Although the state was underone-party rule for nearly a century following theReconstruction era, both major political parties have been competitive in Virginia since the repeal ofJim Crow laws in the 1970s. Virginia's state legislature is theVirginia General Assembly, which was established in July 1619, making it the oldest current law-making body inNorth America. Unlike other states, cities and counties in Virginia function as equals, but the state government manages most local roads. It is also the only state where governors are prohibited from serving consecutive terms.
The story ofPocahontas was simplified and romanticized by later artists and authors, includingSmith himself, and promoted by her descendants, some of whom married intoelite colonial families.[5]
Nomadic hunters areestimated to have arrived in Virginia around 17,000 years ago. Evidence fromDaugherty's Cave shows it was regularly used as arock shelter by 9,800 years ago.[6] During the lateWoodland period (500–1000CE), tribes coalesced, and farming, first of corn and squash, began, with beans and tobacco arriving fromthe southwest and Mexico by the end of the period.Palisaded towns began to be built around 1200. The native population in the current boundaries of Virginia reached around 50,000 in the 1500s.[7] Large groups in the area at that time included theAlgonquian in theTidewater region, which they referred to asTsenacommacah, theIroquoian-speakingNottoway andMeherrin to the north and south, and theTutelo, who spokeSiouan, to the west.[8]
In response to threats from these other groups to their trade network, thirty or soVirginia Algonquian-speaking tribes consolidated during the 1570s under Wahunsenacawh, known in English asChief Powhatan.[8] Powhatan controlled more than 150 settlements that had a total population of around 15,000 in 1607.[9] Three-fourths of the native population in Virginia, however, died fromsmallpox and otherOld World diseases during that century,[10] disrupting theiroral traditions and complicating research into earlier periods.[11] Additionally, many primary sources, including those that mention Powhatan's daughter,Pocahontas, were created by Europeans, who may have held biases or misunderstood native social structures and customs.[5][12]
Though more settlers soon joined, many were ill-prepared for the dangers of the new settlement. As the colony's president,John Smith secured food for the colonists from nearby tribes, but after he left in 1609, this trade stopped and aseries of ambush-style killings between colonists and natives underChief Powhatan andhis brother began, resulting inmass starvation in the colony that winter.[20] By the end of the colony's first fourteen years, over eighty percent of the roughly eight thousand settlers transported there had died.[21]Demand for exported tobacco, however, fueled the need for more workers.[22] Starting in 1618, theheadright system tried to solve this by granting colonists farmland for their help attractingindentured servants.[23] Enslaved Africanswere first sold in Virginia in 1619. Though other Africans arrived as indentured servants and could be freed after four to seven years, the basis forlifelong slavery was developed in legal cases like those ofJohn Punch in 1640 andJohn Casor in 1655.[24] Laws passed in Jamestown defined slavery asrace-based in 1661, asinherited maternally in 1662, and as enforceable by death in 1669.[25]
From the colony's start, residents agitated for greater local control, and in 1619, certain male colonists began electing representatives to an assembly, later called theHouse of Burgesses, that negotiated issues with thegoverning council appointed by the London Company.[27] Unhappy with this arrangement, the monarchy revoked the company's charter and began directly naminggovernors and Council members in 1624. In 1635, colonists arresteda governor who ignored the assembly and sent him back to England against his will.[28]William Berkeley was named governor in 1642, just as the turmoil of theEnglish Civil War andInterregnum permitted the colony greater autonomy.[29] As a supporter of the king, Berkeley welcomed otherCavaliers who fled to Virginia. He surrendered toParliamentarians in 1652, but after the 1660Restoration made him governor again, he blocked assembly elections and exacerbated theclass divide by disenfranchising and restricting the movement of indentured servants, who made up around eighty percent of the workforce.[30] On the colony's frontier,tribes like theTutelo andDoeg were being squeezed bySeneca raiders from the north, leading to more confrontations with colonists. In 1676, several hundred working-class followers ofNathaniel Bacon, upset by Berkeley's refusal to retaliate against the tribes, burned Jamestown.[31]
Bacon's Rebellion forced the signing ofBacon's Laws, which restored some of the colony's rights and sanctioned both attacks on native tribes and the enslavement of their people.[32][33] TheTreaty of 1677 further reduced the independence of the tribes that signed it, and aided the colony's assimilation of their land in the years that followed.[34][35] Colonists in the 1700s were pushing westward into the area held by the Seneca and their largerIroquois Nation, and in 1748, a group of wealthy speculators, backed by the British monarchy, formed theOhio Company to start English settlement and trade in theOhio Country west of theAppalachian Mountains.[36] France, which claimed this area as part ofNew France, viewed this as a threat, and in 1754 theFrench and Indian War engulfed England, France, the Iroquois, and other allied tribes on both sides. A militia from several British colonies, called theVirginia Regiment, was led by MajorGeorge Washington, himself one of the investors in the Ohio Company.[37]
Eyre Crowe's 1853 portrait,Slaves Waiting for Sale: Richmond, Virginia, which he completed after visitingRichmond's slave markets, where thousands were sold annually[48]
Between 1790 and 1860, the number ofslaves in Virginia rose from around 290 thousand to over 490 thousand, roughly one-third of the state population, and the number of slave owners rose to over 50 thousand. Both of these numbers represented the most in the U.S.[49][50] The boom inSouthern cotton production usingcotton gins increased the amount of labor needed for harvesting rawcotton, butnew federal laws prohibited the importation of slaves. Decades ofmonoculture tobacco farming had alsodegraded Virginia'sagricultural productivity.[51] Virginia plantations increasingly turned toexporting slaves, which broke up countless families and made thebreeding of slaves, often through rape, a profitable business.[52][53] Slaves in theRichmond area were also forced into industrial jobs, including mining and shipbuilding.[54] The failed slave uprisings ofGabriel Prosser in 1800,George Boxley in 1815, andNat Turner in 1831, however, marked the growing resistance to slavery. Afraid of further uprisings, Virginia's government in the 1830s encouraged free Blacks to migrate toLiberia.[51]
On October 16, 1859, abolitionistJohn Brown led araid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start a slave revolt across the southern states. The polarized national response to his raid, capture, trial, and execution that December marked a tipping point for many who believed slavery would need to be ended by force.[55]Abraham Lincoln's 1860 election further convinced many southern supporters of slavery that his opposition to its expansion would ultimately mean the end of slavery across the country. Theseizure of Fort Sumter byConfederate forces on April 14, 1861, prompted Lincoln to call for afederal army of75,000 men from state militias.[56]
TheConfederacy usedRichmond as their capital from May 1861 till April 1865, when they abandoned the city and set fire toits downtown.
