Virginia Beach, VA
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Virginia Beach ranks 112th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 94th for income. A household earns $82,402 a year while median rent runs $1,556/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 2% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is hazard safety (41st of 300), while rent is the soft spot (221st). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 221st and home prices 194th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Virginia Beach, your take-home is worth about $58,961 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 94th of 300↑18.9%$82,402
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 192nd of 30098 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $84,134
- Per-capita income
- $43,983
- Full-time pay
- $47,202
Housing
- Median rent
- 221st of 300↑32.1%$1,556/mo
- Home value
- 194th of 300↑42%$363,400
- Property tax
- $2,949/yr · 0.8%
- Sales tax
- 5.77%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 92nd of 3003.8%
- Bachelor's+
- 109th of 30037%
- Avg commute
- 199th of 30025.5 min
People
- Population
- 1,796,689
- Population change
- +1.8%
- Median age
- 38.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.4%
- Broadband
- 93.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 41st of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 152nd of 30018.5%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Rent
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — norfolk nas.
What jobs pay in Virginia Beach
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $213,690
- IT managers
- $170,560
- Financial managers
- $163,940
- Pharmacists
- $136,280
- Lawyers
- $133,380
- Software developers
- $129,090
- Web developers
- $103,440
- General & operations managers
- $100,340
- Civil engineers
- $94,680
- Registered nurses
- $89,450
- Accountants & auditors
- $79,450
- Secondary school teachers
- $76,790
- Elementary school teachers
- $63,380
- Electricians
- $62,350
- Plumbers
- $61,870
- Police officers
- $59,690
- Carpenters
- $51,500
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $50,460
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $47,820
- Waiters & waitresses
- $39,020
- Construction laborers
- $38,490
- Customer service reps
- $38,150
- Janitors
- $33,580
- Retail salespersons
- $30,820
- Cashiers
- $29,320
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Virginia Beach metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Virginia are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California7,793
- Florida7,255
- New York4,640
- Maryland4,314
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Virginia Beach
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Virginia Beach metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Virginia Beach metro?
- Median gross rent across the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area is $1,556 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Virginia Beach.
- What is the median household income in the Virginia Beach metro?
- A typical household in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area earns $82,402 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Virginia Beach expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area runs about 2% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Virginia Beach metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $84,134 (versus its face value of $82,402). CityLedger rates the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Virginia Beach metro?
- The median home value across the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area is $363,400 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Virginia Beach metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Metro Area is 3.8% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).