diff --git a/mapclassify/tests/baseline_images/test_value_by_alpha/crs_labels.png b/mapclassify/tests/baseline_images/test_value_by_alpha/crs_labels.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd23ad7
Binary files /dev/null and b/mapclassify/tests/baseline_images/test_value_by_alpha/crs_labels.png differ
diff --git a/mapclassify/tests/test_value_by_alpha.py b/mapclassify/tests/test_value_by_alpha.py
index 0b2c10d..46f5d5c 100644
--- a/mapclassify/tests/test_value_by_alpha.py
+++ b/mapclassify/tests/test_value_by_alpha.py
@@ -4,9 +4,13 @@
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
 import pytest
 from matplotlib.testing.decorators import image_comparison
+from packaging.version import Version
 
 from mapclassify import shift_colormap, truncate_colormap, vba_choropleth
 
+# see gh#305
+GPD_GT_113 = Version(geopandas.__version__) > Version("1.1.3")
+
 
 class TestValueByAlphaChoropleth:
     def setup_method(self):
@@ -129,3 +133,11 @@ def test_legend_kwargs(self):
 
         assert isinstance(fig, matplotlib.figure.Figure)
         assert isinstance(ax, matplotlib.axes.Axes)
+
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(not GPD_GT_113, reason="See GH#305")
+    @image_comparison(["crs_labels"], **pytest.image_comp_kws)
+    def test_crs_labels(self):
+        fig, ax = vba_choropleth(self.x, self.y, self.gdf, axis_labels=True)
+
+        assert isinstance(fig, matplotlib.figure.Figure)
+        assert isinstance(ax, matplotlib.axes.Axes)
diff --git a/mapclassify/value_by_alpha.py b/mapclassify/value_by_alpha.py
index 7edca15..ef4fdb1 100644
--- a/mapclassify/value_by_alpha.py
+++ b/mapclassify/value_by_alpha.py
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ def vba_choropleth(
     legend=False,
     legend_kwargs=None,
     min_alpha=0.2,
+    axis_labels=False,
 ):
     """Generate Value by Alpha Choropleth plots.
 
@@ -91,13 +92,17 @@ def vba_choropleth(
         Keyword arguments for the legend.
     min_alpha : float = 0.2
         Minimum alpha threshold to prevent fully transparent masking.
+    axis_labels : bool = False
+        Remove CRS unit axis labels from the returned ``ax``. This retains default
+        behavior in ``mapclassify`` and only has an affect when ``geopandas>v1.1.3``
+        is installed.
 
     Returns
     -------
     fig : matplotlip Figure instance
-        Figure of Value by Alpha choropleth
+        Figure of Value by Alpha choropleth.
     ax : matplotlib Axes instance
-        Axes in which the figure is plotted
+        Axes in which the figure is plotted.
 
     Examples
     --------
@@ -206,6 +211,10 @@ def vba_choropleth(
     )
     gdf.plot(color=rgba, ax=ax)
 
+    if not axis_labels:
+        ax.set_xlabel("")
+        ax.set_ylabel("")
+
     if legend:
         left, bottom, width, height = [0, 0.5, 0.2, 0.2]
         ax2 = fig.add_axes([left, bottom, width, height])