Although officially gazetted as a suburb, most of the land use in Richmond is agricultural, predominantly growing sugarcane. A network of cane tramways in the suburb transfers the harvested sugarcane to the sugar mill for processing.[3]
There are no schools in Richmond. The nearest government primary schools are Beaconsfield State School in neighbouring Beaconsfield to the east, Eimeo Road State School in neighbouring Rural View to the north-east, and Northview State School in neighbouring Mount Pleasant to the south-east. The nearest government secondary schools are Mackay Northern Beaches State High School in neighbouring Rural View to the north-east, Pioneer State High School in Andergrove to the east, and Mackay North State High School in North Mackay.[3]