percent who describe themselves as unaffiliated also include seven percent who say religion is important to them, but may not attend regular services with formal membership. Several Christian universities are also based in the state, including Regent University, Liberty University, and the University of Lynchburg. Economy Virginia's economy has diverse sources of income, including local and federal government, military, farming and high-tech. The state's average per capita income was $66,305 in 2021, the 12th-highest nationwide, and the gross domestic product (GDP) was $654.5billion in 2022, the 13th-largest among U.S. states. Prior to the COVID-19 recession, in March 2020, Virginia had 4.36million people employed with an unemployment rate of 2.9%, but jobless claims due to the virus soared over 10% in early April 2020, before leaving off around 5% in November 2020. In December 2022, it was 3%, which was the 14th-lowest nationwide. Virginia had a median household income of $80,615 in 2021, 11th-highest nationwide, and a poverty rate of 10.2%, 10th-lowest nationwide. Montgomery County outside Blacksburg has the highest poverty rate in the state, with 28.5% falling below the U.S. Census poverty thresholds. Loudoun County meanwhile has the highest median household income in the nation, and the wider Northern Virginia region is among the highest-income regions nationwide. , seven of the twenty-five highest-income counties in the United States, including the two highest, are located in Northern Virginia. Though the Gini index shows Virginia has less income inequality than the national average, the state's middle class is also smaller than the majority of states. Virginia's business environment has been ranked highly by various publications. After two years as number one, CNBC ranked Virginia third in their 2022 Top States for Business, with its deductions being mainly for the high cost of living, while Forbes magazine ranked it as the eighteenth best to start a business in. Additionally, in 2014 a survey of 12,000 small business owners found Virginia to be one of the most friendly states for small businesses. Oxfam America however ranked Virginia as only the 22nd-best state to work in, with pluses for new worker protections from sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination, but negatives for laws on organized labor and the low tipped employee minimum wage of $2.13. Virginia has been an employment-at-will state since 1906 and a "right to work" state since 1947, and though state minimum wage increased to $12 in 2023, farm and tipped workers are