TheVirginia Secession Convention of 1861 voted on April 17to secede on the condition it was approved in a referendum the next month. The convention voted to join the Confederacy, which namedRichmond its capital on May 20.[47] During the May 23 referendum, armed pro-Confederate groups prevented the casting and counting of votes from areas that opposed secession. Representatives from 27 of these northwestern counties instead began theWheeling Convention, which organized a government loyal to theUnion and led to the separation ofWest Virginia as a new state.[57]
With nearly 800,000 soldiers passing through,Hampton Roads was the second-largest port of embarkation duringWorld War I.[59]
Virginia was formally restored to the United States in 1870, due to the work of theCommittee of Nine.[60] During the post-warReconstruction era, African Americans were able to unite in communities, particularly aroundRichmond,Danville, and theTidewater region, and take a greater role in Virginia society; many achieved some land ownership during the 1870s.[61][62] Virginiaadopted a constitution in 1868 which guaranteed political, civil, andvoting rights, and provided for free public schools.[63] However, with many railroad lines and other infrastructure destroyed during the Civil War, the Commonwealth was deeply in debt, and in the late 1870s redirected money from public schools to pay bondholders. TheReadjuster Party formed in 1877 and won legislative power in 1879 by uniting Black and white Virginians behind a shared opposition to debt payments and the perceivedplantation elites.[64]
New economic forces meanwhile industrialized the Commonwealth. VirginianJames Albert Bonsack invented the tobacco cigarette rolling machine in 1880 leading to new large-scale production centered around Richmond. Railroad magnateCollis Potter Huntington foundedNewport News Shipbuilding in 1886, which was responsible for building 38 warships for theU.S. Navy between 1907 and 1923.[69] DuringWorld War I, German submarines attacked ships outside the port,[70] which was a major site for transportation of soldiers and supplies.[59] After the war, a homecoming parade to honor African-American troops wasattacked in July 1919 by the city's police as part of a renewed white-supremacy movement, known asRed Summer.[71] The shipyard continued building warships inWorld War II, and quadrupled its pre-war labor force to 70,000 by 1943. TheRadford Arsenal outsideBlacksburg also employed 22,000 workers making explosives,[72] while theTorpedo Factory inAlexandria had over 5,050.[73]
Federal passage of theCivil Rights Act (1964) andVoting Rights Act (1965), and their later enforcement by theJustice Department, helped end racial segregation in Virginia and overturnJim Crow laws.[77] In 1967, the Supreme Court struck down the state's ban oninterracial marriage withLoving v. Virginia. In 1968, GovernorMills Godwin called a commission to rewrite the state constitution. The new constitution, which banned discrimination and removed articles that now violated federal law,passed in a referendum and went into effect in 1971.[78] In 1989,Douglas Wilder became the first African American elected as governor in the United States, and in 1992,Bobby Scott became the first Black congressman from Virginia since 1888.[79][80]
Virginia's southern borderwas defined in 1665 as36°30' north latitude. Surveyors marking the border with North Carolina in the 18th century however started about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the north and drifted an additional 3.5 miles bythe border's westernmost point.[90] AfterTennessee joined the U.S. in 1796, new surveyors worked in 1802 and 1803 to reset their border with Virginia as a line from the summit ofWhite Top Mountain to the top ofTri-State Peak in theCumberland Mountains. However, deviations in that border were identified when it was re-marked in 1856, and the Virginia General Assembly proposed a new surveying commission in 1871. Representatives from Tennessee preferred to keep the less-straight 1803 line, and in 1893, theU.S. Supreme Court ruled for themagainst Virginia.[91][92] One result is how the city ofBristol is divided in two between the states.[93]
Virginia has ahumid subtropical climate that transitions tohumid continental west of theBlue Ridge Mountains.[111] Seasonal extremes vary from average lows of 25 °F (−4 °C) in January to average highs of 86 °F (30 °C) in July.[112] The Atlantic Ocean andGulf Stream have a strong effect on eastern and southeastern coastal areas, making the climate there warmer but also more constant. Most of Virginia's recorded extremes in temperature and precipitation have occurred in the Blue Ridge Mountains and areas west.[113] Virginia receives an average of 43.47 inches (110 cm) of precipitation annually,[112] with theShenandoah Valley being the state's driest region.[113]
Virginia has around 35–45 days with thunderstorms annually, and storms are common in the late afternoon and evenings between April and September.[114] These months are also the most common fortornadoes,[115] eight of which touched down in the Commonwealth in 2023.[116]Hurricanes and tropical storms can occur from August to October. The deadliest natural disaster in Virginia wasHurricane Camille, which killed over 150 people in 1969 mainly in inlandNelson County.[113][117] Between December and March,cold-air damming caused by the Appalachian Mountains can lead to significant snowfalls across the state, such as theJanuary 2016 blizzard, which created the state's highest recorded one-day snowfall of 36.6 inches (93 cm) nearBluemont.[118][119] On average, cities in Virginia can receive between 5.8–12.3 inches (15–31 cm) of snow annually, but recent winters have seen below-average snowfalls, and much of Virginia had no measurable snow during the 2022–2023 winter season.[120][121]
