Moving to Crozet from Richmond

What does the same money buy in Crozet vs Richmond?

Crozet costs more, not less. The Richmond metro's median home sold for $409,700 (average of monthly medians, January to June 2026), while Crozet's median sold for $559,900 over the 12 months ending August 2026, about $150K more.

Crozet sales within 10% of $409,700 had a median of 1,970 square feet and 3 bedrooms, built around 2021 (57 sales, 12 months ending August 2026). Census figures for owner-occupied homes show the same direction: $359,200 in Henrico County, $353,000 in Richmond city and $495,400 in Albemarle County (2020-2024). The two windows differ, so read the gap as a range.

What the same money bought in the last 12 months, there and here. Pick a price:

What do you gain and give up moving from Richmond to Crozet?

You gain room and a lower tax rate than Richmond city, and you give up a lower price and lower car and property tax bills. The honest trade-off is space against cost.

Is Crozet cheaper than Richmond month to month?

No, Crozet costs more. At each place's median sale price with 20% down and Freddie Mac's 7.32% rate (October 22, 2026), mortgage plus property tax comes to about $2,535 to $2,661 a month in the Richmond area and $3,495 in Crozet, roughly $834 to $960 more.

Medians used: $409,700 for the Richmond metro (average monthly median, January-June 2026) and $559,900 for Crozet (12 months ending August 2026). Property tax applies $0.83 (Henrico), $1.20 (Richmond city) and $0.894 (Albemarle) per $100 to those sale prices, not to assessments. Insurance and utilities are not compared because no verified figure for both places was found; get quotes for the specific address.

If you sell in Richmond, what can you buy in Crozet?

Less than the typical Crozet home, unless you bring more equity. A Richmond metro sale at the $409,700 median compares with Crozet's $559,900 median; about $150K would have to come from your equity or savings.

Homes near your price do sell in Crozet: sales within 10% of $409,700 had a median of 1,970 square feet and 3 bedrooms (57 sales, 12 months ending August 2026). What you net depends on your mortgage balance, selling costs and gain. The IRS lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain on a main home ($500,000 on a joint return) if you owned and lived in it at least 2 of the last 5 years.

How do your taxes change moving from Richmond to Crozet?

Your income tax stays the same, your car tax goes up, and your real estate rate depends on where you live now. Albemarle's 2026 rate is $0.894 per $100: lower than Richmond city's $1.20, higher than Henrico's $0.83.

Car tax is $4.28 per $100 of value in Albemarle, against $3.35 in Henrico County, $3.25 in Chesterfield County and $3.70 in Richmond city (the city's figure is a proposed FY27 rate it kept unchanged). Chesterfield's real estate rate is $0.89 per $100 in the FY27 proposal. Virginia's income tax schedule is the same across the state, from 2% up to 5.75% over $17,000.

Can you keep your Richmond job and live in Crozet?

Only on a hybrid or remote schedule. Crozet is about 87 road miles from downtown Richmond and 83 from the Glen Allen area of Henrico, a round trip of roughly 165 to 175 miles.

Get your employer's in-office requirement in writing before you list your house, and drive the route at your own hours.

How do you move your kids into Albemarle County schools mid-year?

Register online with Albemarle County Public Schools once you have two proofs of Albemarle residency. ACPS assigns the school by your home address, so look up the address first.

1. Find the zoned school: ACPS assigns schools by home address; search the address in the Albemarle County GIS viewer and open Details, then Other Parcel Characteristics. The viewer is unofficial; confirm with ACPS Transportation at (434) 973-5716.
2. Proof of residency: two proofs, one from a deed, mortgage or lease and one from a paid Albemarle tax receipt or a utility bill dated within 30 days. P.O. boxes and driver's licenses do not count. You also need the child's original certified birth certificate, immunization records and, for grades PK-5, a physical within a year of the first day.
3. Timing mid-year: ACPS does not publish a processing time; call 434-296-5820. If you will live in the county most of the year but have not moved yet, ACPS lets a student start enrolling with documentation, with tuition held in escrow and refunded once you move in.
4. Programs that need an application: ACPS has replaced its 4-year STEM academies with 3-year Career Learning Communities that students express interest in during 9th grade, and CATEC career classes are open to ACPS students. Ask the school counselor about deadlines.
5. Calendar: ACPS runs August 12, 2026 to May 27, 2027; Richmond Public Schools and Henrico County Public Schools start August 24 and 25, 2026 (staggered by grade) and end June 4, 2027. ACPS starts 12 days earlier and ends 8 days earlier.

How many people make this move?

About 685 people over five years from the Richmond area's three biggest origins. Census estimates for 2015 to 2019 show 283 movers from Henrico County, 277 from Chesterfield County and 125 from Richmond city to Albemarle County.

That is roughly 137 people a year, for all of Albemarle County, not Crozet alone. The flow runs mostly one way from the suburbs: 73 people moved from Albemarle to Henrico and 66 to Chesterfield, but 150 moved from Albemarle to Richmond city, more than the 125 who came the other way. The estimates are five-year pooled survey figures, so a by-year chart is not available from this source.

What do people who made this move say?

Answer coming soon.