METRO AREA · 45TH LARGEST

Cost of living in Richmond, VA

Rent, home values, family budgets, pay and taxes for the Richmond metro area, county by county.

The short answer: Typical rent in the Richmond metro area is $1,751 a month, +2.7% on a year earlier. A typical home in its median county is worth $356,196. A modest budget for two adults and two children runs $110,532 a year in the median county.
Housing

What a home costs in the Richmond area.

Across the 17 counties in the metro with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $356,196. Values changed +3.5% over the past year and +29.9% over five years at the median county. A typical home costs 3.55 years of median family income at the median county.

With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $2,808 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $120,335 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 1 of the 17 counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.

The most expensive counties in the metro are Goochland County ($588,477), Powhatan County ($503,163) and Hanover County ($462,649); the least expensive are Sussex County ($184,629), Petersburg city ($203,315) and Hopewell city ($219,040).

What a household needs

A modest budget in the Richmond area.

The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county. In the median county of the metro, that comes to $55,858 a year for one adult and $110,532 for two adults and two children, of which $17,363 is childcare, against national averages of $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income is $96,176 in the median county.

Prices, pay and taxes

The state picture.

Prices across Virginia as a whole run 1.1% above the national average and rents 6.8% above the national average, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis's state measure. Median pay across all jobs in the state is $55,690 a year. Virginia's top income tax rate on wages is 5.75%. These are statewide figures, not measured for the metro itself. The metro lies within Virginia. Compare a salary with another state or work out take-home pay.

Every county in the metro

All 17 counties.

Amelia County$334,906+6.1%—$79,526$99,478
Charles City County$281,812+1.6%—$90,129$105,549
Chesterfield County$416,117+2.5%$1,890$118,200$127,867
Colonial Heights city$284,362+0.3%$1,548$92,308$113,380
Dinwiddie County$303,252+6.0%—$97,563$109,156
Goochland County$588,477+3.5%$1,964$138,526$127,209
Hanover County$462,649+3.7%$2,079$130,347$124,552
Henrico County$403,549+1.6%$1,830$110,829$118,280
Hopewell city$219,040+2.1%$1,260$56,184$99,962
King and Queen County$305,356+6.8%—$87,278$106,421
King William County$356,196+3.5%—$99,444$110,532
New Kent County$448,490+3.7%$2,600$127,429$122,671
Petersburg city$203,315+0.3%$1,339$64,110$94,495
Powhatan County$503,163+3.1%$1,953$124,149$107,207
Prince George County$361,714+4.0%$1,586$96,176$116,992
Richmond city$373,235+1.3%$1,654$84,119$112,304
Sussex County$184,629+5.2%—$82,692$101,155

A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Metro membership follows Zillow's own county-to-metro assignment.

Other metro areas

New York, NY · Los Angeles, CA · Chicago, IL · Dallas, TX · Houston, TX · Washington, DC · Philadelphia, PA · Miami, FL · Atlanta, GA · Boston, MA · Phoenix, AZ · San Francisco, CA · Riverside, CA · Detroit, MI · Seattle, WA · Minneapolis, MN · San Diego, CA · Tampa, FL · Denver, CO · Baltimore, MD · St. Louis, MO · Orlando, FL · Charlotte, NC · San Antonio, TX · Portland, OR · Sacramento, CA · Pittsburgh, PA · Cincinnati, OH · Austin, TX · Las Vegas, NV · Kansas City, MO · Columbus, OH · Indianapolis, IN · Cleveland, OH · San Jose, CA · Nashville, TN · Virginia Beach, VA · Providence, RI · Jacksonville, FL · Milwaukee, WI · Oklahoma City, OK · Raleigh, NC · Memphis, TN · Richmond, VA · Louisville, KY · New Orleans, LA · Salt Lake City, UT · Hartford, CT · Buffalo, NY · Birmingham, AL · Rochester, NY · Grand Rapids, MI · Tucson, AZ · Honolulu, HI · Tulsa, OK · Fresno, CA · Worcester, MA · Omaha, NE · Bridgeport, CT · Greenville, SC · Albuquerque, NM · Bakersfield, CA · Albany, NY · Knoxville, TN · Baton Rouge, LA · McAllen, TX · New Haven, CT · El Paso, TX · Allentown, PA · Oxnard, CA · Columbia, SC · North Port, FL · Dayton, OH · Charleston, SC · Greensboro, NC · Stockton, CA · Cape Coral, FL · Boise, ID · Colorado Springs, CO · Little Rock, AR · Lakeland, FL · Akron, OH · Des Moines, IA · Springfield, MA · Poughkeepsie, NY · Ogden, UT · Madison, WI · Winston-Salem, NC · Deltona, FL · Syracuse, NY · Provo, UT · Toledo, OH · Wichita, KS · Durham, NC · Augusta, GA · Palm Bay, FL · Jackson, MS · Harrisburg, PA · Spokane, WA · Scranton, PA

See every state and metro side by side

More about Virginia

Cost of living · Income tax · Child care costs

Metro areasVirginia Beach, VA · Richmond, VA

Run the numbersTake-home pay in Virginia · What a salary is worth in Virginia · How much rent you can afford · What a car costs in Virginia

Put this on your site

Embed these numbers.

Writing about the Richmond area? Paste this code into your page for a small card with the figures above, which update when the site's data does. It has no tracking and no cookies.

Where this comes from
Rent and home values
Zillow Observed Rent Index for the metro and Zillow Home Value Index by county, July 2026; changes compare the same month one and five years earlier.
Budgets and family income
Economic Policy Institute, Family Budget Calculator, 2026 edition, by county.
State figures
BEA Regional Price Parities 2024; BLS OEWS May 2025; 2026 state income tax tables.
Mortgage assumptions
Freddie Mac 30-year average of 7.03% on September 24, 2026; 10% down, 1.1% property tax, $1,700 a year of insurance, 0.75% mortgage insurance.
Keep reading
Rent vs. Buy Calculator
Your own breakeven point, on real county price and rent data.
Home Affordability Calculator
The most house your income and debts support, and what it costs monthly.
Cost of Living Calculator
What your salary is really worth in another state or county.