Who Should NOT Move to Richmond?
Richmond is a poor fit for an equally identifiable set of movers: anyone highly sensitive to property crime, anyone specifically prioritizing the lowest possible real estate tax rate within the immediate Richmond region, anyone who assumes an inland Mid-Atlantic city carries zero flood risk, and anyone who wants a fully settled, non-controversial relationship to Confederate history.
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Learn moreAnyone Highly Sensitive to Property Crime
Richmond's property crime rate ran a real, meaningful 80.6% above the national average in 2025 (3,179.4 per 100,000 residents, 7,370 incidents) -- a genuine concern that shouldn't be papered over by the more reassuring violent-crime figure (6.2% below the national average). Anyone for whom minimizing property-crime exposure is a top relocation priority should weigh this real, disclosed gap seriously, and should research specific-neighborhood crime data directly rather than relying on the citywide figure alone.
Anyone Prioritizing the Lowest Possible Property Tax Rate in the Immediate Region
Richmond's $1.20-per-$100 real estate tax rate is the highest among core Richmond-region jurisdictions -- meaningfully above Henrico ($0.83), Chesterfield ($0.91), and Hanover ($0.81). Anyone specifically prioritizing the lowest possible property tax burden within the broader Richmond metro should weigh living just outside city limits, in one of these surrounding counties, against the real, structural cost premium of living inside Richmond itself.
Anyone Who Assumes Zero Flood Risk Because Richmond Is Inland
Richmond carries zero hurricane-landfall risk, but it would be a real mistake to assume that means zero flood risk. Richmond has a genuine, repeated, well-documented history of flooding from remnant tropical systems moving up the James River -- Hurricane Camille (1969), Hurricane Agnes (1972), and Tropical Storm Gaston (2004, a National Weather Service-labeled '1,000-year' event that condemned roughly 20 blocks of downtown) all caused real, serious flooding directly in Richmond. Anyone specifically prioritizing zero flood-insurance need or minimal flood risk, particularly for a property near Shockoe Bottom or the James River, should confirm the property's actual FEMA flood-zone status rather than assuming an inland location means no risk.
Anyone Who Wants a Fully Settled Relationship to Confederate History
Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy and a major historical slave market, and its reckoning with that history remains genuinely current: five Confederate statues came down from Monument Avenue in 2020-2021, a new Emancipation and Freedom Monument was dedicated in 2021, and the city still had no finalized plan for Monument Avenue's future as of an April 2024 report. Anyone who specifically wants to relocate somewhere where this particular history is fully resolved and no longer part of ongoing civic conversation should know that, as of this pass's research, it genuinely is not -- disclosed factually here, not as a value judgment.
Key takeaways
- Anyone highly sensitive to property crime -- Richmond's property crime rate ran a real 80.6% above the national average in 2025, a genuine concern not offset by the below-average violent-crime figure alone.
- Anyone prioritizing the lowest possible property tax rate in the immediate region -- Richmond's $1.20-per-$100 rate is the highest among core Richmond-region jurisdictions, meaningfully above Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover counties.
- Anyone who assumes zero flood risk because Richmond is inland -- a real, repeated, documented history of remnant-tropical-system flooding (1969, 1972, 2004) means flood-zone status should be confirmed directly for relevant properties, not assumed away.
- Anyone who wants a fully settled, non-controversial relationship to Confederate history -- Richmond's monument-removal reckoning remains a real, current, unresolved civic conversation as of this pass's research, disclosed factually rather than as a judgment.
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