Virginia Paycheck Calculator 2026: Take-Home Pay After Graduated 5.75% Tax

$100,000 Salary in Virginia: Full 2026 Walk-Through

Quick answer: A single filer earning $100,000 in Virginia in 2026 takes home about $74,244 after $13,170 federal income tax, $7,650 FICA, and $4,935.90 Virginia tax. That is an effective tax rate of 25.76%, or about $6,187.01 per month, $2,855.54 biweekly, and $1,427.77 weekly.

The example below assumes $100,000 in gross wages, single filing status, the 2026 Virginia standard deduction of $8,750 plus one $930 personal exemption, the 2026 federal standard deduction, no pre-tax deductions, and no reciprocity exemption. Every figure follows the official rate schedules so you can verify each line against the sources linked in this guide.

Federal income tax (2026, single). Taxable income equals $100,000 minus the $16,100 federal standard deduction, or $83,900. The 2026 single brackets tax the first $12,400 at 10%, income from $12,401 to $50,400 at 12%, and income from $50,401 to $105,700 at 22%. Applying those brackets: 10% of $12,400 is $1,240.00; 12% of $38,000 is $4,560.00; 22% of the remaining $33,500 is $7,370.00. The federal total is $13,170.00.

FICA payroll tax. Social Security takes 6.2% of the full $100,000, which is $6,200.00 and sits well under the 2026 wage base of $184,500. Medicare takes 1.45% with no cap, which is $1,450.00. The combined FICA total is $7,650.00.

Virginia state income tax. Virginia taxable income equals $100,000 minus the $8,750 standard deduction minus one $930 personal exemption, or $90,320. Virginia applies $720 plus 5.75% of the excess over $17,000. The excess is $73,320, and 5.75% of $73,320 is $4,215.90. Adding the $720 base gives a Virginia total of $4,935.90.

Your own paycheck will differ if you contribute to a 401(k) or HSA, file jointly, claim additional exemptions for age or blindness, or qualify for a reciprocity exemption as a cross-border commuter. Enter your figures in the calculator above for an exact per-paycheck estimate. For a broader comparison across states, see our state tax rates hub and the general paycheck calculator.

Why Virginia Paychecks Look the Way They Do

Virginia uses a graduated income tax with four marginal brackets, a state-level standard deduction, and fixed-dollar personal exemptions. Each piece reduces or prices a different slice of your pay, so it helps to understand them one at a time before reading your pay stub.

Virginia's Four Graduated Brackets (Top Rate 5.75%)

Virginia taxes income at four graduated rates that have been set by statute for decades: 2% on Virginia taxable income up to $3,000; $60 plus 3% of the excess over $3,000 on income from $3,001 to $5,000; $120 plus 5% of the excess over $5,000 on income from $5,001 to $17,000; and $720 plus 5.75% of the excess over $17,000 on everything above $17,000. These figures come from the Virginia Tax rate schedule table and are confirmed by the 2026 draft Form 760 instructions and Code of Virginia section 58.1-322.03. Everyone pays the same bracketed rates, which means a $100,000 salary faces a top marginal rate of 5.75% while the lower slices of that same income are taxed at 2%, 3%, and 5%. Because the top bracket starts at just $17,000 of taxable income, most full-time workers will see the 5.75% rate apply to the bulk of their pay, exactly as the $100,000 walk-through shows with $4,215.90 of the $4,935.90 total coming from the top bracket.

Personal Exemptions: $930 Each, Plus $800 for Age 65 or Blindness

Virginia allows a $930 deduction for each personal exemption claimed for yourself, your spouse, and each dependent, as stated on the Virginia Tax exemptions page, in Code section 58.1-322.03, and on the 2026 draft Form 760. Taxpayers who are age 65 or older or blind receive an additional exemption of $800 each, not $930, a distinction confirmed by the same three sources. In the $100,000 example, a single filer subtracts one $930 exemption before the brackets apply. A 66-year-old single filer with the same salary would subtract $930 plus $800, or $1,730, which lowers Virginia taxable income to $89,520 and trims the state bill accordingly. Use the exemption inputs in the calculator above to reflect your household exactly.

Virginia Standard Deduction: $8,750 Single / $17,500 Joint, and the Federal-Follow Rule

Virginia has its own standard deduction: $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for married couples filing jointly for tax year 2026, rising to $9,200 and $18,400 for 2027. These amounts appear in the Virginia Tax deductions table, the July 2026 new-tax-laws notice, the 2026 Form 760 instructions, and the statute. The critical catch is the federal-follow rule: if you claimed the standard deduction on your federal return, you must also claim the standard deduction on your Virginia return, and itemized goes with itemized. Itemizers are not misled here because the calculator above includes a deduction-method selector with a matching warning. In the walk-through, the $8,750 single standard deduction is subtracted before exemptions, producing the $90,320 Virginia taxable income on which the bracket math runs.

