XML 37 R65.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.10.0.1
T. Rowe Price Virginia Tax-Free Bond Fund
T. Rowe Price
Virginia Tax-Free Bond Fund

Investor Class

I Class

SUMMARY
Investment Objective
The fund seeks to provide, consistent with prudent portfolio management, the highest level of income exempt from federal and Virginia state income taxes by investing primarily in investment-grade Virginia municipal bonds.
Fees and Expenses
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. You may also incur brokerage commissions and other charges when buying or selling shares of the fund, which are not reflected in the table.
Fees and Expenses of the Fund

Shareholder fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees - T. Rowe Price Virginia Tax-Free Bond Fund - USD ($)
Investor Class
I Class
Maximum account fee $ 20 [1]
[1] Subject to certain exceptions, accounts with a balance of less than $10,000 are charged an annual $20 fee.
Annual fund operating expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - T. Rowe Price Virginia Tax-Free Bond Fund
Investor Class
I Class
Management fees 0.39% 0.39%
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees
Other expenses 0.11% 0.03%
Total annual fund operating expenses 0.50% 0.42%
Example
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods, that your investment has a 5% return each year, and that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example - T. Rowe Price Virginia Tax-Free Bond Fund - USD ($)
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
Investor Class 51 160 280 628
I Class 43 135 235 530
Portfolio Turnover
The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when the fund’s shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 9.0% of the average value of its portfolio.
Investments, Risks, and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies
The fund will invest so that, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its net assets (including any borrowings for investment purposes) are invested in bonds that pay interest exempt from federal and Virginia state income taxes, and at least 80% of the fund’s income is expected to be exempt from federal and Virginia state income taxes. While the fund may buy securities of any maturity, the fund generally seeks longer-term securities. Most investments are in investment-grade securities, which are securities rated in one of the four highest credit rating categories by at least one major credit rating agency or, if unrated, deemed to be of comparable quality by T. Rowe Price. However, the fund may invest up to 10% of its total assets in noninvestment-grade securities, known as “junk” bonds, including those with the lowest credit rating. In addition, up to 20% of the fund’s income could be derived from securities subject to the alternative minimum tax.

Investment decisions generally reflect the portfolio manager’s outlook for interest rates and the economy, as well as the prices, yields, and credit quality of various securities. This approach is designed to help the portfolio manager capture appreciation opportunities when rates are falling and reduce the impact of falling bond prices when rates are rising. For example, if interest rates are expected to fall, the fund may purchase longer-term securities in an attempt to seek higher yields and/or capital appreciation. Conversely, if interest rates are expected to rise, the fund may seek securities with shorter maturities. And if our economic outlook is positive or if valuations for lower-quality bonds are attractive, the portfolio manager may favor noninvestment-grade bonds to the extent permitted by the fund’s investment policies.

The fund may invest a significant portion of assets in securities that are not general obligations of the state. These may be issued by local governments or public authorities and are rated according to their particular creditworthiness, which may vary from the state’s general obligation securities. From time to time, the fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in sectors with special risks, such as health care, transportation, and utilities, as well as private activity bonds (including industrial revenue bonds), which are municipal bonds issued by a government agency on behalf of a private sector company and, in most cases, are not backed by the credit of the issuing municipality. The fund may at times invest more than 25% of its net assets overall in industrial revenue bonds, but investments in industrial revenue bonds related to the same industry may not exceed 25% of the fund’s net assets.

Due to seasonal variations in the supply of suitable Virginia municipal securities, the fund may invest in other municipal securities whose interest is exempt from federal but not Virginia income taxes. While efforts will be made to minimize such investments, they could comprise up to 10% of the fund’s annual income.

The fund may sell holdings for a variety of reasons, such as to adjust the portfolio’s average maturity, duration, or overall credit quality, or to shift assets into and out of higher-yielding or lower-yielding securities or certain sectors.

The fund is “nondiversified,” meaning it may invest a greater portion of its assets in fewer issuers than is permissible for a “diversified” fund.
Principal Risks
As with any mutual fund, there is no guarantee that the fund will achieve its objective. The fund’s share price fluctuates, which means you could lose money by investing in the fund. The principal risks of investing in this fund are summarized as follows:

Active management risks The investment adviser’s judgments about the attractiveness, value, or potential appreciation of the fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. The fund could underperform in comparison to other funds with a similar benchmark or similar objectives and investment strategies if the fund’s overall investment selections or strategies fail to produce the intended results.

Market risks The value of investments owned by the fund may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unexpectedly, due to factors affecting the overall markets, or particular industries or sectors.

Credit risks An issuer of a debt instrument could suffer an adverse change in financial condition that results in a payment default (a failure to make scheduled interest or principal payments), rating downgrade, or inability to meet a financial obligation. Economic downturns often result in reduced levels of taxes collected and revenues earned for municipalities, and a municipal government’s pension or health care related obligations to its employees may exceed its available assets or income. These conditions can lessen the financial strength of a municipality and increase the credit risk of the securities it issues. The fund’s exposure to credit risk is increased to the extent the fund invests in noninvestment-grade bonds (“junk” bonds). Junk bonds should be considered speculative as they carry greater risk of default and erratic price swings due to adverse changes in the credit quality of the issuer.

