Overall
97.9
Below avg
Metro cost profile · 2024 BEA RPP
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
Cost-of-living indicators for Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC, from Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities, overall, goods, services, and rents vs the U.S. average of 100.
- 97.9
- Overall RPP
- #115
- of 387 metros
- 99.8
- Rents RPP
- $102K
- $100K national buys
Virginia Beach ranks #115 of 387 U.S. metros by cost, and its overall price index has fallen 2.1 points since 2008.
- falling since 2008
- similar cost to Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal
The verdict
Virginia Beach costs less than 30% of U.S. metros, an overall index of 97.9, 2.1% below the national average, with services the biggest swing at 89.6.
- bottom 70%
- by overall cost, nationwide
- 96.8
- goods RPP, tradable items
- 89.6
- services RPP, labor-priced
A $100,000 national salary carries the purchasing power of about $102,102 here; matching a $100K lifestyle takes roughly $97,941.
Salary Equivalent
A $100,000 salary at the national average cost of living equals:
$97,941
in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC purchasing power
$50,000 nationally
$48,971
$75,000 nationally
$73,456
$125,000 nationally
$122,426
$150,000 nationally
$146,912
$200,000 nationally
$195,882
Use the salary calculator for custom amounts.
Affordability score
F
24/100
How far the median local paycheck goes here, combining income and housing cost
Purchasing power
Not reported
Housing affordability F
24th percentile
A weighted composite (60% purchasing power, 40% housing affordability) percentile-ranked against every other tracked metro; a missing input redistributes its weight rather than deflating the score. Sources: Census ACS 5-Year 2023 (income) + BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 (cost). Vintages differ by design; see methodology.
RPP History (2008-2024)
The cost of living has been trending downward, decreasing by 2.1 points over this period. The largest single-year move was in 2019, when the index dropped 2.3 points from the year before, a bigger swing than the full 2008-2024 change.
Virginia Beach overall RPP, 2008-2024
Every year on record, national average = 100
| Year | Overall |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 100.1 |
| 2009 | 99.2 |
| 2010 | 100.9 |
| 2011 | 101.3 |
| 2012 | 100.1 |
| 2013 | 99.7 |
| 2014 | 100.1 |
| 2015 | 100.2 |
| 2016 | 101.0 |
| 2017 | 99.1 |
| 2018 | 97.9 |
| 2019 | 95.5 |
| 2020 | 95.6 |
| 2021 | 97.9 |
| 2022 | 97.9 |
| 2023 | 97.7 |
| 2024 | 97.9 |
Latest BEA release change
What changed from 2023 to 2024
Virginia Beach's overall RPP rose +0.2 points, from 97.7 in 2023 to 97.9 in 2024. The largest category movement was rents, changing from 97.7 to 99.8. This is a relative change against the national benchmark, not a household's dollar bill.
Service-cost relief profile
How Virginia Beach's cost structure works
Services provide the strongest cost offset in Virginia Beach: their index is 89.6, farther below the national baseline than rents or tradable goods. The overall RPP of 97.9 therefore has a different source than a place with cheaper housing instead.
Across all reported metros, the closest component-profile matches are Richmond, VA, Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL. They resemble Virginia Beach across goods, services, and rents together, so they are stronger structure peers than a place selected only because its overall RPP happens to be nearby.
Across 2008-2024, Virginia Beach's overall index has fallen by 2.1 points. This is a relative price-level history, not a prediction or a personal affordability recommendation; pair it with current local wages and housing options before making a decision.
Virginia Beach vs every U.S. metro
Where this metro sits in the national cost distribution
98 Top 30% higher than 70% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities · 2024
Virginia Beach cost breakdown
BEA RPP by category, 100 = national average
- Rents
Rents
99.8 RPP
- Services
Services
89.6 RPP
- Overall
Overall
97.9 RPP
- Goods
Goods
96.8 RPP
What this shows Virginia Beach's strongest departure is services at 89.6; goods follows at 96.8. Labor-priced local activity, rather than housing alone, is the first budget line to investigate.
Goods vs. housing, where Virginia Beach's cost comes from
Metros near Virginia Beach's overall cost, plotted by their goods price (horizontal) and housing price (vertical). Same headline RPP, very different structures.
