Virginia prevailing wage
State law, federal determinations, and how to find the rate that applies
- Virginia has its own prevailing-wage law (Va. Code §2.2-4321.3), applying to public-works contracts over $250,000, administered by Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI).
- The U.S. Department of Labor has 187 active federal Davis-Bacon wage determinations covering 137 Virginia counties as of (latest revision date), each setting county rates by trade for federally funded construction.
- Market context: the average private construction worker in Virginia earned $1,632/week (≈ $40.80/hour) in Q1 2026, rank #25 of 51 states, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages - an industry average, not a prevailing-wage rate.
Recent change: Enacted 2020 (effective May 1, 2021); amended effective July 1, 2026 — rates now come from Commissioner-run triennial wage surveys, with the federal Davis-Bacon rate as a floor.
Mandatory for state-agency contracts over $250,000; localities covered only via opt-in ordinance.
How to find the required rate
- State or locally funded project: use the rate schedules from Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) - official Virginia prevailing-wage portal.
- Federally funded project: find the county in the Virginia determination index and open the official SAM.gov document for your construction type.
- Read the classification line - base rate plus fringe (how to read a determination); compute totals and overtime with the calculator.
Federal determinations at a glance
Building: 44 · Heavy: 35 · Highway: 81 · Residential: 27 - every determination and the counties it covers are listed in the Virginia wage-determination index, each with its full rate schedule mirrored. Service contracts: 45 active SCA determinations for Virginia.
Recently revised determinations
- VA20260195 (rev 3) - modified , Highway
What construction actually pays here
Separate from any required rate: BLS data puts the average private construction wage in Virginia at $1,632/week (+6.3% YoY) in Q1 2026 - details and history on Virginia construction wages.
Learn the system
What a prevailing wage is · The Davis-Bacon Act · Certified payroll · Fringe calculator
Data on this page is from U.S. government public-domain sources - free to reuse with credit and a link to prevailingwageindex.com.