Interest rate risks The prices of, and the income generated by, debt instruments held by the fund may be affected by changes in interest rates. A rise in interest rates typically causes the price of a fixed rate debt instrument to fall and its yield to rise. Conversely, a decline in interest rates typically causes the price of a fixed rate debt instrument to rise and the yield to fall. Generally, funds with longer weighted average maturities and durations carry greater interest rate risk. The fund may face a heightened level of interest rate risk due to historically low interest rates and the potential effect of any government fiscal policy initiatives; for example, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board has ended its quantitative easing program and may continue to raise interest rates. While a rise in interest rates is the principal source of interest rate risk for bond funds, falling rates bring the possibility that a bond may be “called,” or redeemed before maturity, and that the proceeds may be reinvested in lower-yielding securities.

Municipal securities risks The fund may be highly impacted by events tied to the overall municipal securities markets, which can be very volatile and significantly affected by unfavorable legislative or political developments and adverse changes in the financial conditions of municipal securities issuers and the economy. Income from municipal securities held by the fund could be declared taxable because of changes in tax laws or interpretations by taxing authorities, or noncompliant conduct of a municipality. Other changes in tax laws, including recent changes to individual or corporate tax rates, could alter the attractiveness and overall demand for municipal bonds. In addition, a portion of the fund’s otherwise tax-exempt dividends may be taxable to those shareholders subject to the alternative minimum tax.

Certain sectors of the municipal bond market have special risks that can impact such sectors more significantly than the market as a whole. For example: health care can be negatively impacted by rising expenses and dependency on third party reimbursements; transportation can be negatively impacted by declining revenues or unexpectedly high construction or fuel costs; utilities are subject to governmental rate regulation; and private activity bonds (including industrial development bonds) rely on project revenues and the creditworthiness of the corporate user as opposed to governmental support. Investing significantly in municipal obligations backed by revenues of similar types of industries or projects may make the fund more susceptible to developments affecting those industries and projects.

State-specific risks Economic conditions in Virginia may adversely affect the securities held by the fund. Because the fund invests primarily in securities issued by Virginia and its municipalities, it is more vulnerable to unfavorable developments in Virginia than are funds that invest in municipal securities of many states. Adverse developments in an economic sector may have far-reaching impacts on the overall Virginia municipal securities market. A bond default or credit rating downgrade, or even negative perceptions of the ability to make timely bond payments, involving only a small number of Virginia municipal securities issuers could affect the market values and marketability of all Virginia municipal securities.

As of May 1, 2018, the Commonwealth of Virginia’s general obligation debt was rated Aaa by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (Moody’s) and AAA by S&P Global Ratings (S&P) and Fitch Ratings, Inc. (Fitch). While Moody’s and Fitch maintain their stable outlook on Virginia, S&P recently revised its outlook to negative, primarily based on a budgeted drawdown in reserves.

Liquidity risks The fund may not be able to sell a holding in a timely manner at a desired price. Reduced liquidity in the bond markets can result from a number of events, such as limited trading activity, reductions in bond inventory, and rapid or unexpected changes in interest rates. The secondary market for certain municipal bonds tends to be less developed and less liquid than many other bond markets. Less liquid markets could lead to greater price volatility and limit the fund’s ability to sell a holding at a suitable price.

Nondiversification risks As a nondiversified fund, the fund has the ability to invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, poor performance by a single issuer could adversely affect fund performance more than if the fund were invested in a larger number of issuers. The fund’s share price can be expected to fluctuate more than that of a comparable diversified fund.
Performance
The following performance information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The fund’s performance information represents only past performance (before and after taxes) and is not necessarily an indication of future results.

The following bar chart illustrates how much returns can differ from year to year by showing calendar year returns and the best and worst calendar quarter returns during those years for the fund’s Investor Class. Returns for other share classes vary since they have different expenses.
Virginia Tax-Free Bond Fund
Calendar Year Returns
Bar Chart
  Quarter Ended    Total Return  Quarter Ended     Total Return
Best Quarter             9/30/09             6.80%      Worst Quarter            12/31/10            -4.88%

The fund’s return for the three months ended 3/31/18 was -0.79%.
The following table shows the average annual total returns for each class of the fund that has been in operation for at least one full calendar year, and also compares the returns with the returns of a relevant broad-based market index, as well as with the returns of one or more comparative indexes that have investment characteristics similar to those of the fund.

In addition, the table shows hypothetical after-tax returns to demonstrate how taxes paid by a shareholder may influence returns. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as a 401(k) account or an IRA. After-tax returns are shown only for the Investor Class and will differ for other share classes.
Average Annual Total Returns

Periods ended
December 31, 2017
Average Annual Total Returns - T. Rowe Price Virginia Tax-Free Bond Fund
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Inception date
Investor Class 4.71% 2.93% 4.32% Apr. 30, 1991
Investor Class | Returns after taxes on distributions 4.69% 2.93% 4.32% Apr. 30, 1991
Investor Class | Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares 4.07% 3.02% 4.21% Apr. 30, 1991
I Class Jul. 06, 2017
Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes) 5.45% 3.02% 4.46%  
Lipper Virginia Municipal Debt Funds Average 2.23% 1.50% 2.99%  
Updated performance information is available through troweprice.com.