We define and examine the cohomological variety of a vertex algebra, a notion cohomologically dual to that of the associated variety, which measures the smoothness of the associated scheme at the vertex point. We study its basic properties and then construct a closed subvariety of the cohomological variety for rational affine vertex operator algebras constructed from finite dimensional simple Lie algebras. We also determine the cohomological varieties of the simple Virasoro vertex operator algebras. These examples indicate that, although the associated variety for a rational $C_2$-cofinite vertex operator algebra is always a simple point, the cohomological variety can have as large a dimension as possible.