Overview of Virginia Taxes
Virginia has a progressive state income tax system with four tax brackets dependent on income. Filing status does not affect state income taxes in Virginia. No cities in the state levy local income taxes.
This calculator reflects the 2018 federal withholding tax changes.
Click here to learn more about how the Trump Tax Plan will affect you.
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- Our Tax Expert
Jennifer Mansfield, CPA Tax
Jennifer Mansfield, CPA, JD/LLM-Tax, is a Certified Public Accountant with more than 30 years of experience providing tax advice. SmartAsset’s tax expert has a degree in Accounting and Business/Management from the University of Wyoming, as well as both a Masters in Tax Laws and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center. Jennifer has mostly worked in public accounting firms, including Ernst & Young and Deloitte. She is passionate about helping provide people and businesses with valuable accounting and tax advice to allow them to prosper financially. Jennifer lives in Arizona and was recently named to the Greater Tucson Leadership Program.
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Virginia Paycheck Calculator
 Photo credit: ©iStock.com/MCCAIG | Virginia Paycheck Quick Facts
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How Your Virginia Paycheck Works
Virginia shares a few factors in common with the rest of the nation when it comes to income taxes. Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes and other federal income taxes are common throughout the U.S.
Funds withheld from your paycheck will go toward paying Social Security and Medicare taxes (together these make up FICA taxes). Social Security withholding makes up 6.2% of your income while Medicare withholding is 1.45% of your income each pay period. Your employer will match these percentages so your total contribution is doubled. If you earn a salary in excess of $200,000, wages over that amount are subject to a 0.9% Medicare surtax.
In some instances you might assume the responsibility of paying 100% of your FICA taxes instead of the usual 50%. This is the case with self-employed taxpayers. Since these types of workers do not have the luxury of having an employer to contribute half of their FICA taxes, they must cover all of these taxes alone.
How much you pay in federal income taxes depends on various factors, including your salary, your marital status and how many allowances you claim on your W-4 form. Remember whenever you start new employment or you undergo major life changes like getting married or adopting a child, you will need to fill out a new W-4 form.
You may also want to check your W-4 in early 2018 because President Trump's new tax plan has caused a slight change in withholding calculations. The IRS released new withholding guidelines in January, to reflect the new tax plan, and you should have seen changes to their paychecks starting in February 2018. For the time being, you do not need to fill out a new W-4 as your employer will use the withholdings on your current form. It is a good idea to make sure you are happy with your current W-4 designations.
Your paycheck frequency can certainly play a role in your cash flow each month. More frequent but smaller paychecks may mean you budget a bit differently than if you get fewer, larger paychecks.
Virginia Median Household Income
| Year | Median Household Income |
| 2016 | $66,149 |
| 2015 | $65,015 |
| 2014 | $64,902 |
| 2013 | $62,666 |
| 2012 | $61,741 |
| 2011 | $61,882 |
| 2010 | $60,674 |
| 2009 | $59,330 |
| 2008 | $61,233 |
Virginia has more to offer its residents than boating in the Chesapeake Bay or hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Virginia taxpayers enjoy the lowest unemployment rates in the U.S at just 4.8%. And the state's top income tax rate is below the national average at 5.75%. Sales and property taxes are both relatively low compared with other states, as well.
However if you have relocated from a state that does not levy its own income tax, you might find the experience of paying state income taxes to be unfamiliar. Virginia taxpayers fall into one of four income brackets depending on income level. The top tax rate (5.75%) applies to taxable income over $17,000, so most taxpayers will be paying that rate on at least some of their income. The income tax brackets apply to all Virginians regardless of marital status.
If you haven’t yet relocated but are looking to do so, check out our Virginia mortgage guide for important information on rates and details about getting a mortgage in the Old Dominion.
How You Can Affect Your Virginia Paycheck
There are certain ways in which you can impact your Virginia paycheck. To begin with, you can control a few variables through the allowances claimed and information recorded on your W-4 form. Your allowances partially determine how much is withheld from each of your paychecks for taxes. Claiming more allowances means less is withheld in tax per paycheck and more of your income is available to you during the year. Claiming fewer allowances means more is withheld for taxes and your paychecks are smaller.
It’s not quite that simple though. If you claim more allowances than you qualify for, you run the risk of underpaying your taxes all year and owing money to the IRS in April. If you always find yourself owing taxes at the end of the tax year, you may want to claim fewer allowances.
Have more than one job? You can’t claim the same allowances with multiple employers so you have to choose which job you want to claim which allowance for or you could opt to claim all your allowances with one job and none with the others.
You can also elect to have an additional dollar withholding from each of your paychecks to go toward taxes. Yes, your paychecks will be smaller but this increases your chances of getting a tax refund in April if that’s something that is important to you.
Do you have health and life insurance for you and your family through an employer-sponsored plan? Any premiums you pay for those will be deducted from your paycheck. The same goes for if you contribute to a retirement plan like a 401(k) or 403(b) via your company. The money you put toward a 401(k) will be subtracted from your wages before taxes are applied however, so by increasing your contribution you can lower your taxable income and you may owe less in taxes as a result.
Virginia Top Income Tax Rate
| Year | Top Income Tax Rate |
| 2017 | 5.75% |
| 2016 | 5.75% |
| 2015 | 5.75% |
| 2014 | 5.75% |
| 2013 | 5.75% |
| 2012 | 5.75% |
| 2011 | 5.75% |
| 2010 | 5.75% |
| 2009 | 5.75% |
| 2008 | 5.75% |
| 2007 | 5.75% |
| 2006 | 5.75% |
| 2005 | 5.75% |
| 2004 | 5.75% |
| 2003 | 5.75% |
Most Paycheck Friendly Places
SmartAsset's interactive map highlights the most paycheck friendly counties across the country. Zoom between states and the national map to see data points for each region, or look specifically at one of the four factors driving our analysis: Semi-Monthly Paycheck, Purchasing Power, Unemployment Rate, and Income Growth.
Methodology Our study aims to find the most paycheck friendly places in the country. These are places in the country with favorable economic conditions where you get to keep more of the money you make. To find these places we considered four different factors: semi-monthly paycheck, purchasing power, unemployment rate and income growth.
First, we calculated the semi-monthly paycheck for a single individual with two personal allowances. We applied relevant deductions and exemptions before calculating income tax withholding. To better compare withholding across counties we assumed a $50,000 annual income. We then indexed the paycheck amount for each county to reflect the counties with the lowest withholding burden.
We then created a purchasing power index for each county. This reflects the counties with the highest ratio of household income to cost of living. We also created an unemployment rate index that shows the counties with the lowest unemployment. For income growth, we calculated the annual growth in median income over five years for each county and indexed the results.
Finally, we calculated the weighted average of the indices to yield an overall paycheck friendliness score. We used a one half weighting for semi-monthly paycheck and a one-sixth weighting for purchasing power, unemployment rate and income growth. We indexed the final number so higher values reflect the most paycheck friendly places.
Sources: SmartAsset, government websites, US Census Bureau 2016 5-Year American Community Survey, MIT Living Wage Study, Bureau of Labor Statistics
