Hey there, I’ve lived here for 7 years as a single person, no kids, making anywhere from $70k-100k in healthcare. Our housing costs went up like everyone else (30% increase in home insurance) but not as extreme as other areas (thanks to the Navy, having a huge military community is a plus).
Housing is reasonable and varied depending on your need (nice apartments, new contruction and older homes, townhouse/condo units side by side).
I have 3bd/2.5 1600 sq ft with small fenced backyard and single car garage goes for about $270-325k. Good job industry for healthcare and military, lots of gov contractors.
Virginia Beach has a small but cute Town Center and just a few miles to boardwalk on the ocean, lots of concerts and events and family activities year round.
You’ve got the bay side to the north thats more chill if you dont want to the noise of the boardwalk. On the opposite end is CIty of Norfolk, nice becuase you’ve got a downtown/city area, pretty recently renovated waterfront, and different ‘city’ living options. Chesapeake is to the south if you want more land.
Politically its a mixed bag I feel….Virginia is a blue state with a Republican governor. High taxes but With the military and rural areas you have a lot of red support but it seems to blend more as you get close to the city and populated areas.
Crime wise, it can be hit or miss in some areas and same with schools we have some excellent top rated schools but it depends where you live but also VaBeach has some receipriocity or voucher thing where you can send your kid elsewhere if they test out? (idk I’m not sure on that, I dont have kids).
I used to live in Northern Virginia outside DC which is expensesive so comparing Cost of Living, its cheaper here (housing is defintely WAY cheaper). Currenlty $3 average for gallon of gas. Lots of grocery options Wegmans, Trader Joes, Whole foods, one Costco, lots of Aldis, Lidls, Kroger and Food lion.
Crime seems to ebb and flow….Norfolk used to have the worst of it but a lot got pushed out to into Virginia Beach…it just kinda depends where you live. About once a month I play ‘was that gunshots or fireworks’?
I feel like crimes improved in my area (police fire and ems are quick to respond, we have the largest volunteer EMS squad in the nation and several hospitals including a level one trauma and childrens in Norfolk.
Mostly Sentara hospitals, pretty good care and lots of providers in the area. Traffic is standard traffic (not as bad as DCs thats what I compare to)….you’re gonna bottlenecking at the same time with base traffic and plus the hampton roads tunnel will screw you.
Lots of outdoor activities and options, especially if you like water and First Landing State Park is your only real hiking option. But the weather is a moderate 4 seasons, its 68F right now lol (were getting that warm front, but this winter has mostly been in the 30s-40s).
We got maybe 4 inches of snow that lasted two days. Summers hottest were in the 90s.
Best way to describe Virginia weather: If you don’t like it, wait a day. Hope you like humidity!! Hope this helps, let me know if I can provide you with any other details.
