Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 12,654.
Lakeside is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B overall, ranked 165th of 249 in Virginia, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $72K. A typical home there costs about $340K, 3.9 years of the Richmond metro’s $87K median household income. Lakeside’s concentration of trails is 2.5 miles per square mile, where Virginia’s towns sit at 0.7 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Emmanuel Church at Brook Hill is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Lakeside beats most towns.
9.7% of the town is conserved land, across 5 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Lakeside is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 11,137 in 1970, 12,203 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2012 and 7 maps from 1894 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lakeside. Close and well known come first.
5 mi LandmarkHollywood Cemetery
16 mi Theme parkKings Dominion
4 mi LandmarkRobert E. Lee Monument
6 mi MuseumWhite House of the Confederacy
5 mi Stadium & arenaRichmond Coliseum
4 mi MuseumVirginia Museum of Fine Arts411K visitors a yearHollywood Cemetery: Andrew Bain, Public domain · Kings Dominion: Erechtheus, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Robert E. Lee Monument: Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · White House of the Confederacy: AlbertHerring, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Richmond Coliseum: Mentes at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Virginia Museum of Fine Arts: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, CC BY-SA 4.0
Lakeside is unincorporated, so Henrico County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Lakeside.
Count the trails in 5 parks and preserves and they come to 11 miles. Belmont Park, at 56 acres with 1.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Belmont Park | 1.7 mi | 56 |
| 2. Bryan Park | 0.3 mi | 35 |
| 3. Lakeside Recreation Area | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
One of its 3 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. The public schools here belong to the Henrico County Public Schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| George H. Moody MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,086 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
Lakeside’s natural-hazard score from FEMA is 22 of 100, close to Virginia’s towns (22 of 100) and below U.S. towns (44 of 100). Flood insurance has paid out on 25 claims locally since 1979. FEMA puts 53% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 22% to earthquakes. Households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid once, in 2004.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 1.8%. Lakeside’s typical rent comes in at $1,361 a month. Homes sold in Lakeside spent a median 8 days on the market.
| Lakeside | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,361 a month | $1,764 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 65% | 68% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The average commute for its 5,865 working residents takes 20 minutes, against 27.3 across Virginia.
Employers in Lakeside shed 1,047 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 4,470. Just 2% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. In Lakeside, the typical journey to work is 20 minutes. The top destinations are Richmond (22%), Innsbrook (4%) and Laurel (3%).
| Lakeside | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 24% | 17% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $72,000 | $102,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The share of adults 25 and older in Lakeside who hold a bachelor’s degree or more: 40%. Adults 18 to 34 are 27% of residents (23% statewide). Its age of the median resident stands at 36.4 years.
| Lakeside | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 36.4 years | 38.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 40% | 44% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 23% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 16% | 18% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.6 points. Across Virginia, 50.6% of residents are women.
| Lakeside | VA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.8% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.8% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.8% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 21.1% | 13.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14% | 13.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.1% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.7% | 12.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.4% | 9.9% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.3% | 6.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8.4% | 8.4% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.4% | 23.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 23.2% | 17.7% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 4.4% | 7.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.5% | 23.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15% | 18.5% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
24% of Lakeside adults have been diagnosed with depression. Two figures for adults locally: 18% report frequent mental distress, 14% smoke cigarettes.
| Lakeside | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 22% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 12% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 16% |
| What stands out | Lakeside | VA |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 14.3% | 12.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
10 within 15 miles of the center of Lakeside
About 4 of every 100 Lakeside residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Virginia.
Census-designated area in Virginia
Lakeside is a census-designated place (CDP) in Henrico County, Virginia, United States. It is an inner suburb of Richmond. The population was 12,203 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Lakeside.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Dumbarton (B−) comes closest.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeside | #165 | B | C+ | — | C+ | B |
| Laurel | #176 | B− | C | — | C+ | B |
| Richmond | #236 | D | C− | D | D− | B− |
| Dumbarton | #174 | B− | C+ | — | C+ | C+ |
Lakeside, Laurel and Dumbarton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Lakeside with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Lakeside grades B overall, better than 56% of U.S. towns and #165 of 249 in Virginia. It grades B for health and C+ for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
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