LaurelVA
A town of 18,721, settled in 1933.
Is Laurel a good place to live?
Laurel is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, ranked 176th of 249 in Virginia, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $74K. Expect to pay for it: homes are expensive, about $284K for a typical one and 3.3 times the Richmond metro’s $87K median household income. On the outdoors, just 16 of Virginia’s 372 towns do worse. 52% of households own their home in Laurel, below both the Virginia town median (68%) and the median of U.S. towns (73%).
What makes Laurel stand out
Where Laurel beats most towns.
How Laurel grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Laurel is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Kings Dominion and 32 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Laurel. Close and well known come first.
15 mi Theme parkKings Dominion
7 mi LandmarkHollywood Cemetery
6 mi LandmarkRobert E. Lee Monument
8 mi MuseumWhite House of the Confederacy
8 mi Stadium & arenaRichmond Coliseum
6 mi MuseumVirginia Museum of Fine Arts411K visitors a yearPhoto credits
Kings Dominion: Erechtheus, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hollywood Cemetery: Andrew Bain, Public domain · 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
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Moving to Laurel: who provides what
Laurel 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Laurel.
Laurel faces a very low natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 93% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 10 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Laurel.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Laurel’s public schools trail 59% of Virginia districts
Its public schools are run by the Henrico County Public Schools. Two of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Hermitage High, with 1,719 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brookland MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 1,034 | D |
| Hermitage HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,719 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
In Laurel, expect four seasons and hot summers
Laurel has chilly winters and warm summers. The July high in Laurel is 89°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Laurel has 1.4 jobs for every working resident, and 11,126 people commute in
Most working residents leave Laurel for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Richmond (20%), Innsbrook (5%) and Short Pump (3%). Half commute less than 8 miles.
| Laurel | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $74,000 | $102,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 16% | 18% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.6% | 5% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
On CDC estimates, Laurel is healthier than 57% of U.S. towns
Laurel beats the Virginia average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 36% of Laurel adults feel lonely.
| Laurel | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 34% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 12% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 14% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 36% | 36% |
| What stands out | Laurel | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.4% | 7.7% |
| Fewer adults with high cholesterol | 33.6% | 38% |
| More adults facing housing insecurity | 14.5% | 10.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0.1% of Laurel is conserved land
Just 5 of its 3,457 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Laurel itself; its outdoors grade is D.
0.3 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Among 242 Virginia towns, just 8 have a lower trail density than Laurel.
| Laurel | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.1% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Woodman Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
A home in Laurel sells for about $353K at the median
Laurel’s median rent is $1,616 a month.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Laurel
Colleges nearby
10 within 15 miles of the center of Laurel
About 8 of every 100 Laurel residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Virginia.
About Laurel
Census-designated place in Virginia, United States
Laurel is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Henrico County, Virginia, United States, named after the number of laurel trees in the area. The population was 17,769 at the 2020 United States Census. Laurel is the location of the Laurel Skate Park. The bowl was recently filled in with smooth concrete and the vertical ramp removed to make way for safer amenities. Laurel is the location of the Laurel Industrial School Historic District.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.4 sq mi
- Elevation
- 243 ft
Laurel’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Laurel.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its B−; Dumbarton (B−) is closest.
| Town | VA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laurel | #176 | B− | C | — | C+ | B |
| Lakeside | #165 | B | C+ | — | C+ | B |
| Glen Allen | #156 | B | C | — | C+ | A− |
| Dumbarton | #174 | B− | C+ | — | C+ | C+ |
Laurel, Lakeside, Glen Allen and Dumbarton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Laurel with a neighbor →
Questions about Laurel
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Laurel, VA a good place to live?
Laurel grades B− overall, better than 48% of U.S. towns and #176 of 249 in Virginia. It grades B for health and C+ for schools.
Is Laurel, VA expensive?
The typical home is worth about $284,000, 31% below the Virginia typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.