tax is 7.5% on top of sales tax.

The general rate is 5.3% statewide (4.3% state plus a uniform 1% local share), rising to 6% in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and the Richmond region through regional transportation add-ons, and 7% in the Williamsburg historic triangle. The state's share of the grocery tax was repealed in 2023, leaving groceries and hygiene products at the 1% local rate. Prescription drugs are exempt.

Real estate taxes are moderate, around 0.8% of market value on average, but Northern Virginia's assessments make Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun bills among the highest in the South in dollar terms. Virginia's distinctive extra is the annual personal property tax on vehicles, which localities levy on a car's assessed value and the state partially offsets through car tax relief on the first $20,000. Real estate tax relief for elderly and disabled owners is set locality by locality.

Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement benefits are fully exempt. Taxpayers 65 and older may claim an age deduction of up to $12,000 per person, reduced dollar for dollar as adjusted federal income exceeds $50,000 for single filers or $75,000 for couples — so it helps modest-income retirees and vanishes for affluent ones. Military retirement pay qualifies for a separate subtraction of up to $40,000 per retiree, phased up from $10,000 in 2022 and, since 2024, no longer restricted by age. Pensions, annuities and 401(k) or IRA withdrawals are otherwise taxed as ordinary income at the near-flat 5.75%. A military couple each drawing a $40,000 pension owes Virginia nothing on it; a private-sector couple drawing the same amount from IRAs pays close to $4,000.

Because the top rate arrives at $17,000, middle earners fare relatively worse and high earners relatively better than in states with genuinely progressive schedules — a $60,000 salary and a $600,000 salary face the same 5.75% at the margin. Military retirees are the clearest winners with the $40,000 subtraction, followed by lower-income seniors using the age deduction. In the Washington suburbs, living in Virginia rather than Maryland avoids Maryland's mandatory county tax of up to 3.2%, worth thousands a year to a dual-income couple; reciprocity with Maryland, D.C., West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania means wages are taxed only where you live. Two-earner couples should file separately on the combined return to use both sets of lower brackets.

The median household income in Virginia is $72,000, which is $56,033 a year ($4,669 a month) after all taxes. That is above the national median, reflecting Virginia's higher cost of living and correspondingly higher wages. After adjusting for cost of living, the purchasing power of that take-home is equivalent to $54,401 in an average-cost area.

Virginia ranks #43 of 50 for raw take-home pay and #38 for cost-adjusted purchasing power at $100,000. The 5-place gap between the two reflects an above-average cost of living that erodes what the take-home actually buys. The best state (Alaska) leaves $79,125; the worst (Oregon) leaves $70,932. Virginia is $5,004 behind the leader.

Virginia Tax Questions, Answered

Compare Virginia with Other South States

Specific Salaries in Virginia