County Real Estate

Census Bureau data show that Chesterfield County is as much as 20 percent more affluent than Henrico County in terms of median household income.

It certainly makes for a good story until you dig a little deeper and research what the disposable income is in each county.

I found it interesting that retail sales in Henrico were 15.3 percent higher than in Chesterfield in 2005, even though Henrico's population is 2 percent less than Chesterfield's.

There may be a host of reasons for this disparity, but the one I believe makes the most sense is that Chesterfield residents are more mortgage poor than Henrico residents. Part of the disparity might be because 81.3 percent of the homes in Chesterfield are owner-occupied, compared with 66 percent in Henrico.