Read the chart as text
- Virginia Beach (Virginia Beach, this metro): goods RPP 96.8, rents RPP 99.8
- Hilton Head Island: goods RPP 96.3, rents RPP 101.2
- Richmond: goods RPP 96.8, rents RPP 99.1
- Austin: goods RPP 93.8, rents RPP 120.4
- Grants Pass: goods RPP 105.3, rents RPP 79.9
- Carson City: goods RPP 96.3, rents RPP 101.2
- Raleigh: goods RPP 96.6, rents RPP 103.5
Price Index Summary
Goods
96.8
Below avg
Services
89.6
Cheap
Rents
99.8
Below avg
Metros with Similar Cost of Living
These metros have an overall RPP closest to Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC's index of 97.9.
Showing the 6 closest of 387 metro areas tracked nationally.
Decision peers
Metros with a similar cost mix
These metros are closest to Virginia Beach's combined goods, services, and rents profile. They may not have the same overall RPP, but their price pressures are shaped in a similar way.
Richmond, VA
Goods 96.8 · Services 89.2 · Rents 99.1 Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
Goods 96.6 · Services 89.3 · Rents 98.9 Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL
Goods 96.2 · Services 88.5 · Rents 98.8 Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC
Goods 96.3 · Services 88.1 · Rents 101.2 Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ
Goods 96.2 · Services 91.5 · Rents 98.8 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC
Goods 96.6 · Services 89.2 · Rents 97.6
VA-relative analysis
Goods prices places Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC toward the bottom of VA's metros
Among the 9 VA metros PlainCost tracks with reported goods prices data, Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC ranks #8 - the 11th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide rank above: it compares Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC only against its own state's metros, not the full US field.
Goods prices
#8 of 9
11th percentile in VA
Services prices
#2 of 9
78th percentile in VA
Rent prices
#2 of 9
78th percentile in VA
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "more expensive is worse", see the national comparison above for direction context. This is a comparison within VA only, not a livability score.
Nationwide metros with similar overall cost or rent prices
Two BEA RPP-derived peer sets for Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC: nearest metros by overall regional price parity and by rents RPP. These are cross-state neighborhoods, not the in-state metro list below.
Similar overall RPP
Nearest metros by overall regional price parity (97.9 here).
Similar rents RPP
Nearest metros by rents regional price parity (99.8 here).
Other VA Metros
Charlottesville, VA 99.1 Richmond, VA 97.9 Winchester, VA-WV 96.5 Harrisonburg, VA 94.9 Roanoke, VA 93.6 Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA 92.7
View all VA metros → Cheapest in VA → Most expensive in VA →
Cost of living guides →, cheapest and most-expensive metro rankings, salary negotiation with RPP data, and step-by-step comparison walkthroughs.
Shareable data card
Take this cost snapshot with you
Download the data card or share this exact metro record. The card uses the same BEA-derived values shown above.
Compare to Other Metros
What this means for Virginia Beach
How to read Virginia Beach's cost of living before a move, a job offer, or a budget.
- Budget to local prices, not headline pay, a $100K national salary spends like about $102,102 in Virginia Beach. Salary calculator
- Start with services: it indexes at 89.6, the largest departure from the national benchmark in this metro's BEA cost mix. Compare it with the other components before treating the overall RPP as a complete household budget.
- Compare Virginia Beach head-to-head against a specific destination before you decide. Compare metros
RPP is BEA's annual price-level benchmark for the data year shown, not a live market quote. Pair it with current local wages and housing costs before deciding.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cost of living in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC?
Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC has a Regional Price Parity (RPP) index of 97.9, meaning it is 2.1% less expensive than the national average. Goods are indexed at 96.8, services at 89.6, and rents at 99.8. It ranks #115 out of 387 U.S. metro areas by overall cost.
What salary do I need in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC to match $100K nationally?
To maintain the same purchasing power as a $100,000 salary at the national average, you would need approximately $97,941 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC. Conversely, $100K earned in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC has the purchasing power of $102,102 at the national average.
How expensive is rent in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC?
Rents in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC are indexed at 99.8, which is 0.2% below the national average. This is close to the U.S. average.
Is Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC getting more expensive?
From 2008 to 2024, Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC's overall cost index changed by -2.1 points (from 100.1 to 97.9). The cost of living has been declining.
What costs the most in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC?
The priciest category in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC is rents at 99.8, 0.2% below the national average, still the highest of the three categories. The most affordable category is services at 89.6, 10.4% below average.
What metros have a similar cost of living to Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC?
Metros with the most similar overall cost index include Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, Richmond, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos. These areas have RPP values within a few points of Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC's 97.9.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.