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Clear, sourced answers for the biggest decisions in retirement.

Plain-language guides and free tools on where to live, taxes, housing and income, with a named source and a data date behind every figure.

Common starting points

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Each stage points to the topic that usually matters most at that point. Nothing to sign up for.

The big decisions

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Retirement comes down to a handful of large questions. Each one has a hub that gathers the free tools, the data behind them, and plain-language guides as they are published.

Estate Planning

Wills, beneficiaries, estate and inheritance taxes, and planning for heirs.

How the topics connect

Property tax depends on your county. Income tax depends on your state. Housing decides both. Every hub links across to the decisions it touches.

Our point of view

Your state sets part of the bill. Your county sets the rest.

How your retirement income is taxed is decided by your state. Property tax is set by counties and school districts, and homeowners insurance is priced by address. A state average blends all of that together, so it pays to compare states and then look inside them.

In Virginia, the median property tax bill runs from $404 a year in Buchanan County to $10,000+ in Falls Church city. Two households with the same income can face very different costs under the same state tax code.

Virginia counties by median property tax bill
One square per county or independent city
  • Buchanan County: $404
  • Dickenson County: $503
  • Lee County: $586
  • Henry County: $604
  • Covington city: $629
  • Lunenburg County: $635
  • Russell County: $644
  • Wise County: $658
  • Brunswick County: $718
  • Tazewell County: $718
  • Halifax County: $729
  • Charlotte County: $739
  • Danville city: $743
  • Martinsville city: $746
  • Nottoway County: $756
  • Smyth County: $766
  • Norton city: $787
  • Grayson County: $820
  • Prince Edward County: $820
  • Mecklenburg County: $826
  • Scott County: $826
  • Bath County: $834
  • Patrick County: $851
  • Wythe County: $851
  • Carroll County: $861
  • Bland County: $868
  • Buckingham County: $874
  • Giles County: $907
  • Pittsylvania County: $907
  • Campbell County: $913
  • Greensville County: $936
  • Craig County: $958
  • Accomack County: $962
  • Galax city: $962
  • Sussex County: $966
  • Emporia city: $990
  • Amherst County: $997
  • Appomattox County: $1,006
  • Alleghany County: $1,011
  • Amelia County: $1,034
  • Washington County: $1,038
  • Highland County: $1,104
  • Floyd County: $1,122
  • Pulaski County: $1,176
  • Franklin County: $1,188
  • Richmond County: $1,188
  • King and Queen County: $1,261
  • Bedford County: $1,265
  • Bristol city: $1,294
  • Essex County: $1,312
  • Charles City County: $1,354
  • Augusta County: $1,379
  • Southampton County: $1,380
  • Cumberland County: $1,398
  • Rockbridge County: $1,432
  • Buena Vista city: $1,444
  • Petersburg city: $1,449
  • Shenandoah County: $1,451
  • Surry County: $1,474
  • Mathews County: $1,475
  • Dinwiddie County: $1,478
  • Radford city: $1,488
  • Page County: $1,489
  • Westmoreland County: $1,506
  • Lancaster County: $1,508
  • Nelson County: $1,517
  • Rockingham County: $1,532
  • Waynesboro city: $1,578
  • Caroline County: $1,585
  • Hopewell city: $1,600
  • Northumberland County: $1,602
  • Franklin city: $1,677
  • Northampton County: $1,689
  • Middlesex County: $1,692
  • Staunton city: $1,696
  • Gloucester County: $1,718
  • King William County: $1,733
  • Botetourt County: $1,761
  • Lynchburg city: $1,778
  • Louisa County: $1,781
  • Frederick County: $1,807
  • Roanoke city: $1,828
  • Fluvanna County: $1,835
  • Warren County: $1,850
  • Madison County: $1,967
  • Greene County: $2,009
  • Orange County: $2,048
  • Prince George County: $2,098
  • Culpeper County: $2,119
  • Colonial Heights city: $2,127
  • Harrisonburg city: $2,172
  • Montgomery County: $2,174
  • King George County: $2,221
  • Salem city: $2,232
  • Hampton city: $2,259
  • Spotsylvania County: $2,263
  • Williamsburg city: $2,265
  • Roanoke County: $2,340
  • Lexington city: $2,378
  • Isle of Wight County: $2,399
  • Henrico County: $2,416
  • Goochland County: $2,418
  • Powhatan County: $2,418
  • Portsmouth city: $2,452
  • Winchester city: $2,505
  • Hanover County: $2,506
  • Newport News city: $2,507
  • New Kent County: $2,523
  • Chesterfield County: $2,636
  • York County: $2,676
  • Norfolk city: $2,738
  • Clarke County: $2,757
  • James City County: $2,786
  • Rappahannock County: $2,787
  • Richmond city: $2,834
  • Fredericksburg city: $2,853
  • Virginia Beach city: $2,929
  • Chesapeake city: $2,937
  • Suffolk city: $3,073
  • Stafford County: $3,301
  • Albemarle County: $3,482
  • Poquoson city: $3,640
  • Charlottesville city: $3,649
  • Fauquier County: $4,185
  • Manassas Park city: $4,329
  • Manassas city: $4,766
  • Prince William County: $4,910
  • Loudoun County: $6,186
  • Fairfax city: $6,392
  • Alexandria city: $6,879
  • Fairfax County: $7,072
  • Arlington County: $7,774
  • Falls Church city: $10,000+
$404$10,000+· sorted low to high, five equal groups

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates, Tables B25103 and B25077. Median real estate taxes paid by owner-occupied homes.

Your income stays the same. The gap your savings covers does not.

Illustrative example

Social Security and pension income follow you when you move. Local costs don't. In this hypothetical household, trimming $9,200 a year of local costs lowers total spending by 12% and lowers the draw on savings by 26%.

Covered by guaranteed incomeDrawn from savings
Before — current home$74,000 total · $35,500 from savings
After — a lower-cost county$64,800 total · $26,300 from savings

Hypothetical figures, not a forecast. Guaranteed income is held at $38,500 in both cases, and both bars share one scale.

Try your own numbers with the withdrawal rate calculator.

Free tools

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Each tool names the dataset it runs on and when that data was published.

Standards

How we earn your trust

We are asking you to make expensive, hard-to-reverse decisions with better information. That only works if you can check us.

Sources on everything

Every figure names its public source and the date of the data. A number we can't source is never shown as though we could.

Methodology and sources

Unknown is never zero

Where a cost can't be reliably determined, we say so and ask you to verify it, rather than quietly dropping it from a total.

How we label confidence

Assumptions in the open

Every free tool ends with a “How this is calculated” section listing its assumptions and what it leaves out.

Free tools

Educational information, not advice

Nothing here is financial, tax, or legal advice, and we don't know your circumstances. For personal decisions, talk with a fee-only professional who is paid by you and not by product commissions.