Climate change in Virginia is leading to higher temperatures year-round as well as more heavy rain and flooding events.[122]Urban heat islands can be found in many Virginia cities and suburbs, particularly in neighborhoods linked to historicredlining.[123][124] The air in Virginia has statistically improved since 1998.[125] The closure and conversion ofcoal power plants in Virginia and the Ohio Valley region has helped cut the amount ofparticulate matter in Virginia's air in half.[126][127] Current plans call for 30% of the Commonwealth's electricity to be renewable by 2030 and for all to be carbon-free by 2050.[128]
On the western edge of theTidewater region is Virginia's capital,Richmond, which has a population of around 230,000 in its city proper and over 1.3million in its metropolitan area. On the eastern edge is theHampton Roads metropolitan area, where over 1.7million reside across six counties and nine cities, including the Commonwealth's three most populous independent cities:Virginia Beach,Chesapeake, andNorfolk.[168][175] NeighboringSuffolk, which includes a portion of theGreat Dismal Swamp, is the largest city by area at 429.1 square miles (1,111 km2).[176] One reason for the concentration of independent cities in the Tidewater region is that several rural counties there re-incorporated as cities or consolidated with existing cities to try to hold on to their new suburban neighborhoods that startedbooming in the 1950s, since cities like Norfolk andPortsmouth were able to annex land from adjoining counties until a moratorium in 1987.[177] Others, likePoquoson, became cities to try to preserveracial segregation during the desegregation era of the 1970s.[178]
Largest Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas in Virginia
The2020 census found the state resident population was 8,631,393, a 7.9% increase since the2010 census. Another 23,149 Virginians live overseas, giving the state a total population of 8,654,542. Virginia has the fourth-largest overseas population of U.S. states due to its federal employees and military personnel.[182] Thefertility rate in Virginia as of 2020[update] was 55.8 per 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 44,[183] and themedian age as of 2021[update] was the same as the national average of 38.8 years old.[175] The geographiccenter of population is located northwest ofRichmond inHanover County, as of 2020[update].[184]
Though still growing naturally as births outnumber deaths, Virginia has had a negativenet migration rate since 2013, with 8,995 more people leaving the state than moving to it in 2021. This is largely credited to high home prices in Northern Virginia,[185] which are driving residents there to relocate south;Raleigh is their top destination.[186][187] Aside from Virginia, the top birth state for Virginians isNew York, with theNortheast accounting for the largest number of domestic migrants into the state by region.[188] About twelve percent of residents were born outside the United States as of 2020[update].El Salvador is the most common foreign country of birth, withIndia,Mexico,South Korea, thePhilippines, andVietnam as other common birthplaces.[189]
Race and ethnicity
The state's most populous racial group,non-Hispanic whites, has declined as a proportion of the population from 76% in 1990 to 58.6% in 2020.[190][191] Immigrants from Britain and Ireland settled throughout the Commonwealth during the colonial period,[192] when roughly three-fourths of immigrants came asindentured servants.[193] The Appalachian mountains andShenandoah Valley have many settlements that were populated byGerman andScotch-Irish immigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries, often following theGreat Wagon Road.[194][195] Over ten percent of Virginians have German ancestry as of 2020[update].[196]
New citizens attend a naturalization ceremony inNorthern Virginia, where 25% of residents are foreign-born, almost twice the overall state average.[189]
The largest minority group in Virginia are Blacks and African Americans, about one-fifth of the population.[191] Virginia was a major destination of theAtlantic slave trade. TheIgbo ethnic group of what is now southernNigeria were the largest African group among slaves in Virginia.[197] Blacks in Virginia also have more European ancestry than those in other southern states, and DNA analysis shows many have asymmetrical male and female ancestry from before the Civil War, evidence of European fathers and African or Native American mothers.[198][199] Though the Black population was reduced by theGreat Migration to northern industrial cities in the first half of the 20th century, since 1965 there has been a reverse migration of Blacksreturning south.[200] The Commonwealth has the highest number of Black-whiteinterracial marriages in the US,[201] and 8.2% of Virginians describe themselves asmultiracial.[181]
More recent immigration since the late 20th century has resulted in new communities of Hispanics and Asians. As of 2020[update], 10.5% of Virginia's total population describe themselves asHispanic or Latino, and 8.8% asAsian.[181] The state's Hispanic population rose by 92% from 2000 to 2010, with two-thirds of Hispanics in the state living inNorthern Virginia.[202] Northern Virginia also has a significant population ofVietnamese Americans, whose major wave of immigration followed theVietnam War.[203]Korean Americans have migrated there more recently,[204] while about 45,000Filipino Americans have settled in the Hampton Roads area.[205]
GovernorGlenn Youngkin receiving a ceremonial tribute from representatives of theMattaponi andPamunkey tribes, a Thanksgiving tradition since 1677.[206]
A recording of a resident ofTangier Island who was born in the late 1800s, showcasing the island's unique accent
