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Moving to Richmond from Baltimore: Even Prices, Half the City Tax Rate, and 141 Miles on I-95 (2026)

Daniel Yoon

Moving to Richmond from Baltimore will not cut your purchase price much: the Baltimore metro median sold price was $425,000 in August 2026, and the Richmond metro median was $434,050 in Q2 2026, a gap of $9,050 in Baltimore’s favor. The money shows up in taxes instead. Baltimore City charges $2.248 per $100 of assessed value against Richmond City’s $1.20, and Virginia has no county income tax.

Daniel Yoon is a Certified New Home Co-Broker (NHCB), Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR), and Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) with eXp Realty who represents buyers relocating to Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, and Richmond City.

Baltimore vs Richmond at a glance

MetricBaltimoreRichmond metro
Median sale price, metro$425,000 (August 2026, Bright MLS)$434,050 all residential, $455,000 single-family (Q2 2026, CVR MLS)
Median sale price by jurisdictionBaltimore City $244,838, Anne Arundel $503,809, Howard $637,865 (Redfin, three months ending August 2026); Baltimore County $383,874 (Redfin, July 2026 page)Single-family, July 2026: Richmond City $450,000, Chesterfield $440,000, Henrico $475,000, Hanover $525,000
Real estate tax on a home assessed at $450,000Baltimore City $10,620, Baltimore County $5,454, Howard $5,202, Anne Arundel $4,860 (county rate plus $0.112 state rate)Richmond City $5,400, Chesterfield $4,005, Henrico $3,735, Hanover $3,645
Top state income tax rate6.50% over $1,000,000 (single), plus local income tax of 2.70% to 3.20%5.75% over $17,000, no local income tax
Mean commute (Census ACS 2024)30.3 minutes26.6 minutes
DriveAbout 141 miles to Richmond, roughly 2 hours 37 minutes without traffic, almost all on I-95Same route north, and Washington-area traffic decides the real time
Nonstop flight and AmtrakSouthwest nonstop from BWI, twice daily, about 1 hour; Amtrak Northeast Regional from Baltimore Penn Station, no transferArrive at RIC, or at Richmond Staples Mill Road 3 hours 25 minutes to 3 hours 40 minutes after leaving Baltimore

Sources: Bright MLS August 2026 report; Redfin pages for Baltimore, Baltimore County, Howard, and Anne Arundel; Central Virginia Regional MLS Q2 2026 report and its July 2026 local updates; Baltimore City tax rates; Maryland Department of Legislative Services county rates; Maryland Matters on the state rate; Henrico County and our property tax breakdown by county; Tax Foundation 2026 brackets; Census Reporter for Baltimore and Richmond; Rome2Rio, FlightsFrom, and the Amtrak timetable.

What a Baltimore budget buys in Richmond

It depends on which Baltimore you’re leaving. The four jurisdictions price so differently that one metro median hides the story.

A Baltimore City seller near the $244,838 median is moving up in price, not down. That figure sits about $130,000 under Richmond’s $375,000 condo and townhome median, so the realistic targets are condos and smaller attached homes, which we cover in our Richmond condo and townhome buying guide.

A Baltimore County seller near $383,874 lands close to the Richmond condo and townhome median and about $56,000 short of Chesterfield’s $440,000 single-family median. An Anne Arundel budget of $503,809 clears the single-family median in Richmond City, Chesterfield, and Henrico, and comes within about $21,000 of Hanover’s $525,000. A Howard County budget of $637,865 is $162,865 above Henrico’s $475,000 single-family median. That group sees a real step up in square footage and lot size.

Equity math for a Howard County seller, assumptions labeled. Sale price $640,000. Mortgage payoff $300,000 (assumed). Selling costs at 7% (assumed, for commissions, transfer taxes, and closing fees): 640,000 x 0.07 = $44,800. Net proceeds: 640,000 minus 300,000 minus 44,800 = $295,200. Buy at Richmond’s $455,000 single-family median with 20% down: 455,000 x 0.20 = $91,000. New loan: $364,000. Cash left over: 295,200 minus 91,000 = $204,200. Put all $295,200 down and the loan falls to $159,800. Richmond homes sold at 100.9% of original list price in Q2 2026, so don’t plan on negotiating much.

Taxes and recurring costs

Property tax is where city sellers notice the change first. Maryland bills the local rate plus a state rate of $0.112 per $100. On a home assessed at $450,000 in Baltimore City, that is 4,500 x (2.248 + 0.112) = 4,500 x 2.36 = $10,620 a year. The same assessment in Richmond City is 4,500 x 1.20 = $5,400, and in Henrico it is 4,500 x 0.83 = $3,735. Owner-occupants in Baltimore get some relief. The Baltimore Banner reported in June 2026 that the Targeted Homeowners Tax Credit brings the effective city rate to $2.03 as of July 1, 2026, which works out to 4,500 x (2.03 + 0.112) = $9,639. Still far above any Richmond-area bill.

