The Richest Places In Virginia As Revealed By Latest Census Data
Modern townhomes in the historic city of Alexandria and the waterfront property along the Potomac ... More River in northern Virginia. The greater Washington, D.C. area, especially along the Potomac, is home to many of the wealthiest cities in Virginia.
In recent studies, U.S. states have been analyzed in order to identify the richest cities there. Several of these studies examined states in the U.S. South, such as the wealthiest cities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, and many others in the region. Here, it is Virginia's turn to receive this analysis.
Read on and find out what the richest city in Virginia is, as well as the top 20 wealthiest places in the state.
To define the 'richest city in Virginia,' data was sourced from the Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (which is the latest data available), including median household income, mean household income, median home value, and median property taxes paid, and then analyzed and scored each one of these factors, assembling a list of the top 20 richest cities in Virginia.
In order to fully comprehend the figures, there are some important things to note about Census data. The Census Bureau measures median household incomes up to $250,000, with households earning more being denoted as '$250,000+'. The Census does this also with median home value, which goes up to $2 million, with everything above that being expressed as '$2,000,000+'. Lastly, the same limits apply to measuring median property taxes paid, which go up to $10,000 and any amount above that is denoted as '$10,000+'.
This makes the mean household income particularly useful in this analysis of the wealthiest cities in Virginia. Unlike median household income, the Census Bureau provides mean (or average) household income with exact values for every city in Virginia. All four of these metrics were scored, summed up, and then ranked by the cities' combined scores.
Another aspect of the Census to point out, and is particularly relevant to Virginia, is the Census-designated place — CDP. The Census, more or less, treats CDPs as cities — their terminology is 'place' — and this list will treat these places the same way. So, if you see a place on this list that you don't consider or isn't considered a city, it's because of the Census Bureau's geographical designation of them as 'places.'
Below you'll find a table detailing the top 20 richest cities in Virginia and their respective dollar figures for each metric:
The No. 1 richest city in Virginia is probably not that well-known compared to the wealthy cities in the Washington, D.C. area. Keswick is a small town east of Charlottesville, where the University of Virginia is located. Part of the reason Keswick may not be well-known is it only first appears as a census-designated place in the 2020 U.S. Census. This town is mainly residential, with a mixture of large farms, estates, middle-income, and low-income housing. Over the years, it has gained wealthy residents. The median household income in Keswick is over $250,000. Its average household income is the highest in the state, at $538,732. The median home value is almost $1.117 million. Fortunately for residents here, the median property taxes paid are comparatively low, at $4,559 per year.
The second richest city in Virginia is Great Falls, which falls within the wealthy radius of Washington, D.C. Great Falls is northwest of D.C. and northwest of Dulles International Airport, with its northern border formed by the Potomac River. Great Falls is a sizable town, with nearly 5,000 households. Like the No. 1 richest city, the median household income exceeds $250,000, while the mean household income is just a tad under $400,000. The median home value is roughly $1.342 million, while Zillow's figure is over $1.7 million. Unsurprisingly, the median property taxes paid per household is over $10,000.
The No. 3 richest city in Virginia is in between Great Falls and D.C. — McLean. This is a fairly large city, with 17,133 households, making it three times bigger than Great Falls. Like Great Falls, it lies along the Potomac River. Its income figures are very similar to those of Great Falls. The median household income is over $250,000. The average household income is $364,591, which is a little over $30,000 less than in Great Falls. The median home value, according to the Census Bureau, is about $1.305 million; according to Zillow, it's almost $1.460 million. Connected to the high home values is the high property taxes. The median paid is over $10,000 per household.
The majority of Virginia's wealthiest cities can be found in the Washington, D.C. metro area. This has been the case for a long time. What has changed is that this wealthy radius has pushed farther out. Towns that are up to an hour outside D.C. now fall into this wealthy circle. Plus, there are towns in more rural areas of Virginia that have witnessed an injection of wealth as people have looked for new markets to plant themselves.
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