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Virginia Paycheck Calculator (2026)

Enter your annual salary below to see your Virginia take-home pay after federal, state, FICA, and any local taxes for 2026.

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Virginia applies a progressive state income tax with a top marginal rate of 5.75%. The top-bracket threshold has not been indexed since the early 1990s, so most full-time wage earners now pay the top rate. At $85,000 single, the after-tax estimate is $64,501 per year. No Virginia city or county adds a wage tax.

Bracket thresholds in Virginia's schedule have not been indexed since the early 1990s, so the top marginal rate of 5.75% now reaches nearly every full-time wage earner. The original target was the upper-income filer; today the bracket starts low enough that virtually all middle-income Virginia workers pay the top rate on most of their income. The Virginia workforce splits across distinct regional economies: Northern Virginia carries the federal contractor cluster (Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, SAIC, the defense and intelligence base supplying the DC market), Richmond anchors state government and Capital One's financial services hub, Hampton Roads holds the Norfolk Navy base, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, and Newport News shipbuilding, and Charlottesville centers on UVA. The Northern Virginia commuter flow into DC produces an unusual pattern: a VA resident working in DC still owes Virginia income tax, because DC's home rule charter blocks taxing non-residents. Virginia runs no SDI program, no Paid Family Leave deduction, and no city or county wage tax in Richmond, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Arlington, Alexandria, or Chesapeake. At $85,000 for a single filer, federal income tax lands at $9,870, state income tax at $4,127, combined FICA at $6,503, and take-home for the year at $64,501. The effective total rate is 24.12%. Use the calculator below to compare Virginia against Maryland or DC.

Virginia state tax breakdown

Single-filer state income tax brackets used by the calculator for 2026.

Taxable IncomeRate
$0 - $3,0002%
$3,000 - $5,0003%
$5,000 - $17,0005%
$17,000+5.75%

vs. baseline ($85,000 single filer)

A $85,000 salary in Virginia takes home approximately $4,100 less than the same salary in a no-income-tax state like Texas or Florida.

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Virginia take-home pay using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security at the federal rate up to the annual wage base, Medicare on all wages, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the filing-status threshold), Virginia's state income tax schedule above, and any local income tax or state-administered payroll program (SDI, PFML, FAMLI) when you select a city or county. For states with no broad-based personal income tax, the state line is zero. It excludes employer-side payroll taxes, custom W-4 elections, supplemental-wage handling for bonuses or equity vesting, and income from sources other than W-2 wages.

Virginia paycheck FAQ

What is the federal tax bill on $85,000 single in Virginia for 2026?
A $85,000 single filer in Virginia owes approximately $9,870 in federal income tax, with the top slice of taxable income inside the 22% federal bracket after the standard deduction. The federal math runs identically across all states, so a Virginia resident sees the same federal line as a Maryland or DC counterpart at this gross.
How much Virginia state tax does someone owe on $85,000?
Virginia state income tax at $85,000 for a single filer is approximately $4,127, an effective state rate of 4.86%. Because the top bracket starts so low on the schedule, the marginal rate on the top slice is 5.75%, the schedule's headline figure. No SDI or local layer stacks on the state line.
Do Richmond, Virginia Beach, or any other Virginia city tax wages?
Cities and counties in Virginia do not impose a separate income tax on wages. Richmond, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Arlington, Alexandria, Chesapeake, and Newport News residents all see the same state line on the pay stub. Local government revenue runs on property tax, meal tax, and a layered local sales tax structure instead of a payroll layer.
How much does a 401(k) contribution save at $85,000 in Virginia?
At $85,000 single in Virginia, the combined marginal rate is 27.75% (federal 22% plus state 5.75%). Each dollar of traditional 401(k) or HSA contribution shrinks both federal and Virginia taxable income at that combined rate. Because the top bracket starts at a low threshold, most of the salary range pays the state's top rate, so the per-dollar saving stays stable.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Virginia?
Married filing jointly at $85,000 in Virginia produces take-home of about $69,034, roughly $4,533 more than the single estimate. Wider federal MFJ brackets and the doubled federal standard deduction drive most of the change; Va. Code Sec 58.1-320 applies the same bracket schedule to all filing statuses, so the state line moves only with federal-side AGI. Head of Household at this gross lands at about $67,423, around $2,922 more than Single, driven entirely by wider federal HoH brackets. Combined two-return MFS take-home runs roughly $4,533 less than MFJ.
How does Virginia compare to Maryland at $85,000?
Maryland's state schedule tops near Virginia's top rate but layers a universal county income tax on every resident, pushing combined state-and-county burden well above Virginia's state-only line. The take-home difference between Virginia and Maryland at $85,000 single is roughly $2,122 per year. Federal tax and FICA are identical; the gap turns on whether a county layer applies.

Take-home at common salaries for Virginia

Dedicated salary-anchor pages with a federal-state-FICA breakdown, vs-baseline callouts, and a calculator pre-set to that salary and Virginia.

$50,000 after taxesin Virginia$75,000 after taxesin Virginia$100,000 after taxesin Virginia$150,000 after taxesin Virginia$200,000 after taxesin Virginia$250,000 after taxesin Virginia$60,000 after taxesin Virginia$120,000 after taxesin Virginia

See also

Run the full US paycheck calculatorCompare to the Tennessee paycheck calculatorKentucky take-home, for comparisonVirginia vs Maryland: side-by-side paycheck comparisonRun the same numbers against District of ColumbiaHow the same salary lands in North CarolinaPaid hourly in Virginia? Check the per-check numberSee how a bonus is withheld in VirginiaTune your W-4 withholding for VirginiaSee how two locations compare on take-homePaycheck and tax glossaryHow we calculate paycheck taxes

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Virginia paycheck page is reviewed against primary federal and state sources before each major tax-year update. Source links below are the references used to validate brackets, wage bases, and supported local taxes.

Reviewed by

PaycheckCalc Research Desk

Last reviewed

2026-06-25