Remmie Pittman
REALTOR® & THG Elite Agent
Northern Neck37.4000° N 76.5200° W
Gloucester.
38,711 residents across 288 square miles, seated at Gloucester Courthouse.
One of 6 areas our Northern Neck team works.
At a glanceGloucester Courthouse
The publicrecord.
What the county and the census hold on Gloucester — quoted, not estimated.
A larger, suburban-rural county at the York River's mouth on the Chesapeake Bay, home to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at Gloucester Point — William & Mary's graduate marine-research arm, renamed the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences in 2024 after a $100 million gift. It grants only graduate degrees, not undergraduate ones.
Route 17 carries the county's commerce, and the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge that carries it across the York River to Yorktown became permanently toll-free on 8 August 2025 — a genuine, recent change worth knowing if you last checked years ago.
Physician Walter Reed, who identified the cause of yellow fever, was born here at Belroi — Riverside's local hospital carries his name in tribute.
- Type
- County
- County seat
- Gloucester Courthouse
- Population (2020)
- 38,711
- Land area
- 288 sq mi
- Communities we cover
- 6
- Established
- 1651
- Real estate tax rate (2026)
- $0.583 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 is37.4000° N 76.5200° W
Where isGloucester?
The nearest of our other Northern Neck areas is Mathews, 13 miles off.
34 mi
Central Northern Neck
south of center
15 mi
Williamsburg
west
48 mi
Richmond
west
98 mi
Fredericksburg
north-west
Distances are straight-line, not driving.
Getting around.
Route 17 carries the county, and its bridge across the York River just stopped charging tolls.
US-17 (George Washington Memorial Highway)
The county's main highway, running through Gloucester Point, Hayes and Gloucester Court House.
The Coleman Bridge
Carries Route 17 across the York River to Yorktown — permanently toll-free since 8 August 2025.
Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport
Roughly 21–23 miles away.
Inside the county6 communities
Every communitywe cover.
4 of them have homes on the market today. Each figure is live, and opens that search.
- 42Gloucester PointSee the homes
Home to VIMS, the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences — William & Mary's graduate marine-research campus.
- 23HayesSee the homes
One of the county's two main commercial centers, with several shopping plazas along Route 17.
- 6DuttonSee the homes
An unincorporated community on Route 198, about 7 miles northeast of Gloucester Court House.
- 0Achillesnone on the market today
The county's southernmost peninsula, extending into Mobjack Bay — a working waterman and oyster-farming community.
- 0Ordinarynone on the market today
A real place on Route 17, named for a colonial-era "ordinary" — a public tavern and inn.
- 2Ware NeckSee the homes
A peninsula on Mobjack Bay, home to two National Register structures: an 1877 store and post office, and a seventeenth-century cottage.
Living here6 reasons
The case forGloucester.
The figures above read plainly, and what they look like day to day. Where something is a trade-off, it says so.
Space
134 people to the square mile.
That makes Gloucester the densest of the 6 Northern Neck areas we hold both figures for. Things are close together here, which is the trade: less land, less driving.
Scale
38,711 people, as of 2020.
The largest of the 6 Northern Neck areas we hold a count for, which is what gives it the choice and the turnover the smaller ones cannot offer.
The line that matters
Gloucester, seated at Gloucester Courthouse.
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 real research institution, not a college
VIMS grants only graduate degrees.
The Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences, William & Mary's marine-research arm at Gloucester Point, offers master's and doctoral programs only — a genuine research presence rather than an undergraduate campus.
The bridge just changed
The Coleman Bridge stopped charging tolls in August 2025.
After decades as a toll crossing, Route 17's bridge to Yorktown became permanently free on 8 August 2025, ahead of a legislated deadline — worth knowing if your sense of the commute predates that.
A name on the hospital, and why
Walter Reed was born in Gloucester County.
The physician who identified yellow fever's cause was born at Belroi here — Riverside's local hospital, Riverside Walter Reed Hospital, carries his name for exactly that reason.
SchoolsGloucester County Public Schools
Schools andcolleges.
4,454 students across eight schools in 2025–26, down from over 5,300 a decade earlier.
Gloucester County Public Schools
Five elementary schools, two intermediate schools and one high school.
VIMS / Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences
William & Mary's graduate-only marine research institution, at Gloucester Point.
Rappahannock Community College
Also serves the county.
Outdoors3 of them
Where theweekends go.
A large county reservoir and real York River beach access cover most of the outdoor ground here.
Beaverdam Park
A 1,340-acre park built around a 635-acre reservoir, with fishing, boating, hiking, biking and equestrian trails.
Gloucester Point Beach Park
On the York River near its mouth at the Chesapeake Bay, with a beach, boat ramp and fishing pier.
Gloucester Downtown Historic District
40 acres and 57 contributing buildings, listed on the National Register in 2010.
On the market141 in Gloucester · live
Homes on themarket now.
On the market in Gloucester right now.
Live from search.hogangrp.com, refreshed hourly.
All Gloucester listingsSearchsearch.hogangrp.com · Live MLS
Homes inGloucester.
The search opens already filtered to Gloucester — set a price and a bedroom count here and they travel with you.
See matching homes
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Your team1 in Northern Neck
People who livewhere they sell.
The Northern Neck team covers every one of these areas.
Nearby5 more in Northern Neck
The rest ofNorthern Neck.
Same team, same standard, 5 other places — nearest first.
Questions5 answered
What peopleask us.
Asked often enough by people moving to Gloucester to be worth answering in writing.
Larger and more suburban than most of the Northern Neck market, anchored by a real research institution at Gloucester Point and genuine working waterman communities further out the peninsulas.
$0.583 per $100 of assessed value for 2026.
No — the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences at Gloucester Point is William & Mary's graduate marine-research arm, offering master's and doctoral degrees only.
No — tolls ended permanently on 8 August 2025. If you're relying on an older description of the commute to Yorktown, that detail is now out of date.
Gloucester County Public Schools — 4,454 students across eight schools in 2025–26, a decline from over 5,300 a decade before.
Sources · checked September 14, 2026
Tax rate · VIMS / Batten School · Coleman Bridge tolls end · Community profile · Enrollment · Beaverdam Park · Walter Reed
Thinking of selling
What is your Gloucester 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.