Virginia Economy

Agriculture and Industry Services and Products

The years following the Civil War were difficult for the state of Virginia, and interrupted what had been a strong economy from the earliest years of colonization. However, by 1930, the per capita income for the population of Virginia was above the national average.

Virginia’s main industries include farming, (livestock, poultry and tobacco), manufacturing (chemicals, tobacco, textiles), minerals (primarily bituminous coal), fishing, trade, and transportation.

Virginia Agriculture and Industry

Virginia Agriculture:

Cattle, poultry, dairy products, tobacco, hogs, soybeans.

 
Virginia Industry:

Transportation equipment, textiles, food processing, printing, electric equipment, chemicals.

Virginia's economy is well balanced with diverse sources of income. From the Hampton Roads area to Richond and down to Lee County in the southeast it includes military installations, cattle, tobacco and peanut farming in Southside Virginia, manufacturing, and transportation. Northern Virginia (once the dairy capital of Virginia) hosts software, communications, consulting, defense contracting, diplomats, and considerable components of the professional government sector.

Virginia, arguably the wealthiest southern state before the Civil War, recovered from the civil war and the Great Depression much faster than the rest of the south. Today it's still significantly wealthier than the rest of the south, although much of that is from the northern influence around Washington D.C.

Virginia Beach is the most populous city in the commonwealth, with Norfolk and Chesapeake second and third, respectively. Norfolk forms the urban core of this metropolitan area, which is home to over 1.6 million people. Fairfax County is the most populous county in Virginia; Currently, over 1 million people live there, making the population larger than that of seven states (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming).