State scorecard
Virginia in the US Political Rank
Every place Virginia holds across our state rankings, in one scorecard. Economy, taxes, education, crime, healthcare, and more, each measured the same way for all 50 states and each linked to the full cited ranking.
#3
of 25 on States Ranked by Infrastructure Condition
#50
of 50 on Ranking the 50 State Economies of 2026
48.9%
Governor Abigail Spanberger performance score, rank 23 of 50
9
state rankings that score Virginia
Governor
Virginia's governor, Abigail Spanberger (Democrat), holds performance rank 23 of 50 at 48.9% this week in the Governor Performance Rankings, scored on 263 metrics and updated every Monday.
| Ranking | Virginia's place | Score |
|---|---|---|
| States Ranked by Infrastructure ConditionFirst overall in the Reason Foundation's 29th Annual Highway Report, achieving top-tier pavement condition while spending near the bottom on capital and administrative disbursements (Reason Foundation). | #3 of 25 | 97.1 |
| States Ranked by Business Climate: What the Major Raters Agree OnFourth on CNBC's 2025 rankings, published before the scale of federal downsizing was clear (CNBC, 2025). BLS data now shows Virginia as the only state with a significant 12-month job loss, down 52,200 (BLS, May 2026). The rating and the reality are diverging. | #8 of 25 | 88.2 |
| States Ranked by Dependence on Federal MoneyThe most favorable per-capita balance of payments of any state in 2023 at 16,650 dollars per resident, earned through Pentagon salaries and defense contracts even though only about 28 percent of its state budget is federal (Rockefeller Institute, 2025; Pew, FY 2022). | #9 of 50 | 88.6 |
| States Ranked by Violent Crime Rate217.9 per 100,000. Virginia was an early full-state NIBRS adopter, so its low rate comes with strong reporting coverage behind it (FBI, 2024). | #10 of 50 | 217.9 |
| States Ranked by K-12 Education OutcomesAbove the national average in math in 2024, but its fourth grade reading score has fallen sharply since 2017, one of the steeper declines in the country (NCES, NAEP long-term trend data). | #13 of 50 | 88.1 |
| Voting With Their Feet: States Ranked by Migration and Population GrowthPopulation growth held despite the year's federal workforce reductions, but the labor shock is a clear headwind on future inflows (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025; BLS, 2026). | #19 of 50 | 70.3 |
| States Ranked by Health Care OutcomesA middle-tier Commonwealth Fund state with a below-average uninsured rate near 8 percent after its 2019 Medicaid expansion (Commonwealth Fund, 2025; Census ACS, 2023). | #20 of 50 | 81.2 |
| States Ranked by Total Tax BurdenA moderate total burden in the Tax Foundation series (Tax Foundation, 2022), though federal workforce exposure, not tax policy, is now the dominant force on the state's economy (BLS, 2026). | #32 of 50 | 66.4 |
| Ranking the 50 State Economies of 2026The only state with a statistically significant job loss over the year ending May 2026, down 52,200 jobs or 1.2 percent (BLS, 2026). CNBC still ranked it fourth for business in 2025, which shows how fast federal downsizing changed the picture. | #50 of 50 | 52.7 |
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