Virginia workers are protected by one of the more progressive minimum wage schedules on the US East Coast. The state minimum wage is $12.41 per hour for 2025, set under VA Code § 40.1-28.10 and adjusted each January using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — meaning it rises automatically with inflation rather than requiring a new legislative vote. This is more than 70% above the federal floor of $7.25/hr, which has not changed since 2009. This calculator converts the Virginia minimum (or any wage you enter) into the figures that matter for budgeting and job comparisons: weekly gross, monthly gross and annual gross pay, with overtime automatically computed the moment you exceed 40 hours in a week.
How it works
Enter your hourly wage (pre-filled at the 2025 Virginia minimum of $12.41) and your average hours per week. The tool splits your time into two buckets:
- Regular time — the first 40 hours each week, paid at your straight-time rate.
- Overtime — any hours beyond 40, paid at 1.5 times your regular rate under FLSA Section 7(a)(1).
Weekly gross = (regular hours x wage) + (overtime hours x wage x 1.5).
Monthly gross = weekly gross x 52 / 12 (exact calendar average). Annual gross = weekly gross x 52.
A federal minimum comparison panel then shows how your total annual earnings differ from what the same schedule would produce at the federal floor of $7.25/hr — useful when evaluating job offers across state lines or assessing a proposed pay rise.
Worked example
A full-time Virginia worker earns the state minimum of $12.41/hr and works 45 hours per week (5 hours overtime):
| Metric | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Regular pay | 40h x $12.41 | $496.40 |
| Overtime pay | 5h x $18.615 (1.5x) | $93.08 |
| Weekly gross | $496.40 + $93.08 | $589.48 |
| Monthly gross | $589.48 x 52 / 12 | $2,554.41 |
| Annual gross | $589.48 x 52 | $30,652.96 |
At a standard 40 hours per week with no overtime, the 2025 Virginia minimum produces:
- Weekly gross: $496.40
- Monthly gross: $2,149.07
- Annual gross: $25,788.80
Compare that to the federal minimum of $7.25/hr at 40 hours — which yields only $15,080/year — and the Virginia premium is worth $10,708.80 per year in additional gross earnings before any taxes.
Virginia minimum wage in context
Virginia passed its first-ever minimum wage increase law in 2020 (effective 2021), breaking decades of reliance on the federal floor. The schedule moved from $7.25 to $9.50 in 2021, then $11.00 in 2022, $12.00 in 2023, and began CPI-indexing from 2024 onward. The 2025 rate of $12.41 reflects the first full year of automatic inflation adjustment.
For workers in Northern Virginia — particularly the Washington DC suburbs where cost of living is high — the state minimum is often just a legal backstop; many employers in retail, food service and logistics voluntarily pay $15 to $20/hr to attract staff in a competitive market. The calculator lets you model any wage scenario so you can compare offers realistically.
Tipped workers may be paid a direct cash wage as low as $2.13/hr under federal rules, provided that wages plus tips equal at least $12.41/hr. If they do not, the employer must make up the gap. Virginia does not currently add extra state protections on top of this federal tipped-wage framework.
Use the quick reference table in the calculator to compare several common scenarios — state minimum at 35, 40 and 45 hours, plus $15 and $18/hr benchmarks — to quickly size up where your wage sits relative to the legal floor and the broader labor market.