Living in Henrico, VA

Henrico County (no incorporated towns or cities exist within Henrico; the unincorporated CDP of Laurel serves as its de facto administrative seat)

Henrico's identity runs through a real, honest distinction most relocation content glosses over: it is a county, not a city, with no incorporated towns or cities inside its own boundaries at all -- Laurel, an unincorporated CDP, serves as its de facto administrative center. That structural fact shapes everything else here: Henrico curves around the independent City of Richmond on its west, north, and east sides (Richmond itself was originally part of Henrico until becoming independent in 1842), and today encompasses much of what locals call Richmond's "West End" and "North Side." Virginia's 5th-most-populous county per the 2020 Census (334,389, growing to a 2025 Census Bureau estimate of roughly 342,775), Henrico's growth was genuinely NOT a straight line -- the county's population actually dipped slightly from 2020 through 2023 (down 145 residents) before recovering, a real wrinkle disclosed here rather than smoothed into a simple growth story. Henrico's economic identity centers on a genuine corporate-headquarters density: the county's own economic development office cites six Fortune 1000 company headquarters, including Altria Group's confirmed headquarters at 6601 West Broad Street (purchased for $20 million in 2017), alongside Markel Group and Elevance Health/Anthem as major in-county employers -- a real, diversified base distinct from Richmond city's own state-government and VCU-anchored economy. A genuinely distinct, verified fact: Richmond International Airport itself physically sits inside Henrico County, in Sandston, not in the City of Richmond. Housing shows a real, wide internal spread rather than one meaningful countywide number -- western Henrico (Short Pump, Glen Allen, Wyndham) runs $450,000-$520,000+, while eastern Henrico (Highland Springs, Sandston) runs $245,000-$270,000, a genuine east-west affordability gap within the same county. Henrico's own real estate tax rate ($0.85 per $100 of assessed value in current 2026 sources, versus $0.83 in a slightly earlier citation) runs meaningfully below Richmond city's $1.20 rate, a real structural cost advantage to living in the county rather than the city. Henrico shares Richmond's genuinely inland hazard profile -- no hurricane-landfall or storm-surge risk, but Henrico was directly named among the Richmond-region counties damaged by Tropical Storm Gaston's 2004 remnants and by Hurricane Camille's 1969 remnants, both real, dated, regional flood events rather than a coastal-hurricane risk this record does not claim.

Explore Henrico in depth

• Moving to Henrico: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in Henrico
• Housing Market in Henrico
• Buying a Home in Henrico
• Renting in Henrico
• Taxes in Henrico
• Homeowners Insurance & Natural Hazard Costs in Henrico
• Climate & Weather in Henrico
• Jobs & Economy in Henrico
• Schools in Henrico
• Crime & Safety in Henrico
• Healthcare in Henrico
• Traffic & Transportation in Henrico
• Best Areas to Live in Henrico
• Pros and Cons of Living in Henrico
• Retiring in Henrico
• Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Henrico

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Buyers and families wanting genuine affordability relative to Richmond city, direct access to a large, diversified corporate-headquarters job base (Altria, Markel, Elevance/Anthem) and Richmond International Airport, and a real West End suburban lifestyle (Short Pump, Glen Allen, Innsbrook) without Richmond city's higher property tax rate.

Maybe not for you if: Buyers who want a single incorporated city with its own downtown and city government, rather than an unincorporated, county-level market, should understand Henrico's real structural distinction honestly before assuming it functions like Richmond, Fredericksburg, or another Virginia independent city. Buyers highly sensitive to school-quality variance by neighborhood should confirm the specific zoned school for a target address rather than relying on the countywide B+ grade alone.