Live in Northern Virginia, Work in DC or Maryland?

Quick answer: Under reciprocity you are taxed only by your home state — complete Form VA-4 with your employer and re-certify every year so the right state withholds. The figure above assumes full Virginia taxation with no reciprocity exemption.

Northern Virginia sends hundreds of thousands of commuters across the Potomac every workday, so Virginia maintains formal reciprocity agreements with five jurisdictions: the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, as published on the Virginia Tax reciprocity page. Virginia residents who work in DC without DC residency are exempt from DC individual income tax and pay Virginia instead. Commuters to or from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are exempt in the work state when they are present there no more than 183 days per year, maintain no abode there, and earn only wage or salary income there.

The mechanism is Form VA-4, the Employee's Virginia Income Tax Withholding Exemption Certificate. Complete it, give it to your employer, and re-certify every year you claim exemption from withholding; if the wrong state withheld by mistake, the fix is a Form 763-S refund claim. Because withholding follows the certificate rather than your commute, a NoVa resident working in downtown DC who files a current VA-4 sees Virginia withholding only, while an expired certificate can trigger withholding for the wrong jurisdiction and a paperwork-heavy correction. Maryland commuters face the mirror image, which is why our state tax rates hub covers both sides of the river before you accept an offer that crosses it.

Form VA-4: Getting Virginia Withholding Right

Every Virginia employee should meet Form VA-4, the Employee's Virginia Income Tax Withholding Exemption Certificate, on the first day of a new job. File it with your employer when employment begins, and re-file for each calendar year in which you claim exemption from withholding. The exemption count on the form flows through the Personal Exemption Worksheet, and you may not claim more exemptions on VA-4 than the income tax return allows without written permission from the Department. The default is strict: if you do not file this form, your employer must withhold Virginia income tax as if you had no exemptions, which shrinks every paycheck until you correct it. The form also carries carve-outs worth knowing, including Virginia adjusted gross income floors of $11,950 single and $23,900 married, daily commuter provisions for Kentucky and DC, and exemptions for Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia domiciliaries with wage-only Virginia income. Match the exemption counts in the calculator above to your VA-4 worksheet so the estimate reflects what payroll actually withholds.

What a Virginia Paycheck Looks Like Each Pay Period

How often you are paid changes the size of each check without changing your annual totals. Using the $100,000 single-filer example with $74,244.10 in annual take-home pay, weekly pay (52 periods) nets about $1,427.77 per check, biweekly pay (26 periods) nets about $2,855.54, semi-monthly pay (24 periods) nets about $3,093.50, and monthly pay (12 periods) nets about $6,187.01. Biweekly workers get two months each year with a third paycheck, a useful planning bonus for savings or debt payments, while semi-monthly pay delivers identical check sizes every period. Hourly workers can annualize by multiplying the hourly rate by hours per period, then read the same per-paycheck result from the calculator. If the estimate suggests you are over-withheld and due a large refund, use our tax refund calculator alongside this page to tune your VA-4 and federal W-4 together.

Tips to Keep More of Each Virginia Paycheck

Start with pre-tax contributions. Every dollar into a traditional 401(k), HSA, or FSA lowers the wages on which federal tax, FICA, and Virginia tax are all computed, so the savings stack across all three levies at once. Next, verify your VA-4 exemption count once a year, especially after marriage, divorce, a new child, a 65th birthday, or a move across the DC or Maryland line, because each event changes either the $930 or $800 exemption math or the reciprocity position. Third, coordinate deduction methods: since Virginia forces you to follow your federal standard-or-itemized choice, bunching charitable gifts or timing mortgage interest in one year can matter for both returns simultaneously. Finally, commuters should calendar the annual VA-4 re-certification alongside open enrollment so the correct state withholds all year and no refund claim becomes necessary. None of these steps change the graduated rates themselves, but together they make sure the rates apply to the smallest correct base.

Sources: Virginia Tax rate schedule table and tax-table publication; Virginia Tax exemptions, deductions, and reciprocity pages; 2026 draft Form 760 and instructions; Code of Virginia section 58.1-322.03; Form VA-4 and instructions; IRS 2026 inflation adjustments; 2026 federal brackets; IRS and Social Security Administration FICA figures. Figures verified October 4, 2026.