According to U.S. Census data as of 2022[update] on Virginia residents aged five and older, 83% (6,805,548) speakEnglish at home as afirst language.Spanish is the next most commonly spoken language, with 7.5% (611,831) of Virginia households, though age is a factor; 8.7% (120,560) of Virginians under age eighteen speak Spanish.Arabic was the third most commonly spoken language with around 0.8% of residents, followed byChinese languages andVietnamese each with over 0.7%, and thenKorean andTagalog, just under 0.7% and 0.6% respectively.[211]
English was passed as the Commonwealth's official language by statutes in 1981 and again in 1996, though the status is not mandated by the constitution.[212] While a more homogenizedAmerican English is found in urban areas, and the use of Southern accents in general has been on the decline in speakers born since the 1960s,[213] various accents are still present.[214] ThePiedmont region is known for its non-rhotic dialect's strong influence onSouthern American English, and aBBC America study in 2014 ranked it as one of the most identifiable accents in American English.[215] TheTidewater accent evolved from the language that upper-class English typically spoke in the early Colonial period, while theAppalachian accent has much more influence from the English spoken by Scottish and Irish immigrants from that time.[214][216] The outwardstereotypes of Appalachians has, however, led to some from the regioncode-switching to a less distinct English accent.[217] The English spoken onTangier Island in theChesapeake Bay, preserved by the island's isolation, contains many phrases and euphemisms not found anywhere else and retains elements ofEarly Modern English.[218][219]
Virginia enshrinedreligious freedom ina 1786 statute. Though the state is historically part of America'sBible Belt, the 2023Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey estimated that 55% of Virginians either seldom or never attend religious services, ahead of the national average of 53.2%, and that the percent of Virginians unaffiliated with any particular religious body had increased from 21% in 2013 to 29% in 2023.[220] The 2020 U.S. Religion Census conducted by theAssociation of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) similarly found that 55% of Virginians attend none of the state's 10,477 congregations.[221] Overallbelief in God has also declined inthe South region, of which Virginia is a part, from 93% of respondents inGallup surveys from 2013 to 2017, to 86% in 2022.[222]
Of the 45% of Virginians who were associated with religious bodies in the 2020 ARDA census,Evangelical Protestants made up the largest overall grouping, with 20.3% of the state's population, while 8.1% and 2% weremainline andBlack Protestant respectively.Baptists, 84% of which are counted as Evangelical, included 9.4% of Virginians in that census.[223] Their major division is between theBaptist General Association of Virginia, which formed in 1823, and theSouthern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, which split off in 1996. Other Protestant branches with over one percent of Virginians includedPentecostalism (1.8%),Presbyterianism (1.3%),Anglicanism (1.2%), andAdventism (1%).[223] The 2023 PRRI survey estimated that 46% of Virginians were Protestants, with 14% each as White Evangelical, White Mainline, and Black, though these numbers include individuals who report not attending services.[220]
Counties and cities by median household income between 2015 and 2019
Virginia's economy has diverse sources of income, including local and federal government, military, farming and high-tech. The state'saverage per capita income in 2022 was $68,211,[229] and thegross domestic product (GDP) was $654.5billion, both ranking as 13th-highest among U.S. states.[230] TheCOVID-19 recession caused jobless claims due to soar over 10% in early April 2020,[231] returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2023.[232] In December 2024, the unemployment rate was 3%, which was the 6th-lowest nationwide.[233]
CNBC ranked Virginia as their 2024Top State for Business, with its deductions being mainly for the high cost of business and living,[241] whileForbes magazine ranked it as the sixteenth best to start a business in.[242]Oxfam America however ranked Virginia in 2024[update] as only the 26th-best state to work in, with pluses for worker protections from sexual harassment andpregnancy discrimination, but negatives for laws on organized labor and the low tipped employeeminimum wage of $2.13.[243] Virginia has been anemployment-at-will state since 1906 and a "right to work" state since 1947,[244][245] and though state minimum wage increased to $12 in 2023, farm and tipped workers are specifically excluded.[246][243]
Government agencies directly employ around 714,100 Virginians as of 2022[update], almost 17% of all employees in the state.[247] Approximately 12% of allU.S. federal procurement money is spent in Virginia, the second-highest amount afterCalifornia.[248][249] As of 2020[update], 125,648 active-duty personnel, 25,404 reservists, and 99,832 civilians work directly for theU.S. Department of Defense atthe Pentagon or one of 27 military bases in the state covering 270,009 acres (1,092.69 km2).[250] Another 139,000 Virginians work fordefense contracting firms,[251] which received $44.8 billion worth of contracts in the 2020 fiscal year.[250] Virginia has the second highest concentration of veterans of any state with 9.7% of the population. TheHampton Roads area is home to the world's largest navy base and onlyNATO station on U.S. soil,Naval Station Norfolk.[252][250]
Virginia has the third highest concentration of technology workers and the fifth highest overall number among U.S. states as of 2020[update], with the 451,268 tech jobs accounting for 11.1% of all jobs in the state and earning a median salary of $98,292.[258] Many of these jobs are inNorthern Virginia, which hosts a large number of software, communications, and cybersecurity companies, particularly in theDulles Technology Corridor andTysons areas.Amazon additionally selectedCrystal City forits HQ2 in 2018, whileGoogle expanded theirReston offices in 2019.
