Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC moved from $48,430 in May 2024 to $49,430 in May 2025 (+2.1%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC sits -1.0 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Bartenders shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
Bartenders publishes $46,700 here versus $34,340 nationally (+36.0%; 2,860metro-area jobs). Next is Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers at $59,690 locally versus $76,210 nationally (-21.7%).
- Bartenders$46,700 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC sits 36.0% above the national Bartenders median of $34,340 (2,860 published local jobs).
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$59,690 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC sits 21.7% below the national Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers median of $76,210 (4,320 published local jobs).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$28,420 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC sits 20.6% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (13,650 published local jobs).
- Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel$56,270 in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC sits 19.6% below the national Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel median of $69,990 (5,810 published local jobs).
Bartenders and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 47260 · Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC $63K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-MID · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #135/528
- RPP-MID 97.9
- OCC-MOST 592 occs
- TOP-LEAD Anesthesiologi… · $501K
- EMP-MIX Managers, Al…
- TREND-INLINE -1.0 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Boise City, ID
- BOOK-FULL 574 rows · May 2025
Read with Boise City, ID ($11 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer — not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-N…
Employment scale inside Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC's top-pay list
Managers, All Other and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Managers, All Other 2,300 jobs · $143,230
- 2. Financial Managers 2,290 jobs · $163,940
- 3. Pharmacists 1,470 jobs · $136,280
- 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 1,360 jobs · $170,560
- 5. Sales Managers 1,270 jobs · $158,750
- 6. Engineers, All Other 1,250 jobs · $138,590
- 7. Physicians, All Other 1,050 jobs · $266,280
- 8. Aerospace Engineers 800 jobs · $139,010
- 9. Architectural and Engineering Managers 750 jobs · $161,340
- 10. Dentists, General 720 jobs · $177,400
- 11. Human Resources Managers 680 jobs · $140,410
- 12. Marketing Managers 610 jobs · $155,300
- 13. Family Medicine Physicians 560 jobs · $213,690
- 14. Chief Executives 530 jobs · $297,350
- 15. Purchasing Managers 500 jobs · $143,230
- 16. Database Architects 490 jobs · $135,130
- 17. Cardiologists 230 jobs · $430,900
- 18. Public Relations Managers 200 jobs · $152,990
Occupations Tracked
592
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$63,302
employment-weighted, 574 complete rows
Top Salary
$500,990
Anesthesiologists
Cost of Living
97.9
2% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anesthesiologists | $500,990 |
| 2 | Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric | $478,700 |
| 3 | Cardiologists | $430,900 |
| 4 | Chief Executives | $297,350 |
| 5 | Psychiatrists | $277,010 |
| 6 | Physicians, All Other | $266,280 |
| 7 | Surgeons, All Other | $252,140 |
| 8 | Nurse Anesthetists | $233,060 |
| 9 | Family Medicine Physicians | $213,690 |
| 10 | Dentists, General | $177,400 |
| 11 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $170,560 |
| 12 | Financial Managers | $163,940 |
| 13 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $161,340 |
| 14 | Sales Managers | $158,750 |
| 15 | Marketing Managers | $155,300 |
| 16 | Public Relations Managers | $152,990 |
| 17 | Purchasing Managers | $143,230 |
| 18 | Managers, All Other | $143,230 |
| 19 | Human Resources Managers | $140,410 |
| 20 | Aerospace Engineers | $139,010 |
| 21 | Podiatrists | $138,700 |
| 22 | Engineers, All Other | $138,590 |
| 23 | Pharmacists | $136,280 |
| 24 | Psychologists, All Other | $135,470 |
| 25 | Database Architects | $135,130 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Cooks, All Other | $27,150 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $27,460 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $27,830 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $27,890 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $28,260 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $28,380 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $28,420 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $28,660 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $28,670 |
| Parking Attendants | $28,780 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in VA
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside VA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($63,302 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Related federal data
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.