Virginia's Economic Forecast, August 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
Where is K-12 Enrollment Headed?
Two conflicting trends—the continuous birth decline over the last 18 years and the post-pandemic recovery in school enrollment since 2021—have made it difficult to predict the future of school enrollment.
New Virginia Population Projections for 2030-2050
Even though the future is largely unknown and unpredictable, population projections provide an approximate idea of the expected future population size.
Visualizing Virginia's Commute
Commuting patterns can reveal important information about communities, such as how people access jobs, how regions are linked economically, and where transportation and housing investments might be needed. To help illuminate commuting flows within Virginia and its 133 localities, we created the Virginia Commuting Patterns dashboard.
Construction Materials and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Construction materials generate nearly one-third of global carbon emissions, yet conventional accounting captures only a fraction of this impact.
Federal Workforce Briefing #4: 7.14.25
The fourth policy brief from the Weldon Cooper Center outlining the effects of federal reductions in force.
Economic Effects of the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) Compliance Programs
This report from the Weldon Cooper Center evaluates the economic effects of the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry’s (DOLI) Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) compliance programs.
Evaluation of the Virginia College Advising Corps
The Center for Survey Research conducted a multi-phase, mixed-mode evaluation of the Virginia College Advising Corps to support the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia in planning and developing future directions for post-secondary advising in Virginia.
Why Southwest Virginia’s Population Trends Are Changing in the 2020s
A tightening labor supply will give workers more choice in who they work for, while the persistence of remote work will allow many workers more freedom in where they choose to live. That shift is creating new opportunities for rural regions like Southwest Virginia.
Sampling the Hard-to-Reach: Examining the Efficacy of Response-Rate Adjusted Stratified Sampling Selection
On May 16, 2025, the Center for Survey Research presented work at the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Annual Conference in St. Louis, MO, focusing on sampling hard-to-reach populations who are often underrepresented in surveys.
Virginia's Economic Forecast, April 2025
A quarterly economic forecast for the Commonwealth of Virginia, created by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
Evaluating Well-being Retreats for Nursing Students
The Center for Survey Research (CSR) collaborated with University of Virginia’s Compassionate Care Institute (CCI) to explore the immediate and 30-day impact of wellness retreats, which support self-care and self-compassion, in nursing curricula.
Older Virginians by Region
This blog post examines the demographics of Virginians aged 60 and older across eight regions in the Commonwealth, offering a regional perspective on the needs of this rapidly growing population.
Economic Impact of Federal Job Loss: Slide Presentation
On April 8, 2025, Cooper Center researchers presented slides to the Virginia House of Delegates Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions that defined the scope of the issue and offered reduction scenarios.