The City of Richmond charges $1.20 per $100. Goochland charges $0.53. On a median-priced house that gap is almost $2,000 a year, and the lowest-rate county on the list can quietly cost you more than the highest.
Buyers compare list prices constantly and tax rates almost never. Yet the rate is a permanent annual cost that follows the house forever, and across our market it varies by more than two to one.
Here is every locality in the Richmond metro, the current rate, and what it works out to on the median home in that locality as of July 2026.
2026 real estate tax rates and the bill on a median-priced home
| Locality | Rate per $100 | Median sale price, July 2026 | Annual tax on the median |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Richmond | $1.20 | $450,000 | $5,400 |
| Hanover County | $0.81 | $525,000 | $4,253 |
| Henrico County | $0.83 | $475,000 | $3,943 |
| Chesterfield County | $0.89 | $440,000 | $3,916 |
| Powhatan County | $0.77 | $486,250 | $3,744 |
| Goochland County | $0.53 | $655,000 | $3,472 |
Rates: each locality’s own adopted budget or tax rate page, current for tax year 2026. Median prices: single family detached, July 2026, Central Virginia Regional MLS, data current as of August 10, 2026. Annual tax is rate times assessed value and assumes assessment equals sale price, which is an approximation.
[DATA NEEDED: price per square foot by locality. CVR MLS does not publish price per square foot in its public SortStats or FastStats reports.]
Two corrections worth making out loud
First, Henrico’s rate is $0.83, not $0.85. The $0.85 figure was correct for tax years 2022 through 2024 and appears in a lot of still-circulating material, including in older content of our own. Henrico cut the rate to $0.83 effective tax year 2025 and held it there for 2026. The county’s approved rate schedule and its FY27 budget both state $0.83. If you are working from a spreadsheet built before 2025, it is wrong by two cents.
Second, and more consequentially: Goochland’s headline $0.53 is the lowest rate in the region and it is genuinely low. But a large part of eastern Goochland sits inside the Tuckahoe Creek Service District, which levies an additional ad valorem tax of $0.32 per $100 on top of the county rate. Inside that district the combined rate is $0.85, and on Goochland’s $655,000 median that is $5,568 a year rather than $3,472.
That is a $2,096 annual difference determined entirely by which side of a district boundary the house sits on. It is not disclosed by the list price and it does not show up in a rate comparison table anywhere else.
The city premium is real, and so is what it buys
At $1.20 per $100, the City of Richmond rate is roughly 45 percent higher than Henrico’s and more than double Goochland’s. The city has held that rate for what its FY2027 adopted budget describes as a nineteenth consecutive year.
Whether that is expensive depends on what you are comparing. City buyers get shorter commutes, walkable neighborhoods and city services. Our post on the most walkable Richmond neighborhoods covers where that tradeoff pays off, and whether it is cheaper to live outside Richmond runs the full comparison including commuting costs.
The arithmetic point is narrower: on identical $450,000 houses, the city bill is $5,400 and the Henrico bill is $3,735. That $1,665 a year is roughly $139 a month, which at current rates supports something in the range of $20,000 to $25,000 of additional mortgage. A city house and a county house at the same price are not the same monthly payment.
Get the Richmond closing-timeline checklist
It lists the tax, escrow and proration items that hit at closing, including who owes what for the portion of the year each party owned the house. We will send it over.
Personal property tax is the cost buyers forget entirely
Virginia localities tax vehicles annually, and the spread is wider than the real estate spread.
| Locality | Personal property rate per $100 |
|---|---|
| City of Richmond | $3.70 |
| Goochland County | $2.99 on qualifying personal-use vehicles |
| Chesterfield County | $3.25 |
| Henrico County | $3.35 |
| Hanover County | $3.57 |
| Powhatan County | $3.60 |
Rates from each locality’s official tax pages, 2026. Vehicle rates are applied to assessed vehicle value and are partially offset by state Personal Property Tax Relief for qualifying vehicles.
For a two-car household this is a real number, and it moves in the opposite direction from real estate rates in several localities. Goochland has the lowest real estate rate and among the lowest qualifying vehicle rates. Powhatan has a low real estate rate and the highest vehicle rate on the list.
Relief programs that change the effective rate
Every locality in our market runs some form of real estate tax relief for older adults and people with disabilities, and the terms differ enough to matter when you are helping a parent buy.