Northern Virginia became the world's largestdata center market in 2016, with over 47.7 million square feet (4.43 km2) as of 2023[update],[259] much of it inLoudoun County, which has branded itself "Data Center Alley".[260][261] Data centers in Virginia handled around one-third of all internet traffic and directly employed 13,500 Virginians in 2023 and supported 45,000 total jobs.[262] Virginia had the second fastest average internet speed among U.S. states that year and ninth highest percent of households with broadband access, at 93.6%.[263][264]Computer chips became the state's highest-grossing export in 2006,[265] and had an estimated export value of $740million in 2022.[266] Though in the top quartile for diversity based on theSimpson index, only 26% of tech employees in Virginia are women, and only 13% are Black or African American.[258]
Tourists spent a record $33.3billion in Virginia in 2023, an increase of 10% from the previous year, supporting an estimated 224,000 jobs, an increase of 13,000.[267] The state ranked as the eighth most visited based on data from 2022.[268] That year saw 745,000 international visitors, with 41% coming fromCanada.[269]
Agriculture
Rockingham County in theShenandoah Valley accounts for twenty percent of Virginia's agricultural sales as of 2017[update], with the valley as a whole being the state's most productive region.[270]
As of 2021[update], agriculture occupies 30% of the land in Virginia with 7.7million acres (12,031 sq mi; 31,161 km2) of farmland. Nearly 54,000 Virginians work on the state's 41,500 farms, which average 186 acres (0.29 sq mi; 0.75 km2). Though agriculture has declined significantly since 1960, when there were twice as many farms, it remains the largest industry in Virginia, providing for over 490,000 jobs.[271] Soybeans were the most profitable single crop in Virginia in 2022,[272] although the ongoingtrade war with China has led many Virginia farmers to plant cotton instead.[273] Other leading agricultural products include corn, cut flowers, and tobacco, where the state ranks third nationally inproduction.[271][272]
Virginia is the country's third-largest producer of seafood as of 2021[update], withsea scallops, oysters,Chesapeake blue crabs,menhaden, and hardshell clams as the largest seafood harvests by value, andFrance,Canada,New Zealand, andHong Kong as the top export destinations.[274] Commercial fishing supports 18,220 jobs as of 2020[update], while recreation fishing supports another 5,893.[275] The population ofeastern oysters collapsed in the 1980s due to pollution and overharvesting, but has slowly rebounded, and the 2022–2023 season saw the largest harvest in 35 years with around 700,000 US bushels (25,000 kL).[276] A warm winter and a dry summer made the 2023 wine harvest one of the best for vineyards in theNorthern Neck and along theBlue Ridge Mountains, which also attract 2.6million tourists annually.[277][278] Virginia has the seventh-highest number of wineries in the nation, with 388 producing 1.1 million cases a year as of 2024[update].[279]Breweries in Virginia also produced 460,315 barrels (54,017 kl) of craft beer in 2022, the 15th-most nationally.[280]
Taxes
Counties and cities by medianproperty tax paid in 2019
State income tax is collected from those with incomes above afiling threshold. There are five income brackets, with rates ranging from 2.0% to 5.75% of taxable income.[281][282] Thestate sales anduse tax rate is 4.3%, though there is an additional 1% local tax, for a total of a 5.3% combinedsales tax on most purchases. Three regions then have a higher sales tax: 6% in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, and 7% in theHistoric Triangle.[283] Unlike the majority of states, Virginia does have a 1% sales tax on groceries.[284] This was lowered from 2.5% in January 2023, when the items covered by this lower rate were also extended to include essential personal hygiene goods.[283][285]
Virginia'sproperty tax is set and collected at the local government level and varies throughout the Commonwealth. Real estate is also taxed at the local level.[286] As of 2021[update], the overall median real estate tax rate per $100 of assessed taxable value was $0.96, though for 72 of the 95 counties this number was under $0.80 per $100. Northern Virginia has the highest property taxes in the state, withManassas Park paying the highest effective tax rate at $1.31 per $100, whilePowhatan andLunenburg counties were tied for the lowest, at $0.30.[287] Of local government tax revenue, about 61% is generated from real property taxes while 24% is from tangible personal property, sales and use, and business license tax. The remaining 15% come fromtaxes on hotels, restaurant meals, public service corporation property, and consumer utilities.[286]
Virginia's legislature isbicameral, with a 100-memberHouse of Delegates and 40-memberSenate, who together write the laws for the Commonwealth. Delegates serve two-year terms, while senators serve four-year terms, withthe most recent elections for both taking place in November 2023. The executive department includes thegovernor,lieutenant governor, andattorney general, who are elected every four years in separate elections, with thenext taking place in November 2025.Incumbent governors cannot run for re-election; governors can and have served non-consecutive terms.[318] The lieutenant governor is the official head of the Senate and is responsible for breaking ties. The House elects aSpeaker of the House and the Senate elects aPresident pro tempore, who presides when the lieutenant governor is not present, and both houses elect a clerk and majority and minority leaders.[319] The governor also nominates their 16cabinet members and others who head various state departments.[320]