A $245,000 assessment at the full Baltimore City rate is 2,450 x 2.36 = $5,782, which is more than Richmond City charges on $450,000. Maryland’s Homestead Credit and three-year assessment cycle mean your actual bill may run below market-value math, so pull your own bill before comparing. County movers gain less. Baltimore County’s $1.10 rate plus the state rate comes to $5,454 on $450,000, Howard’s $1.044 comes to $5,202, and Anne Arundel’s $0.968 comes to $4,860. Chesterfield at $4,005 and Hanover at $3,645 are lower, by hundreds or a couple thousand dollars, not by half.

Income tax is the other line. Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County each add a 3.20% local income tax on top of Maryland’s state brackets, and Anne Arundel uses graduated local rates from 2.70% to 3.20%. Virginia localities don’t tax income. For a married couple with $150,000 of taxable income, Maryland state tax is 20 + 30 + 40 + (147,000 x 0.0475) = $7,072.50, and the 3.20% local tax adds $4,800, for $11,872.50. Virginia’s brackets produce 60 + 60 + 600 + (133,000 x 0.0575) = $8,367.50. The difference is $3,505 a year. Deductions differ between the states, so have your preparer run the real return.

Now the annoying part. Virginia localities tax your car every year, and Maryland doesn’t (WalletHub’s state comparison lists Maryland’s vehicle property tax at $0). Henrico’s rate is $3.35 per $100 of assessed vehicle value, so a vehicle assessed at $30,000 is 300 x 3.35 = $1,005 before any state car tax relief is applied. Two cars like that come to $2,010, more than half of the $3,505 income tax difference above. The bill comes from the county, not the DMV. Our Richmond relocation guide covers the rest of the monthly budget.

What you give up

Rail transit, first. Baltimore has the Metro SubwayLink, Light RailLink, and MARC trains that put Washington within a daily commute. Richmond has GRTC buses and one bus rapid transit line, the Pulse, along Broad Street. There is no commuter rail. If you’re in a DC office two days a week, Richmond turns a MARC ride into a long Amtrak trip or a drive up I-95 that nobody enjoys.

BWI is a far larger airport than RIC. You will connect more often.

Richmond has no major league team. The Ravens and Orioles become road trips. Locally you get Double-A baseball with the Flying Squirrels and pro soccer with the Kickers. The job market is thinner in the fields Baltimore is known for. Nothing in Richmond matches the scale of Johns Hopkins in research medicine, and the federal footprint around Fort Meade, the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn, and CMS has no local counterpart. Richmond’s large employers are state government, VCU Health, Capital One, Dominion Energy, Altria, and CarMax.

You also give up the water. The James River is good for kayaking and rock-hopping, but it is not the Chesapeake, and nobody keeps a sailboat in Richmond. Steamed crabs exist here. They are not the same. Summers run a little longer and stickier than Baltimore’s, and spring tree pollen coats cars yellow for weeks.

Where Baltimore movers should look first

The Fan and the Museum District for Bolton Hill and Charles Village owners

If you own a three-story brick rowhouse near Penn Station, the Fan is the closest match in Richmond: attached and semi-attached brick houses from roughly 1890 to 1930, front porches, alleys, street parking, and restaurants on the corners. Prices run above Richmond City’s $450,000 single-family median from July 2026, and the $1.20 city tax rate applies. One pleasant difference: Virginia has no ground rent.

Church Hill for Federal Hill and Canton owners

Church Hill sits on a bluff east of downtown with skyline views, a mix of antebellum brick rowhouses and later frame houses, and a walkable cluster of bakeries and restaurants. It fills the role Federal Hill does, minus the harbor. Richmond City’s July 2026 medians, $450,000 for single-family and $320,300 for condos and townhomes, are the reference points, and renovated houses with views price above them. Blocks vary a lot in condition, so video tours need to show the whole street.

Glen Allen and Short Pump for Columbia and Ellicott City owners

Howard County sellers used to planned subdivisions and townhome clusters usually start in western Henrico. Glen Allen and Short Pump sit along I-64 and I-295 with 1990s to 2020s housing stock. Henrico’s single-family median was $475,000 in July 2026 against Howard’s $637,865, and the tax rate is $0.83. High school zones here include Deep Run, Glen Allen, and Godwin. Check each one on the Virginia Department of Education School Quality Profiles and confirm the zone for the exact address with Henrico County Public Schools.

Midlothian for Towson, Perry Hall, and Severna Park owners

Midlothian in Chesterfield County offers cul-de-sac neighborhoods on larger lots, with Brandermill and Woodlake wrapped around Swift Creek Reservoir for buyers who want water nearby. Route 288 and the tolled Powhite Parkway are the commute roads. Chesterfield’s single-family median was $440,000 in July 2026, which is above Baltimore County’s $383,874 and below Anne Arundel’s $503,809. For acreage like northern Baltimore County or western Howard, look at Hanover County, where the median was $525,000 and the rate is $0.81.