Henrico runs two: REAP, a full exemption up to $3,200 for qualifying owners 65 or older or disabled with income at or under $75,000 and net worth at or under $500,000, and RECAP, which caps the bill at the amount paid on entry for owners with income up to $125,000. Both have an April 1 deadline.
Hanover offers a sliding-scale discount up to $3,500 a year with an income limit of $60,000 and a March 1 deadline. Powhatan caps relief at $1,600 with an income limit under $75,000 as of January 1, 2026, and requires an in-person application between January 1 and March 1. Chesterfield offers relief and exemptions for senior and disabled owners, surviving spouses of emergency services providers and armed forces members, and 100 percent disabled veterans. The City of Richmond runs relief for older adults and persons with disabilities.
These are all application-based and none are automatic. Deadlines in the first quarter are easy to miss in the year you move.
Special districts: check before you assume the rate
Goochland’s Tuckahoe Creek district is the largest example, but it is not the only one.
Chesterfield has three special assessment districts plus a community development authority carrying supplemental real estate taxes. Henrico has streetlight districts, which are small at roughly a third of a cent to three cents, and a community development authority tied to the GreenCity development at an additional $0.25.
The practical instruction: never quote a locality rate for a specific house without confirming whether the parcel sits in a district. Ask the listing agent, or look the parcel up on the locality’s own assessment lookup, which will show the full levy rather than the base rate.
How to use this when you are choosing between two houses
Run the annual tax on each and convert it to a monthly figure before you compare payments. A $500,000 house in Midlothian at $0.89 costs $4,450 a year, or $371 a month. The same price in Short Pump at $0.83 costs $4,150, or $346. In the city it is $6,000, or $500.
Then remember that your lender escrows this, so it lands inside the payment you qualify on. Our mortgage calculator lets you model it, and the Richmond closing costs guide covers the proration that happens at settlement. For the current price context by locality, see our July 2026 market update.
When you are ready to compare specific houses across locality lines, browse our property search and we will run the tax math on any of them.
Frequently asked questions
What is Henrico County’s real estate tax rate for 2026?
$0.83 per $100 of assessed value for calendar year 2026, the same as 2025. It was $0.85 for tax years 2022 through 2024 and $0.87 before that. If you see $0.85 quoted, it is out of date by two tax years.
Which Richmond-area locality has the lowest property taxes?
Goochland County at $0.53 per $100, but only outside the Tuckahoe Creek Service District. Inside that district an additional $0.32 applies for a combined $0.85, which puts it above Henrico and Hanover. Outside the district, Powhatan at $0.77 is the next lowest.
How much are property taxes on a $500,000 home in Chesterfield?
$4,450 a year at the 2026 rate of $0.89 per $100, or about $371 a month, before any special assessment district applies. Chesterfield has three such districts plus a community development authority.
Why is the City of Richmond so much higher than the counties?
The city rate is $1.20 per $100 and has been held at that level for what the FY2027 adopted budget calls a nineteenth consecutive year. Independent cities in Virginia fund services that counties sometimes share or fund differently, and the city’s assessed base and service obligations differ from a suburban county’s.
Do I pay taxes on my cars too?
Yes. Virginia localities levy an annual personal property tax on vehicles, ranging in our market from $2.99 per $100 on qualifying personal-use vehicles in Goochland to $3.70 in the City of Richmond. State Personal Property Tax Relief partially offsets it on qualifying vehicles.
Are these rates going to change next year?
They can change every year, and one already did: Powhatan raised its rate from $0.75 to $0.77 effective calendar year 2026. Hanover has held $0.81 since reducing it from $0.86 in 2007. Rates are adopted with each locality’s annual budget, typically in the spring.
Is the tax based on what I paid for the house?
No, it is based on the locality’s assessed value, which is set independently and may be higher or lower than your purchase price. The figures in the table above assume assessment equals sale price to make localities comparable, which is an approximation rather than a prediction of your bill.
How do I find the exact levy for a specific address?
Use the locality’s own real estate assessment lookup rather than a rate table. The lookup shows the assessed value and the full levy including any special district, which is the only way to see the real number before you make an offer.
Comparing houses across county lines?
Send us two addresses and we will run the actual tax on both, including any special district, so you are comparing monthly payments rather than list prices. Reach us at (804) 601-4960.