The legislature starts regular sessions on the second Wednesday of every year. They meet for up to 48 days in odd years, which are election years, or 60 days in even years, to allow more time for biennial state budgets, which governors propose.[319][321] After regular sessions end, special sessions can be called either by the governor or with agreement of two-thirds of both houses, and 21 special sessions have been called since 2000, typically for legislation on preselected issues.[322] Though not a full-time legislature, the Assembly is classified as a hybrid because special sessions are not limited by the state constitution and often last several months.[323] A one-day "veto session" is also automatically triggered when a governor chooses to veto or return legislation to the Assembly with amendments. Vetoes can then be overturned with approval of two-thirds of both the House and Senate.[324] A bill that passes with two-thirds approval can also become law without action from the governor,[325] and Virginia has no "pocket veto", so bills become law if the governor chooses to neither approve nor veto them.[326]
The judges and justices who make upVirginia's judicial system, also the oldest in America, are elected by a majority vote in both the House and Senate without input from the governor, one way Virginia's legislature is stronger than its executive. Thegovernor can makerecess appointments, and when both branches are controlled by the same party, the assembly often confirms them. The judicial hierarchy starts with theGeneral District Courts andJuvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts, with theCircuit Courts above them, then theCourt of Appeals of Virginia, and theSupreme Court of Virginia on top.[327] The Supreme Court has seven justices who serve 12-year terms, with amandatory retirement age of 73; they select their own chief justice, who is informally limited to two four-year terms.[328] Virginia was the last state to guarantee an automatic right ofappeal for all civil and criminal cases. Its Court of Appeals increased from 11 to 17 judges in 2021.[329][330]
Between 1608 and 2021, when thedeath penalty was abolished, the state executed over 1,300 people, including113 following the resumption of capital punishment in 1982.[335] Virginia's prison system incarcerates 30,936 people as of 2018[update], 53% of whom are Black,[336] and the state has the sixteenth-highestrate of incarceration in the country, at 422 per 100,000 residents.[337] Prisonerparole was ended in 1995,[338] and Virginia's rate ofrecidivism of released felons who are re-convicted within three years and sentenced to a year or more is 23.1%, the lowest in the country as of 2019[update].[339][340] Virginia has the fourth lowest violent crime rate and thirteenth lowest property crime rate as of 2018[update].[341] Between 2008 and 2017, arrests for drug-related crimes rose 38%, with 71% of those related tomarijuana,[342] which Virginiadecriminalized in July 2020 andlegalized in July 2021.[343][344]
Mirroring Virginia's political transition, the annualShad Planking event inWakefield has evolved from a vestige of theByrd era into a regular stop for many state campaigns.[345]
Over the past century, Virginia has shifted politically from being a largely rural, conservative,Southern bloc member to a state that is more urbanized, pluralistic, and politically moderate, as both greater enfranchisement and demographic shifts have changed the electorate. Up until the 1970s, Virginia was a racially divided one-party state dominated by theByrd Organization.[346] They sought to stymie the political power of Northern Virginia, perpetuatesegregation, and successfully restricted voter registration such that between 1905 and 1948voter turnout was regularly below ten percent.[347][348] The organization usedmalapportionment to manipulate what areas were over-represented in theGeneral Assembly and the U.S. Congress until ordered to end the practice by the 1964U.S. Supreme Court decision inDavis v. Mann and the 1965Virginia Supreme Court decision inWilkins v. Davis respectively.[349]
Enforcement of federal civil rights legislation passed in the mid-1960s helped overturn the state'sJim Crow laws that effectivelydisfranchised African Americans.[350] TheVoting Rights Act of 1965 made Virginia one of nine states that were required to receive federal approval for changes to voting laws, until the system for including states wasstruck down in 2013.[351] TheVoting Rights Act of Virginia was passed in 2021, requiring preclearance from thestate Attorney General for local election changes that could result in disenfranchisement, including closing or moving polling sites.[352] Though many Jim Crow provisions were removed in Virginia's 1971 constitution, a lifetimeban on voting for felony convictions was unchanged, and by 2016, up to twenty percent of African Americans in Virginia were disenfranchised because of prior felonies.[353] That year, GovernorTerry McAuliffe ended the lifetime ban and individually restored voting rights to over 200,000 ex-felons.[347] Virginia moved from being ranked as the second most difficult state to vote in 2016, to the twelfth easiest in 2020.[354]
While urban and expanding suburban areas, including much ofNorthern Virginia, form the modernDemocratic Partybase, rural southern and western areas moved to support theRepublican Party in response to its "southern strategy" starting around 1970.[355][356] Rural Democratic support has nevertheless persisted in union-influencedRoanoke, college towns such asCharlottesville andBlacksburg, and the southeasternBlack Belt Region.[357] African Americans are the most reliable bloc of Democratic voters,[350] but educational attainment and gender have also become strong indicators of political alignment, with the majority of women in Virginia supporting Democratic presidential candidates since 1980.[358] International immigration and domestic migration into Virginia have also increased the proportion of eligible voters born outside the state from 44% in 1980 to 55% in 2019.[359]
Republican hold Democratic hold Republican gain Democratic gain
Because Virginia enacted their post-Civil-Warconstitution in 1870, state elections in Virginia occur in odd-numbered years, with executive department elections occurring in years following U.S. presidential elections andState Senate elections occurring in the years prior to presidential elections.[360]House of Delegates elections take place concurrent with each of those elections. National politics often play a role in state election outcomes, and Virginians have elected governors of the party opposite the U.S. president in eleven of the last twelve contests, with onlyTerry McAuliffe beating the trendin 2013.[361][362]
