Virginia by the numbers
In Virginia, the median worker earns $53,020 a year, the typical home is worth $360,700 and carries $2,686 of property tax, and the average household pays $171 a month for electricity at 17.61¢ per kilowatt-hour.
South PJM Retail choice limited
Energy
Northern Virginia carries more data-centre capacity than any other region in the world, and the growth has not slowed. Serving it requires enormous transmission investment, new generation and reserve capacity, and Virginia sits inside PJM, where the resulting scarcity has repriced the whole regional capacity market.
The central regulatory question in Virginia is who pays. Utilities and data-centre operators negotiate large-load tariffs, and the state's regulator has been working through whether those rates fully cover the cost of the infrastructure built to serve them. To the extent they do not, the difference lands on other customers.
Virginia is also mid-way through implementing the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which mandates a carbon-free fleet on a fixed schedule and places substantial offshore wind and solar investment into rate base.
The state's rate remains below the national average, but it rose faster than the national average. The trajectory is the story here, not the level.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Virginia households used 1,063 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $171. At the state median wage that is about 6.7 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $0.70 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Virginia worker earned $53,020 in 2024, 7.1% above the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Ship Engineers | 6.05× | $81,970 |
| Layout Workers, Metal and Plastic | 5.36× | $72,780 |
| Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other | 4.5× | $144,320 |
| Information Security Analysts | 3.95× | $132,460 |
| Telemarketers | 3.93× | $36,380 |
Property tax
The median Virginia homeowner pays $2,686 a year on a home worth $360,700, an effective rate of 0.74% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 129 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Virginia run at 101.1 where the national average is 100, ranking it #16 of 51. Goods sit at 100.4, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 106.8, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $53,020 therefore buys what $52,443 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (108.9) , Charlottesville (99.1) , Richmond (97.9) , Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk (97.9) , Winchester (96.5) .
Housing
House prices in Virginia rose 3% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +88.8%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: Arlington-Alexandria-Reston (+3.5%) , Richmond (+1.8%) , Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk (+1.8%) .
Who supplies the power
19 utilities report residential service in Virginia, together serving 3.6 million customers. Retail choice limited.
Virginia: common questions
What does it cost to live in Virginia?
Prices overall run at 101.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 106.8. The typical home is worth $360,700 and carries $2,686 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.74% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $171 a month at 17.61¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $53,020.
What is the property tax rate in Virginia?
The effective rate is 0.74% of home value, from a median bill of $2,686. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 129 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Virginia?
The median wage of $53,020 buys what $52,443 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Virginia falls on.
Is Virginia expensive for electricity?
It ranks #21 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 17.61¢ per kilowatt-hour, -4.5% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 8 of 51, because households there use 1,063 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Virginia?
$53,020 across all occupations, about $25.49 an hour, covering 4,064,640 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Virginia?
19 utilities report residential service, the largest being Virginia Electric & Power Co with 2.4 million customers. Retail choice limited.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources