Richmond Metro Local Living Guide

New to Richmond Metro, or still weighing it? Start here. What each town is actually like, what homes really cost, and what's going on this week.

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Richmond skyline across the James River — Credit
Photo: Ɱ / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Resized and re-encoded for web

The towns

They're not interchangeable. Open any one for what you'd pay, how the schools rate, and what it's like to live there day to day.

Richmond, Virginia from Jefferson Park — Credit
Photo: Sean Dudley / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Resized and re-encoded for web

Henrico County Courthouse — Credit
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Chesterfield Historic Courthouse — Credit
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Interstate 295 North in Hanover County (September 2023) 01 — Credit
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Goochland County Courthouse, East Side of U.S. Route 522, Goochland, (Goochland County, Virginia) — Credit
Photo: Jack Boucher / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons · Resized and re-encoded for web

2017-07-07 11 44 42 View north along Virginia State Route 288 (World War II Veterans Memorial Highway) just north of Huguenot Trail (Virginia State Secondary Route 711) in eastern Powhatan County, Virginia — Credit
Photo: Famartin / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Openverse · Resized and re-encoded for web

Richmond City

Virginia's capital and the metro's urban core: VCU, the James River Park System, and rowhouse neighborhoods from Church Hill to the Fan.

Henrico County

Wraps the city to the west and east: Short Pump's retail and office corridor, the established West End suburbs, and Richmond International Airport on the eastern side.

Chesterfield County

South of the James and the metro's most populous locality: Midlothian's planned communities, Pocahontas State Park, and a long suburban arc from Bon Air to Chester.

Hanover County

North of the city where I-95 crosses toward Fredericksburg: Mechanicsville's suburbs, Ashland's small-town railroad main street, and working farmland beyond.

Goochland County

Upper James River county west of Henrico: estate and farm parcels, the West Creek employment corridor, and the lowest real-estate tax rate in the metro.

Powhatan County

Rural county south of the James between Chesterfield and Cumberland: large-lot subdivisions, Powhatan State Park, and a courthouse village center.

New Kent County

East along I-64 toward Williamsburg: New Kent Courthouse, the Colonial Downs racetrack, and fast-growing subdivisions on former timberland.

Charles City County

Rural James River county between Richmond and Williamsburg: the Route 5 plantation corridor and one of the smallest county populations in Virginia.

Louisa County

Northwest outlier on I-64 toward Charlottesville: Lake Anna's shoreline, the towns of Louisa and Mineral, and long stretches of rural acreage.

Tools & lists

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