Getting back to Baltimore

The drive is about 141 miles and 2 hours 37 minutes on paper, according to Rome2Rio. The route is I-95 south to the Capital Beltway, around the east side over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, then I-95 through Springfield, Woodbridge, and Fredericksburg. That stretch is the problem. Friday afternoons southbound and Sunday afternoons northbound are slow nearly every week, and the tolled express lanes between the Beltway and Fredericksburg only help when they’re pointed your direction. From Anne Arundel, US-301 through southern Maryland and the toll bridge over the Potomac skips the Beltway. Leave early in the morning or well after the evening rush when you can.

Amtrak is the calmer option. Northeast Regional trains run from Baltimore Penn Station to Richmond Staples Mill Road in Henrico without a change in Washington. In the timetable we checked on September 17, 2026, weekday train 95 left Baltimore at 1:27 p.m. and reached Staples Mill at 4:52 p.m., which is 3 hours 25 minutes. Weekday train 86 left Staples Mill at 5:54 a.m. and reached Baltimore at 9:32 a.m. Other trains took up to 3 hours 40 minutes, and only some continue to Main Street Station downtown.

Southwest flies BWI to RIC twice daily, a route Richmond International announced in June 2024, and FlightsFrom listed two daily flights of about one hour in its September 2026 schedule.

How to buy in Richmond from Baltimore

  1. Get pre-approved with a lender licensed in Virginia before you tour. If you need your Maryland sale proceeds to close, tell the lender on day one so the timing is built into the approval.
  2. Start with video tours. We walk the house, the street, the alley, and the crawl space on camera, and we’ll tell you when a listing isn’t worth the trip.
  3. Plan one house-hunting trip of 2 to 3 days. Take the morning Northeast Regional or drive down Thursday night. We group showings by county so you see Henrico one day and Chesterfield or the city the next.
  4. Write the offer with an inspection contingency unless you have a specific reason not to. With 1.8 months of supply, sellers often want short inspection windows, so we line up the inspector before the offer goes in. Our Virginia home inspection guide explains what inspectors check here, including crawl spaces, which are rare under Baltimore rowhouses.
  5. Consider new construction if your move date is fixed by a job or a school calendar. Builders give delivery windows that a resale search can’t. Daniel’s NHCB training covers builder contracts, and you can search inventory on our new-home search and compare communities in our master-planned communities comparison.
  6. Close remotely if you need to. Virginia closings are handled by a settlement agent or attorney, and most can arrange a mail-away or remote online signing if your lender allows it. Budget using our Virginia closing costs breakdown.
  7. After you move, the Virginia DMV gives you 30 days to title and register your vehicle and 60 days to get a Virginia driver’s license. Register the car with your county too, since that starts the personal property tax account. Our first 30 days checklist lists the rest.

Frequently asked questions

Is Richmond VA cheaper than Baltimore? On purchase price, no. The Baltimore metro median sold price was $425,000 in August 2026 and Richmond’s was $434,050 in Q2 2026. Richmond is cheaper on taxes: $1.20 per $100 in Richmond City against $2.248 in Baltimore City, and no local income tax. Howard and Anne Arundel sellers do see lower prices.

How far is Richmond from Baltimore? About 141 miles by road, roughly 2 hours 37 minutes without traffic, nearly all of it on I-95 through the Washington area. Friday and Sunday afternoons take much longer. Amtrak’s Northeast Regional covers Baltimore Penn Station to Richmond Staples Mill Road in about 3 hours 25 minutes to 3 hours 40 minutes.

Is there a direct train from Baltimore to Richmond? Yes. Amtrak Northeast Regional trains run from Baltimore Penn Station to Richmond Staples Mill Road with no transfer in Washington. The September 2026 timetable showed trips of 3 hours 25 minutes to 3 hours 40 minutes. Only some trains continue to Main Street Station downtown, so check the stop before booking.

Are property taxes lower in Richmond than in Baltimore? Yes, by a wide margin for city owners. A home assessed at $450,000 costs $10,620 a year at Baltimore City’s full rate including the state tax, $5,400 in Richmond City, and $3,735 in Henrico County. Baltimore County at $5,454, Howard at $5,202, and Anne Arundel at $4,860 are closer to Richmond-area bills.

Does Virginia have a local income tax like Maryland? No. Virginia’s top state rate is 5.75% on taxable income over $17,000, and counties and cities do not add an income tax. Residents of Baltimore City, Baltimore County, and Howard County pay 3.20% locally on top of state tax. Virginia localities do charge an annual personal property tax on vehicles.

Talk through your move with Daniel

For buyers relocating from Baltimore, we build a custom 2 to 3 day tour around your train or drive schedule, send video walkthroughs of every serious candidate before you travel, and introduce you to Virginia-licensed lenders and settlement agents who handle remote closings. Daniel Yoon is a Certified New Home Co-Broker (NHCB), Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR), and Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) with eXp Realty. Call or text 804.896.2694 or email daniel.yoon@exprealty.com. We work in English and Korean.

Sources

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