Virginia runs a graduated state income tax in 2026, with rates from 2% up to 5.75% depending on how much you earn, on top of federal income tax and FICA. Single filers get a standard deduction of $8,750. Use the calculators below to see your exact 2026 take-home pay in Virginia, check the sales tax on a purchase, and estimate a mortgage payment with Virginia property taxes factored in.
State Paycheck Calculator 2026
Estimate take-home pay after federal tax, FICA and your state’s income tax for the 2026 tax year.
How it works: the 2026 federal standard deduction ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly) comes off your salary first, then the 2026 federal brackets (10%–37%). FICA is applied properly: 6.2% Social Security on the first $184,500 of wages (2026 wage base), 1.45% Medicare on all wages, plus 0.9% additional Medicare on wages above $200,000 single / $250,000 married filing jointly. State tax applies each state’s own standard deduction/exemptions, then its brackets or flat rate. Local income taxes are not included — many cities and counties (e.g. New York City, Philadelphia, most of Ohio, Maryland counties, Indiana counties, Kentucky) levy their own payroll taxes on top of the state tax.
Virginia sales tax calculator
The statewide base sales tax rate in Virginia is 5.3% in 2026. Cities and counties can add their own local tax on top of the base rate — enter any local add-on below to see the full tax and total price.
Sales Tax Calculator 2026
Estimate the sales tax and total price using each state’s base rate (2026), plus any local add-on.
State base rates are the 2026 state-level rates (local add-ons excluded). Actual combined rates vary widely by city and county — many localities add 1–5%. Five states have no statewide sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon), though some localities still levy local taxes.
Mortgage calculator for Virginia homes
The average effective property tax rate in Virginia is about 0.73% of a home’s value per year. When you use the mortgage calculator below, enter roughly that percentage of the home price in the yearly property tax field for a realistic Virginia monthly payment.
Mortgage Payment Calculator
Work out your monthly principal & interest payment, total interest and the true total cost of your loan.
How it works: your loan amount (price minus down payment) is repaid in equal monthly instalments using the standard amortisation formula, so early payments are mostly interest and later ones mostly principal. Property tax and insurance, if entered, are simply spread evenly across each month. Your actual rate and payment will depend on your lender, credit profile and the deal you choose.
Virginia’s top income tax rate starts at $17,000. Not $170,000 — seventeen thousand dollars of taxable income, a threshold that hasn’t moved since the year 2000. Everything you earn above it is taxed at 5.75%, which means Virginia is a progressive state on paper and a flat-tax state in your actual life. On a $75,000 salary the state takes $3,498.40, an effective rate of 4.66% — and then, if you own a car, Virginia taxes that too, every year, at the highest vehicle tax rates in the country.
Income tax in Virginia in 2026
Four brackets for single filers: 2.00% on the first $3,000 of taxable income, 3.00% up to $5,000, 5.00% up to $17,000, and 5.75% on everything above $17,000.
Look at those numbers for a second. The first three brackets total $17,000 of income and $720 of tax. They’re a vestige — set in 2000 and never indexed for inflation, while salaries have roughly doubled since. Bracket creep did quietly, over 26 years, what no legislature would vote for openly: it turned a graduated tax into a flat one. If you earn a full-time wage in Virginia, plan around 5.75% as your marginal rate, because it is.
The shelters are modest: a standard deduction of $8,750 and a personal exemption of just $930. That exemption in particular is a rounding error wearing a suit — smaller than many states’ were decades ago. Combined, they keep $9,680 of your salary out of the state’s reach, and then the 5.75% rate does its work on most of the rest.
Worked example: $75,000 salary, single filer
Step 1 — Federal tax. $75,000 − $16,100 = $58,900 taxable, which comes to $7,670.00 for 2026.
Step 2 — FICA. Social Security and Medicare: $5,737.50.
Step 3 — Virginia tax. $75,000 − $8,750 standard deduction − $930 exemption = $65,320 of taxable income. The slices: 2.00% of $3,000 = $60.00; 3.00% of the next $2,000 = $60.00; 5.00% of the next $12,000 = $600.00; 5.75% of the remaining $48,320 = $2,778.40. Total: $3,498.40.
Step 4 — Take-home pay. $75,000 − $7,670.00 − $5,737.50 − $3,498.40 = $58,094.10 a year, about $2,234.39 bi-weekly. Notice the anatomy of that state bill: $2,778 of the $3,498 comes from the top bracket alone. The “graduated” structure saved this earner a few hundred dollars versus a pure flat 5.75% — and would save a $40,000 earner proportionally less. Virginia taxes like a flat-tax state that kept the old paperwork.
Sales tax in Virginia
The combined statewide figure is 5.30% — that includes a 1% local tax that’s mandatory everywhere in Virginia, so it’s the rate you actually pay, not a base to add onto. A $1,000 purchase carries $53 of tax. Some regions (Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads) add a further regional levy for transport, taking their totals higher.
Groceries get a break: food for home consumption is taxed at a reduced 1% statewide rate. It’s one of the few inflation-era adjustments Virginia has actually made to its tax code — which tells you how durable the rest of the 2000-era structure is.
Property tax in Virginia
Real estate property tax is reasonable: an average effective rate of 0.73%, or about $2,190 a year on a $300,000 home. Unremarkable, in the best sense.
But Virginia taxes something most states ignore: your car. The personal property tax on vehicles runs at an effective rate around 3.97% — the highest in the nation — levied by cities and counties every year on your vehicle’s assessed value. A $30,000 car can draw a bill of $800 to $1,200 annually depending on the locality, shrinking as the car ages. Newcomers from states without it describe the first bill with words we can’t print. Budget for it: in Virginia, owning things with wheels is a taxable event, annually, forever.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Virginia’s top rate start so low?
Because the brackets were last set in 2000 and never adjusted for inflation. What was meant to be a top rate for high earners now captures nearly every full-time worker. Changing it requires the legislature to affirmatively vote for new brackets — which it hasn’t done in over two decades.
Is the personal property tax on cars really statewide?
It’s levied by localities rather than the state, but nearly every city and county charges it, and rates are set locally. A few rural counties are gentler; Northern Virginia suburbs are not. The car tax is the single most common tax shock for people moving to Virginia.
Does Virginia tax military pay and pensions?
Military retirement pay gets a substantial subtraction that has been expanding in recent years, and there’s a smaller age-based deduction for residents 65+. Social Security is fully exempt.
How does Virginia compare with North Carolina for a Charlotte-vs-Richmond decision?
On $75,000, Virginia takes $3,498.40; North Carolina’s flat tax takes $2,483.78. Over a thousand dollars a year apart on identical pay — the frozen 2000 brackets versus a state that kept cutting. Worth knowing before the moving truck is booked.
Enter your salary in the Virginia calculator above — and while you’re budgeting the move, price your car through the property tax section too. In most states the car is an expense. In Virginia it’s also a tax return.
These calculators are for guidance only and aren’t financial advice.