Kristen Adams
REALTOR®
Fredericksburg38.2400° N 78.0100° W
Orange.
36,254 residents across 343 square miles, seated at Orange.
One of 6 areas our Fredericksburg team works.
At a glanceOrange
The publicrecord.
What the county and the census hold on Orange — quoted, not estimated.
A Piedmont county balancing agriculture, wine tourism and a real manufacturing base — tourism spending topped $57.6 million in 2024, driven by heritage sites like Montpelier and at least seven working wineries.
James Madison's Montpelier, run by a private foundation, sits here alongside the Barboursville Ruins — the only Orange County building known to have been designed in part by Thomas Jefferson, for Governor James Barbour, and burned on Christmas Day 1884.
L3Harris, American Woodmark and RIDGID all operate here, with L3Harris alone announcing a $1.27 billion investment — a genuinely mixed economy for a county this size.
- Type
- County
- County seat
- Orange
- Population (2020)
- 36,254
- Land area
- 343 sq mi
- Communities we cover
- 3
- Established
- 1734
- Real estate tax rate (2026)
- $0.62 per $100
Figures from Wikidata, population as of 2020. The tax rate is published by the county and set annually; check the current year before budgeting.
Where it is38.2400° N 78.0100° W
Where isOrange?
The nearest of our other Fredericksburg areas is Culpeper, 17 miles off.
46 mi
Central Fredericksburg
south-west of center
28 mi
Charlottesville
west
62 mi
Richmond
south-east
84 mi
Northern Neck
east
Distances are straight-line, not driving.
Getting around.
Two US highways cross the county, and the airport is a short drive north.
US-15 and US-522
The main routes through the county.
Route 20
Intersects US-522 near Unionville, where a roundabout project is underway.
Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport
Roughly 20 miles from the town of Orange, by aggregator estimate.
Inside the county3 communities
Every communitywe cover.
3 of them have homes on the market today. Each figure is live, and opens that search.
- 40GordonsvilleSee the homes
A genuinely incorporated town, chartered in 1870, with an 80-plus-building historic district including the 1860 Exchange Hotel, now a Civil War medical museum.
- 36BarboursvilleSee the homes
An unincorporated crossroads at Route 20 and US-33, near the Jefferson-designed Barboursville ruins and the winery of the same name.
- 29UnionvilleSee the homes
A small unincorporated community at the US-522/Route 20 junction, with a community park that opened in 2022.
Living here6 reasons
The case forOrange.
The figures above read plainly, and what they look like day to day. Where something is a trade-off, it says so.
Space
106 people to the square mile.
Of the 6 Fredericksburg areas we hold both figures for, only 1 is more open — Orange ranks 2nd least crowded. If room is what you are buying, this end of the market is where it is.
Scale
36,254 people, as of 2020.
The 3rd smallest of the 6 Fredericksburg areas we hold a count for. Fewer houses change hands here in a year, and that cuts both ways — less to choose from, less to compete with.
The line that matters
Orange, seated at Orange.
In Virginia the county sets the rate, runs the school division and maintains the roads — and the lines do not follow the place names, so two houses a mile apart can sit under different rates and different schools.
A president's home, still standing
James Madison's Montpelier is open, and run by a private foundation.
One of the market's real historical landmarks, alongside the ruins of Barboursville — the only building in the county Thomas Jefferson is known to have helped design.
Wine country, genuinely
Seven-plus wineries, and Barboursville among the oldest.
Barboursville Vineyards has been producing wine on the Barbour family's former estate since 1976, one of Virginia's longest-running wineries.
A real manufacturing base
L3Harris announced a $1.27 billion investment here.
Alongside American Woodmark and RIDGID, Orange carries genuine industrial employment most counties this rural don't have.
SchoolsOrange County Public Schools
Schools andcolleges.
About 5,066 students across nine schools.
Orange County Public Schools
Nine schools serve the county.
Outdoors4 of them
Where theweekends go.
History and wine country share the same ground here.
Montpelier
James Madison's home, run by a private foundation and open to visitors.
Barboursville Ruins
The remains of a house designed in part by Thomas Jefferson for Governor James Barbour, built 1814–1822 and burned in 1884.
Barboursville Vineyards
Producing wine on the same estate since 1976.
Unionville Community Park
Opened in 2022 at the US-522/Route 20 junction.
On the market252 in Orange · live
Homes on themarket now.
On the market in Orange right now.
Live from search.hogangrp.com, refreshed hourly.
All Orange listingsSearchsearch.hogangrp.com · Live MLS
Homes inOrange.
The search opens already filtered to Orange — set a price and a bedroom count here and they travel with you.
See matching homes
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Your team3 in Fredericksburg
People who livewhere they sell.
The Fredericksburg team covers every one of these areas.
Nearby5 more in Fredericksburg
The rest ofFredericksburg.
Same team, same standard, 5 other places — nearest first.
Questions5 answered
What peopleask us.
Asked often enough by people moving to Orange to be worth answering in writing.
A genuine mix — working farmland, real wine tourism, and enough manufacturing employment (L3Harris, American Woodmark, RIDGID) that it doesn't depend on any one industry.
$0.62 per $100 of assessed value combined — a $0.46 general fund rate plus a $0.16 fire/EMS levy, for 2026.
Yes — the actual incorporated town is in Orange, chartered in 1870. A neighboring county, Louisa, has a separate growth area that borders the town but is not the town itself.
Orange County Public Schools — about 5,066 students across nine schools.
Montpelier and the Barboursville Ruins for history, Barboursville Vineyards and several other wineries for the newer wine-country identity.
Sources · checked September 14, 2026
Tax rate · School division · Montpelier · Barboursville Ruins · Gordonsville · County profile · Unionville Park
Thinking of selling
What is your Orange homeactually worth?
Mike Hogan founded the brokerage on knowing the county rather than the listing. Ask what that means for this street — or take a cash offer from a local investor and skip the showings entirely. Neither route commits you to the other.