The2017 state elections resulted in Democrats holding the three executive offices, as lieutenant governorRalph Northam wonthe race for governor. In concurrentHouse of Delegates elections, Democrats flipped fifteen of the Republicans' previous sixteen-seat majority.[363] Control of the House came down to a tied election in the94th district, which the Republican won by a drawing of lots, giving the party a slim 51–49 majority in the2018–19 legislative sessions.[364] At this time, Virginia was ranked as having the mostgerrymandered U.S. state legislature, as Republicans controlled the House with only 44.5% of the total vote.[365] In 2019,federal courts found that eleven House district lines, including the 94th, were unconstitutionally drawn to discriminate against African Americans.[366][367] Adjusted districts were used in the2019 elections, when Democrats won full control of the General Assembly, despitea political crisis earlier that year.[368][369] Voters in 2020 thenpassed a referendum to givecontrol of drawing both state and congressional districts to a commission of eight citizens and four legislators from each of the two major parties, rather than the legislature.[370]
Though Virginia was considered a "swing state" in the2008 presidential election,[375] Virginia's thirteenelectoral votes were carried in that election and the four since then by Democratic candidates, suggesting the state has shifted to being reliably Democratic in presidential elections. Virginia was the only former Confederate state to vote for the Democrats in the2016 and2024 presidential elections. Virginia had previously voted for Republican presidential candidates in thirteen out of fourteenpresidential elections from 1952 to 2004, including ten in a row from 1968 to 2004.[376] Virginia currently holds its presidentialopen primary election onSuper Tuesday, the same day as fourteen other states, withthe most recent held on March 5, 2024.[377]
PublicK–12 schools in Virginia are generally operated by the counties and cities, and not by the state. As of the 2023–24 academic year,[update] 1,261,962 students were enrolled in 2,254 local and regional schools in the Commonwealth, including 56 career and technical schools and 290 alternative and special education centers across 126 school divisions. Besides the generalpublic schools in Virginia, there areGovernor's Schools and selectivemagnet schools. The Governor's Schools are a collection of 52 regional high schools and summer programs intended for gifted students,[381][382] and include theThomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, the top-rated high school in the country in 2022.[383] The Virginia Council for Private Education oversees the regulation of 483 state accredited private schools.[384] An additional 53,680 students receive homeschooling.[385]
In 2022, 92.1% of high school students graduated on-time after four years,[386] and 89.3% of adults over the age 25 had their high school diploma.[181] Virginia has one of the smaller racial gaps in graduation rates among U.S. states,[387] with 90.3% of Black students graduating on time, compared to 94.9% of white students and 98.3% of Asian students. Hispanic students had the highestdropout rate, at 13.95%, with high rates being correlated with students listed asEnglish learners.[386] Despite endingschool segregation in the 1960s, seven percent of Virginia's public schools were rated as "intensely segregated" byThe Civil Rights Project at UCLA in 2019, and the number has risen since 1989, when only three percent were.[388] Virginia has comparatively large public school districts, typically comprising entire counties or cities, and this helps mitigate funding gaps seen in other states such that non-white districts average slightly more funding, $255 per student as of 2019[update], than majority white districts.[389] Elementary schools, with Virginia's smallest districts, were found to be more segregated than state middle or high schools by a 2019 VCU study.[390]
Virginia was ranked best for its physical environment in the 2023 United Health Foundation's Health Rankings, but 19th for its overall health outcomes and only 26th for residents' healthy behaviors. Among U.S. states, Virginia has the 22nd lowest rate of premature deaths, with 8,709 per 100,000,[402] and aninfant mortality rate of 5.61 per 1,000 live births.[403] The rate of uninsured Virginians dropped to 6.5% in 2023, following an expansion ofMedicare in 2019.[402]Falls Church andLoudoun County were both ranked in the top ten healthiest communities in 2020 byU.S. News & World Report.[404]
With high rates of heart disease and diabetes, African Americans in Virginia have an average life expectancy four years less than whites and twelve less than Asian Americans and Latinos,[405] and were disproportionately affected by thecoronavirus pandemic.[406] African-American mothers are also three times more likely todie while giving birth.[407] Mortality rates among white middle-class Virginians have also been rising, with drug overdose, alcohol poisoning, and suicide as leading causes.[408] Suicides in the state increased over 14% between 2009 and 2023, while deaths from drug overdoses more than doubled.[402] Virginia has a ratio of 221.5 primary care physicians per 10,000 residents, the fifteenth worst rate nationally, and only 250.3 mental health providers per that number, the fourteenth worst nationwide.[402] A December 2023 report by theGeneral Assembly found that all nine public mental health care facilities were over 95% full, causing overcrowding and delays in admissions.[409]
Weight is an issue for many Virginians: 32.2% of adults and 14.9% of 10- to 17-year-olds are obese as of 2021[update],[410] 35% of adults are overweight, and 23.3% do not exercise regularly.[411] Smoking in bars and restaurants was banned in January 2010,[412] and the percent of tobacco smokers in the state has declined from 19% in that year to 12.1% in 2023, but an additional 7.7% usee-cigarettes. The percentage of adults who receive annual immunizations is above average, as 47.8% get their yearly flu vaccination.[402] In 2008, Virginia became the first U.S. state to mandate theHPV vaccine for girls for school attendance,[413] and 62.7% of adolescents have the vaccine as of 2023[update].[402]
