Moving From Virginia To Vero Beach

Moving From Virginia to Vero Beach: The Money and the Move

Virginia taxes your pension, 401(k) and IRA income at up to 5.75%, and the top rate starts at just $17,000 of taxable income. Florida has no state income tax.
A retired couple with $110,000 of pension and IRA income pays about $4,862 a year to Virginia. In Vero Beach, that number is $0.
The Virginia car tax goes away. Two cars in Fairfax County cost about $1,343 a year in car tax. Florida has no yearly tax on your car.
Home insurance costs more here. Plan for it before you fall in love with a house.
The Auto Train leaves from Lorton, Virginia, and puts you and your car in Sanford, about two hours north of Vero Beach.

Moving from Virginia to Vero Beach makes more sense on paper than a move from most states. Virginia taxes retirement income in a way that surprises people, and it sends you a car tax bill every year. Florida does neither. That’s the core of the money case. The rest of this post covers the part people skip: what costs more here, how to get your stuff down I-95, and which parts of Vero fit someone coming from Fairfax, Richmond or Virginia Beach.

Virginia retirees pay more state income tax than they think

Virginia’s tax brackets haven’t changed in decades. Because the top bracket starts at just $17,000, almost every dollar of retirement income above that threshold is taxed at the 5.75% marginal rate. So the brackets look graduated, but for most retirees they aren’t.

Virginia does give you some relief. It doesn’t tax Social Security. And every dollar of income above $50,000 (single) or $75,000 (married filing jointly) reduces the Age Deduction dollar-for-dollar. That deduction is worth up to $12,000 per person at 65, but it shrinks fast once your income climbs.

Here’s what that looks like for a real household.

A married couple, both 65, with $110,000 a year from a pension and IRA withdrawals. Their income is $35,000 over the $75,000 line, so the age deduction drops to zero. After the $17,500 joint standard deduction for tax year 2026 and their personal exemptions, Virginia taxes them on $89,040. Their state bill comes to $4,862 a year. Taxstra

In Florida, they pay nothing. Over 10 years in retirement, that’s close to $49,000 that stays in their account.

One more thing to watch. Virginia’s higher standard deduction may not last. It’s scheduled to revert to $6,000 after tax year 2026 under current law, and a bill to make it permanent died in committee. If that happens, the Virginia bill in my example goes up by another $661.

Run your own numbers with a CPA. Your mix of Social Security, pension and IRA income changes the result a lot.

If you’re a military retiree

Virginia has one of the biggest military populations in the country, from Norfolk and Virginia Beach to the Pentagon. Virginia now lets you subtract up to $40,000 of military retirement pay, at any age. That helps. But if your pension is $60,000, the other $20,000 is still taxed, and so is your spouse’s income. Florida doesn’t tax military retirement pay at all, because it doesn’t tax any income.

I work with a lot of military families. Here’s how I handle a military relocation to Vero Beach.

The car tax goes away

Anyone from Northern Virginia knows the yellow bill that shows up every summer. Fairfax charges $4.57 per $100 of assessed value and provides 49% relief on the first $20,000 of a qualifying vehicle’s value. Arlington is higher at $5 per $100.

Say you have two cars in Fairfax County, one worth $30,000 and one worth $18,000. Your car tax is about $923 on the first and $420 on the second. That’s $1,343 a year, every year, until the cars lose value.

Florida has no yearly property tax on cars. You’ll pay a one-time $225 fee to register each car that’s new to Florida, plus title fees. After that, you pay a normal renewal.

When you leave, call your county’s commissioner of the revenue. Most Virginia localities prorate the car tax by month, but they won’t know you left unless you tell them.

Property tax and the Florida homestead exemption

For example, property tax rates in Vero Beach and Fairfax aren’t far apart on paper. The Fairfax County real estate tax rate is $1.1225 per $100 of assessed value for FY2026.

Your property tax rate goes up when you move from Fairfax to Vero Beach. Inside Vero Beach city limits, the total 2025 rate is 15.88 mills, about $1.59 per $100 of value. In unincorporated Indian River County, it’s 14.049 mills, about $1.40 per $100. Fairfax charges $1.1225 per $100.

Here’s a $500,000 house. In Fairfax, the bill is about $5,613. In the city of Vero Beach, after the homestead exemption, it’s about $7,200. In the unincorporated county, it’s about $6,400.

The difference is what happens after year one. Once Vero Beach is your primary home, the homestead exemption takes up to $50,000 off your assessed value. Then the Save Our Homes cap limits increases in your assessed value to 3% a year, no matter what the market does. Virginia has nothing like that cap. If your house jumps 12% in value, your Fairfax assessment can jump 12% too.

You have to live here and file by March 1 to get it. Here’s the full breakdown of the Florida homestead exemption for out-of-state buyers.

Where Florida costs you more

Home insurance. This is the number that surprises Virginia buyers the most. A policy that costs you a typical amount in Virginia will be more here in general, and even more on the barrier island.

People from Hampton Roads have a head start. You already know flood zones, nor’easters and what a storm surge map means. People from Northern Virginia or Richmond usually don’t, and they need to learn fast.

Get an insurance quote before you write an offer. Ask for a wind mitigation inspection on any house built before 2002. Those two steps can save you thousands. Here’s what to expect on Vero Beach home insurance costs and on how often hurricanes hit Vero Beach.

Getting here: I-95 or the Auto Train

Vero Beach sits right on I-95. From Richmond it’s about 780 miles. From Northern Virginia it’s closer to 880. Most people split the drive into two days with a night in Georgia or South Carolina.

If you’re in Northern Virginia, look at the Amtrak Auto Train. It leaves from Lorton, just off I-95 south of Springfield. It departs at 4 p.m. in each direction and arrives at 9 a.m. the next day. You sleep on the train, and your car rides in an enclosed rack. It gets you to Sanford, near Orlando. From there, Vero Beach is about two hours down I-95.

Two tips from people who’ve done it. Book early for October and November, when the snowbirds head south. And plan for delays. In June 2026, the Auto Train recorded a Customer On-Time Performance of 58.4%, so don’t schedule a closing for the morning you arrive.

Which part of Vero fits a Virginia buyer

Where you’re moving from often tells me what you’ll like here.

From Northern Virginia suburbs. You’re used to HOAs, amenities and a planned layout. You’ll probably like the gated communities on the mainland. Grand Harbor has golf, a marina and a beach club.

From Hampton Roads. If you had a boat in Virginia Beach or Norfolk, you’ll want water access here too. The Moorings has deep-water canals and a marina on the island side.

From rural or central Virginia. If you want land and fewer rules, look at Vero Lake Estates in the north part of the county. Bigger lots, lower prices, and more room for a workshop or an RV.

You can see all of them on the Vero Beach communities page.

Your paperwork when you leave Virginia

Here’s what to handle, in order:

File a Virginia part-year resident return (Form 760PY) for the year you move. Virginia taxes you only for the months you lived there.
Tell your commissioner of the revenue when your cars leave the state.
Get a Florida driver’s license within 30 days of becoming a resident.
Register your cars in Florida.
Register to vote and file a Florida declaration of domicile.
File for homestead by March 1 of the year after you buy.

Steps 3 through 5 also help prove you’re really a Florida resident if Virginia ever asks. Here’s the full guide to establishing Florida residency.

Talk to me before you list your Virginia house

The best time to call is before you sell. I can tell you what a house like yours costs here, what insurance runs on it, and which neighborhoods fit how you live. Then you can plan the sale in Virginia around real numbers. Reach out here or start with the homepage to see what’s for sale now.