District of Columbia vs Virginia

Household income

Currently in

Moving to

Your $100,000 in District of Columbia is worth

$90,992

at national prices · RPP 109.9BEA RPP SARPPSource: BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 vintage · released February 2026 · Official API

The same income in Virginia is worth

$98,912

at national prices · RPP 101.1BEA RPP SARPPSource: BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 vintage · released February 2026 · Official API

Your income goes +$7,920 further in Virginia (+8.7% purchasing power).

Show the math

adjusted = income ÷ (RPP ÷ 100)

District of Columbia: $100,000 ÷ (109.9 ÷ 100) = $90,992

Virginia: $100,000 ÷ (101.1 ÷ 100) = $98,912

difference: $98,912 − $90,992 = +$7,920

Where the difference comes from

Price level by component, 100 = US average. Higher means more expensive.

Regional price parity by component for the two states, with the percentage difference.
Component	District of Columbia	Virginia	Difference
All items	109.9	101.1	−8.0%
Housing rents	155.0	106.8	−31.1%
Goods	106.5	100.4	−5.7%
Utilities	112.8	92.2	−18.3%
Other services	103.0	100.2	−2.7%

BEA Regional Price Parities · SARPP · 2024 · rel. February 2026 · Official API

Housing reality check

Typical rent and home price in each state — tangible context beyond the index.

District of ColumbiaMedian rent$1,954/moMedian home$737,100

VirginiaMedian rent$1,579/moMedian home$383,700

US Census ACS 5-Year Estimates · ACS5 · 2024 · rel. December 2025 · Official API

Tax at a glance

Hand-curated, tax year 2026 · verified 2026-07-20

Income and sales tax for the two states.
Tax	District of Columbia	Virginia
Income tax (top rate)	10.75%	5.75%
Sales tax (combined avg)	6.00%	5.77%

Tax Foundation (income & sales) · Tax · 2026 · rel. tax year 2026 · Manually maintained · verified 2026-07-20

Official API Manually maintained2 of 3 metrics sourced from official APIs, 1 manually maintained. How every number is calculated →

District of Columbia vs Virginia: the read

The bottom line

Move a $100,000 income from District of Columbia to Virginia and its purchasing power changes from $90,992 to $98,912 in national-average terms — a gain of $7,920. Virginia is the cheaper of the two, running at 101.1 on the price index versus 109.9.

Where the difference comes from

The widest gap is housing rents: District of Columbia sits at 155 and Virginia at 106.8 (100 = national). Virginia has the edge there, and it's the main reason the two states diverge.

Housing

Median rent runs $1,954 in District of Columbia against $1,579 in Virginia, and the typical home $737,100 versus $383,700. Virginia is the more affordable place to buy.

Taxes

On tax, District of Columbia has 10.75% top income tax and a combined sales tax of 6.00%; Virginia has 5.75% top income tax and 5.77%. Weigh both against the purchasing-power figure above.

Full profiles: District of Columbia ·Virginia. Every figure here is sourced on the pages linked above.

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