Because of the 1932Byrd Road Act, the state government controls most of Virginia's roads, instead of a local county authority as is usual in other states.[429] As of 2018[update], theVirginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) owns and operates 57,867 miles (93,128 km) of the total 70,105 miles (112,823 km) of roads in the state, making it the third-largest state highway system.[430]
Traffic on Virginia's roads is among the worst in the nation according to the 2019 American Community Survey. The average commute time of 28.7 minutes is the eighth-longest among U.S. states, and the Washington Metropolitan Area, which includesNorthern Virginia, has the second-worst rate of traffic congestion among U.S. cities.[431] About 67.9% of workers in Virginia reported driving alone to work in 2021, the fourteenth lowest percent in the U.S.,[402] while 8.5% reported carpooling,[432] and Virginia hitpeak car usage before the year 2000, making it one of the first such states.[433]
Virginia hasAmtrak passenger rail service along several corridors, andVirginia Railway Express (VRE) maintains two commuter lines into Washington, D.C. fromFredericksburg andManassas. VRE experienced a dramatic decline in ridership due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, with daily ridership dropping from over 18,000 in 2019 to 6,864 in February 2024.[438][439] Amtrak routes in Virginia have however passed their pre-pandemic levels and served 123,658 passengers in March 2024.[440]Norfolk operates a light rail system calledThe Tide, servicing about 2,300 people per day.[441] Major freight railroads in Virginia includeNorfolk Southern andCSX Transportation, and in 2021 the state finalized a deal to purchase 223 miles (359 km) of track and over 350 miles (560 km) of right of way from CSX for future passenger rail service.[442]
Virginia is also home to several of the nation's top high schoolbasketball programs, includingPaul VI Catholic High School andOak Hill Academy, the latter of which has won nine national championships.[469] In the 2022–2023 school year, 176,623 high school students participated in fourteen girls sports and thirteen boys sports managed by theVirginia High School League, with the most popular sports beingfootball, outdoor track and cross country,soccer, basketball, baseball and softball, and volleyball.[470] Outside of the high school system, 145 youth soccer clubs operate in the Virginia Youth Soccer Association, under theUSYS system, as of 2024[update].[471]
The state slogan, "Virginia Is for Lovers", has been used since 1969 and is featured on state welcome signs.[472]
Virginia has several nicknames, the oldest of which is the "Old Dominion". KingCharles II of England first referred to "our auntient Collonie of Virginia" one of "our own Dominions" in 1662 or 1663, perhaps choosing this language because Virginia was home to many of his supporters during theEnglish Civil War.[473][474] These supporters were calledCavaliers, and the nickname "The Cavalier State" was popularized after theAmerican Civil War.[475] Virginia has also been called the "Mother of Presidents", as eight Virginians have served asPresident of the United States, including four of the first five.[476]
The state's motto,Sic Semper Tyrannis, translates fromLatin as "Thus Always to Tyrants", and is used on the state seal, which is then used on the flag.[1] While the seal was designed in 1776, and the flag was first used in the 1830s, both were made official in 1930.[477] In 1940, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" was named thestate song, but it was retired in 1997 due to its nostalgic references to slavery. In March 2015, Virginia's government named "Our Great Virginia", which uses the tune of "Oh Shenandoah", as the traditional state song and "Sweet Virginia Breeze" as the popular state song.[478]
^"Virginia's Agricultural Resources".Natural Resource Education Guide. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. January 21, 2008.Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. RetrievedFebruary 8, 2008.
^"Coal"(PDF). Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy. July 31, 2008.Archived(PDF) from the original on January 3, 2015. RetrievedFebruary 26, 2014.
^abU.S. Climate Divisional Dataset (January 2024)."Climate at a Glance".NOAA National Centers for Environmental information. RetrievedJanuary 11, 2024.
^abKaren Terwilliger,A Guide to Endangered and Threatened Species in Virginia (Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries/McDonald & Woodward: 1995), p. 158.
^Jeffrey C. Beane, Alvin L. Braswell, William M. Palmer, Joseph C. Mitchell & Julian R. Harrison III,Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia (2d ed.: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), pp. 51, 102.
^abKulp, Stephen C. (January 2018).Virginia Local Tax Rates, 2017(PDF) (Report) (36th annual ed.). Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia/LexisNexis. p. 7.
^Strum, Albert L.;Howard, A. E. Dick (June 1977). "Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia by A. E. Dick Howard".The American Political Science Review.71 (2):714–715.doi:10.2307/1978427.JSTOR1978427.
^Lettner, Kimberly (2008)."Message from the Chief". The Division of Capitol Police. Archived fromthe original on May 19, 2009. RetrievedSeptember 10, 2009.
^abBurchett, Michael H. (Summer 1997). "Promise and prejudice: Wise County, Virginia and the Great Migration, 1910–1920".The Journal of Negro History.82 (3):312–327.doi:10.2307/2717675.JSTOR2717675.S2CID141153760.
^Miller, Gary; Schofield, Norman (May 2003). "Activists and Partisan Realignment in the United States".The American Political Science Review.97 (2):245–260.doi:10.1017/s0003055403000650 (inactive November 1, 2024).JSTOR3118207.S2CID12885628.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
Carroll, Steven; Miller, Mark (2002).Wild Virginia: A Guide to Thirty Roadless Recreation Areas Including Shenandoah National Park. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot.ISBN978-0-7627-2315-7.
Moran, Michael G. (2007).Inventing Virginia: Sir Walter Raleigh and the Rhetoric of Colonization, 1584–1590. New York:Peter Lang.ISBN978-0-8204-8694-9.
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