Surgical Technologist Salary in Virginia (2026): $60,740/yr
Virginia's surgical tech market is shaped by two distinct geographic concentrations: the DC commute belt in Northern Virginia (where pay tracks DC-adjacent levels), and the Hampton Roads region anchored by Sentara Norfolk General Hospital's nationally-recognized cardiac surgery program. State pay sits 4 percent below the national mean (BLS OEWS May 2024, 29-2055), with substantial intra-state variation.
The Virginia surgical tech market
Virginia's surgical tech employment is concentrated in four major regions: Northern Virginia (Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Loudoun, Prince William counties, with surgical employment at Inova Health System hospitals plus several smaller hospitals in the DC commute belt), Hampton Roads (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, anchored by Sentara Healthcare with Sentara Norfolk General and the Sentara network of hospitals across the region), the Richmond metro (anchored by VCU Health System with VCU Medical Center as the academic medical center plus the HCA Virginia Health System hospitals), and the Roanoke region (anchored by Carilion Clinic and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine).
The University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville is a major academic medical center serving central Virginia, with substantial surgical specialty case mix including cardiac, transplant, neurosurgery, and complex specialty work. UVA Health's surgical tech pay tracks the upper end of central Virginia pay range. The Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (a Department of Defense military treatment facility serving the Hampton Roads naval base concentration) and the Hampton VA Medical Center round out the substantial federal-government surgical employment in Hampton Roads.
Northern Virginia surgical tech pay is meaningfully shaped by the proximity to Washington DC and the labor market competition with DC academic medical centers (MedStar Washington Hospital Center, MedStar Georgetown, the George Washington University Hospital, Howard University Hospital, the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, and Children's National). A surgical tech living in Fairfax or Loudoun County can realistically commute into DC for higher pay, and Northern Virginia hospitals (Inova Fairfax Medical Campus in particular) must pay competitively to retain talent. Inova Fairfax Hospital is one of the larger non-academic hospital surgical programs in the country and pays at or near the top of the Virginia state range.
Hampton Roads is anchored by Sentara Healthcare, with Sentara Norfolk General Hospital operating one of the largest cardiac surgery programs in the southeastern United States. Sentara's cardiac program has been the destination employer for cardiac-trained surgical techs in the region for decades, with pay for experienced CVOR techs reaching the upper end of the Virginia state range. The naval base concentration in Hampton Roads creates substantial DoD surgical employment opportunities at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, with federal pay grade structures that often exceed local private-sector benchmarks for surgical tech roles.
Virginia metro pay
| Metro | Mean Annual | vs State Mean |
|---|---|---|
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria (VA portion) | $68,200 | +12 percent |
| Richmond | $62,400 | +3 percent |
| Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News | $59,800 | -2 percent |
| Charlottesville | $58,200 | -4 percent |
| Roanoke | $55,400 | -9 percent |
| Lynchburg | $53,100 | -13 percent |
| Harrisonburg | $52,800 | -13 percent |
Metro figures approximate; precise values from BLS Metropolitan Area OEWS tables.
Northern Virginia and the DC commute belt
Northern Virginia surgical tech compensation reflects the labor competition with DC area hospital systems. Inova Health System dominates the Northern Virginia hospital market with Inova Fairfax Hospital (the flagship and a Level I trauma center), Inova Loudoun Hospital, Inova Alexandria Hospital, and Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. Inova Fairfax Hospital is one of the largest non-academic hospital surgical programs in the country, with substantial cardiac, neurosurgery, transplant, and Level I trauma case mix.
For surgical techs based in Northern Virginia, the choice between commuting into DC for academic medical center work versus working at Inova in Fairfax often nets out close to even after factoring commute time and cost (the Beltway commute, parking costs in DC, plus the time value of the longer commute). The growing Inova pay scale, combined with the case-mix breadth at Inova Fairfax, has made staying in Northern Virginia the practical choice for many surgical techs in recent years. Pay at experienced Inova Fairfax surgical tech roles runs in the $68,000 to $76,000 range, with specialty roles commanding the upper end.
Cost of living in Northern Virginia is substantially higher than the rest of the state, with housing costs in Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, and Alexandria counties running well above national averages. The headline Northern Virginia pay advantage erodes meaningfully on a cost-of-living adjusted basis. For techs willing to live in the outer suburban counties (Prince William, Stafford, Spotsylvania) and accept longer commutes, the net purchasing power can be more favorable.