Virginia Paycheck Calculator
Figure basis: Official Virginia Department of TaxationThis Virginia paycheck calculator estimates your take-home pay after the taxes withheld from a typical wage. Enter your gross pay, choose how often you are paid (weekly, every two weeks, twice a month or monthly) and select your filing status to see a full breakdown of every deduction and your net pay. The estimate combines four withholdings: federal income tax, calculated with the 2026 Internal Revenue Service annualised percentage method; Social Security at 6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500.00; Medicare at 1.45% on all wages; and Virginia state income tax withholding, applied with the brackets published by the Virginia Department of Taxation for tax year 2025. Results update as you type and the page link captures your inputs so you can save or share a calculation. This estimate covers federal withholding, FICA and state income tax only; State Disability Insurance where a state levies it, and any city or county local income tax, are not included and are noted separately. Use it to check a payslip, compare an offer, or plan a pre-tax contribution.
A $5,000 biweekly paycheck (single filer) in Virginia is about $3,850.81 take-home, after federal income tax $766.69, Social Security $310.00, Medicare $72.50 and Virginia income tax $0.00.
How the Virginia paycheck calculation works
annual gross = gross per period x pay periods per year
federal withholding = IRS Pub 15-T annualised percentage method, de-annualised
Social Security = min(annual gross, $184,500.00) x 6.2% / periods
Medicare = annual gross x 1.45% / periods
state withholding = Virginia income tax on annual gross / periods
take-home = gross per period - federal - Social Security - Medicare - state
Worked example
A single filer paid $5,000.00 every two weeks (26 pay periods a year) in Virginia, for 2026:
- Annual gross = $5,000.00 x 26 = $130,000.00
- Federal income tax withheld this period = $766.69
- Social Security = $310.00; Medicare = $72.50
- Virginia income tax withheld = $0.00
- Take-home = $5,000.00 - $766.69 - $310.00 - $72.50 - $0.00 = $3,850.81
Why almost every Virginia paycheck hits 5.75 percent
Virginia withholds state income tax on top of your federal withholding and FICA, and although the schedule has four rates, most workers feel only the top one. Virginia taxes 2 percent on the first $3,000, 3 percent to $5,000, 5 percent to $17,000, and 5.75 percent on everything above $17,000, a set of thresholds frozen since 1990. Decades of wage growth mean that virtually any full-time salary clears $17,000 of Virginia taxable income, so 5.75 percent is the effective marginal rate on nearly every additional dollar you earn.
What softens the bill is the deduction, not the brackets. For 2025 and 2026 Virginia raised its standard deduction to $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for joint filers, a temporary increase scheduled to shrink again from 2027 unless lawmakers extend it. On top of that, Virginia subtracts a $930 personal exemption for you, your spouse and each dependent, with an extra $800 for anyone age 65 or older or blind. Those amounts feed into Form VA-4, the state withholding certificate that sets how much comes out of each check.
One detail lightens the picture: Virginia levies no city or county income tax. The 5.75 percent you see here is the entire income tax any Virginia government takes from your wages, so unlike workers in Ohio or Pennsylvania, a Virginian has no separate local withholding stacked underneath the state line.
Virginia paycheck calculator: frequently asked questions
How much is take-home pay on a $5,000 biweekly paycheck in Virginia?
A single filer earning $5,000 every two weeks in Virginia keeps about $3,850.81 after federal income tax withholding ($766.69), Social Security ($310.00), Medicare ($72.50) and Virginia state income tax withholding ($0.00). Enter your own gross pay, pay frequency and filing status above for your figure.
Does Virginia have a state income tax withheld from paychecks?
Yes. Virginia income tax is withheld from wages in addition to federal income tax and FICA. This calculator applies the Virginia brackets published by the Virginia Department of Taxation (tax year 2025) using the annualised method.
What FICA taxes are withheld from a Virginia paycheck?
Social Security is withheld at 6.2% on wages up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500.00, and Medicare at 1.45% on all wages, with an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on wages above the filing-status threshold. These are federal taxes that apply to wages in every state.
Does this Virginia paycheck estimate include SDI or local taxes?
No. This estimate covers federal income tax withholding, Social Security, Medicare and Virginia state income tax withholding. State Disability Insurance (SDI), where a state levies it, and any city or county local income taxes are not included; check your state and local authorities for those.
Official sources
- Federal income tax withholding and standard deduction (tax year 2026): US Internal Revenue Service, as at Jun 12, 2026.
- Social Security wage base and FICA rates (2026): US Social Security Administration and IRS Topic 751, as at Jun 12, 2026.
- Virginia income tax brackets (tax year 2025): Virginia Department of Taxation, as at Jun 12, 2026.
Reviewed by the CalculatorHub team, edited by James Graham, 25 June 2026. See our methodology. General information, not financial or tax advice. State Disability Insurance and local income taxes are not included.