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Virginia

A guide to help you understand the ins and outs of business in Virginia

Overview

Virginia is a Mid-Atlantic state that is located on the east coast of the US. Its capital is Richmond, but its largest city is Virginia Beach. However, the largest metropolitan area in the state is the Washington, DC - Arlington - Alexandria area. Virginia's GDP in 2025 was $798,447,900,000.

Virginia's top industries are corporate services, food and beverage processing, IT, life sciences, manufacturing, supply chain management, and unmanned systems. The food and beverage manufacturing sector in Virginia has over 130 processing companies that have chosen to locate or expand here and over 170 major warehouses, distribution, and cold storage facilities greater than 400,000 square feet. Brands like Coca-Cola, Gatorade, Cargill, Frito-Lay, Hershey's, Tyson, and Nestle have headquarters or branch footprints in the state, helping to power a food and beverage manufacturing workforce that supports over 44,000 jobs.

Virginia’s relationship with Qatar spans massive clean energy investments, high-value corporate trade, and pioneering higher education partnerships. In March 2026, a consortium including the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) agreed to a historic $10.7 billion acquisition of AES, a major clean energy provider headquartered in Arlington. Complementing this massive influx of sovereign wealth capital, Richmond-based Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) operates an elite branch campus in Doha—backed by a $43.6 million annual budget funded via the Qatar Foundation—which stands alongside heavy defense and tech exports passing through Northern Virginia's robust corporate hubs.

Virginia has a flat corporate income tax of 6%. There are six foreign trade zones in the state, in Norfolk (Suffolk), Dulles, Culpeper, Richmond, Dublin, and the Tri-Cities region. Virginia offers a robust portfolio of state economic incentive programs. Such programs include the Waste Motor Oil Burning Equipment Credit, the Virginia Leaders in Export Trade (VALET) program, and the Virginia Economic Development Incentive Grant.

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