Best 'bang for buck' cpu for VMs would probably be the AM4 Ryzen 5500.. 6 recent zen cores for less than 2K zar in a really low power budget, I use it in my lab server at home to run VMs.
Not the best for gaming (due to smaller cache than 5600, and lacking PCIE gen 4 support) but still a good buy if all you care about is having a modern, low power 6 core CPU. (it is on par with the Ryzen 3600)
If you want 8 cores, I'd suggest a 5700X, but this is double the cost of the 5500 and you only get an extra 2 cores.
Otherwise, 5950X for density.
If all you care about is absolute rand per core on a modern architecture, Ryzen 5500 will win everytime.
The Ryzen 4500 deserves an honorable mention as it does support W11 and Server 2022, but just.. why?
Lowest-end AM5 CPU (7600) has a higher rand/core ratio than even the 5950X.
Rand per core:
Ryzen 4500 - 275 RPC (6 cores, older Zen2 arch, don't buy)
Ryzen 5500 - 330 RPC (6 Cores) Great for lab only
Ryzen 5600 - 533 RPC (6 Cores) Great for lab+gaming
Ryzen 5700X - 550 RPC (8 Cores)
Ryzen 5900X - 658 RPC (12 Cores)
Ryzen 5950X - 687 RPC (16 Cores)
Ryzen 7600 - 858 RPC (6 cores, newer Zen4 arch, so expensive)
I am a big AMD advocate but I wont even entertain AM5 for a lab system, startup costs are too high and DDR5 memory is too expensive, but this will definitely change in the coming months.