Cost of Living
per year
per month
How Virginia Beach's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in Virginia Beach?
Your $100,000 in Virginia Beach has the same purchasing power as $101,041 in the average US city. You'd need $1,041 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of Virginia Beach's cost index of 99, sorted by closest match.
So why do people move to Virginia Beach? The honest answer involves a few specific things the data backs up — most clearly paychecks come in above the us average and lower-than-average crime numbers, plus 3 more things worth knowing. The detail on each one is below.
The typical household in Virginia Beach pulls in $87,544 — comfortably above the US median. Combined with the cost of living here, the income-to-expense ratio works out better than a quick look at either number in isolation would suggest.
Reported crime in Virginia Beach comes in around 1,850 per 100,000 — under the national baseline of about 3,500. Worth digging into specific neighborhoods before settling on one, but the city-level picture is on the safer side.
Average AQI in Virginia Beach comes in around 36, well into the "good" band. Clean air isn't a thing you appreciate until you've lived somewhere it wasn't — and this is the side of that line you want to be on.
Average commute time in Virginia Beach runs around 23 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
Virginia Beach has a college-educated share of about 40% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from Virginia Beach's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
Yes, several times a winter. Virginia Beach's winter average of about 34°F sits right around freezing, so storms typically drop real snow that lingers a few days before slush sets in.
A real winter, but not a punishing one. Virginia Beach averages roughly 34°F in winter, with the coldest mornings dipping into the single digits a few times a year and most days landing somewhere between "chilly" and "actually cold".
Reliably warm. Virginia Beach's summer averages around 85°F, the kind of heat where you remember to leave the house before noon for outdoor things and accept that the back of your shirt will be wet by lunchtime.
Approximately USDA Hardiness Zone 8. That's the band gardeners use to pick plants — anything rated for Zone 8 or colder should survive a typical winter in Virginia Beach. (The estimate is derived from our winter-temperature data; the official USDA map uses station-level annual minimums and may differ by half a zone.)
Barely above the water. Virginia Beach is at about 13 feet (4 m) elevation, and parts of the city are essentially at sea level. Flood-zone maps are worth checking before buying a house.
Officially, Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, but most of the action lands between mid-August and mid-October. For Virginia Beach, that's when to keep half an eye on the National Hurricane Center forecast cone — and when an actual evacuation plan is worth having in the drawer if you're in a low-lying or coastal neighborhood.
The headline number is reassuring. Virginia Beach's reported incident rate of about 1,850 per 100,000 is comfortably below the US norm of around 3,500 per 100k. Specific neighborhoods always vary, but the broader picture is on the safer side.
It's a middle-of-the-road US city on cost. Virginia Beach's index of 99 sits within a few points of the national average — your money buys roughly what it would in a typical American metro.
Virginia Beach's Walk Score is 9/100, firmly in the car-required tier. Transit Score is 0 out of 100. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $69,279 to live in Virginia Beach the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in Virginia Beach runs about $1,568/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.