Virginia's Economic Forecast, Feb. 2025
A quarterly economic forecast for the Commonwealth of Virginia, created by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
Research
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Demographics
Delivering practical, policy-oriented analysis of census and demographic data.
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Economics
Examining taxes, economic development, workforce data, and flood resilience.
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Energy
Informing policy through research to facilitate solar development in Virginia.
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Survey Research
Providing full-service survey design, data collection, and report preparation.
Featured
Farming in Virginia
Million-dollar farms (MDFs) are in comparatively good health and have enabled Virginia—and the U.S. more broadly—to produce more with fewer farms. Meanwhile, the small farms that form the basis of the Commonwealth’s long tradition of agriculture are struggling in an increasingly consolidated agricultural landscape.
Virginia Paid Family and Medical Leave Study (2024 Update)
An actuarial and policy analysis for a prospective Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
JLARC Report: Data Centers in Virginia
A study commissioned by JLARC that assesses the economic and other impacts from the proliferation of data centers in Northern Virginia.
County-Level Personal Income Data Highlights Economic Trends in Virginia
Cooper Center analysis of 2023 county-level data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), which provide valuable insights into the persistent economic disparities across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Interactions between Political Ideologies and Healthcare Reform
A study of the relationship between physician political ideological preferences and health policy reform options.
Facilitating climate adaptation: The resilience adaptation feasibility tool (RAFT) framework
This paper documents the RAFT process, situates it within the context of climate adaptation planning research, and articulates its specific strengths as a flexible and portable model for engaging the public in preparing for climate change impacts.
Grammatical Redundancy in Scales
Outlining a process for quantifying, identifying, and reducing grammatical redundancy to shorten reading time, without compromising the conceptual redundancy that is essential to survey design.
Transforming Rail in Virginia
An economic study evaluating the economic effects of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority’s (VPRA) Transforming Rail in Virginia (TRV) initiative.
What’s the Cost: Financial Toxicity and Screening Fatigue in Li-Fraumeni Syndrome
Center for Survey Research paper on LFI patients' barriers to cancer screening adherence, and whether screening fatigue and financial hardship are contributors.
More than half of U.S. immigrants are eligible to vote
Fifty-three percent of immigrants in this country are naturalized citizens and eligible to vote. It is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish naturalized citizens from noncitizens by appearance, surnames, or facility with English alone, as the population of eligible voters also includes native-born offspring of previous generations of immigrants.
Since the pandemic, young adults have fueled the revival of small towns and rural areas
So far the 2020s have turned out very differently than any recent decade. The 2023 county population estimates released by the Census Bureau this spring showed that last year migration rose in small towns and rural counties, making them the top destination within the U.S. The 2023 age estimates, which the Census Bureau released over the summer, show that most of the growth that small towns and rural areas have experienced since 2020 is being driven by growth in their population of 25- to 44– year-olds.
National 50-state population projections: 2030, 2040, 2050
Benchmarked on the 2020 Decennial Census Count data, our latest round of National Population Projections provides a look into the demographic future (total population, broken down by age and sex) for all 50 states and the District of Columbia over the next few decades of 2030, 2040, and 2050.
As remote work persists, migration surge continues in 2023 for rural America
Recently, the Census Bureau released its 2023 population estimates for each county in the United States, showing many of the same distinctive demographic trends as in our Virginia 2023 population estimates released in January. Most notably, migration from large metro areas and counties to smaller metro areas and rural counties has continued across the country.