Best Places05850, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 05850, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
05850 ranks 20,433rd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 05850
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
05850's strengths and weaknesses
Where 05850 ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Short commute17.9 minutes each way, better than 92% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of zip codes
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of zip codes
Where 05850 ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of zip codes
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,213 a month, better than only 20% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 05850
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 05850 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,896, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 05850's effective rate of 1.69%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 05850
05850 runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 05850.
Who works in 05850, and how
Work in 05850 centers on construction and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in 05850
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 05850.
What the weather is like in 05850, month by month
05850 sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 19° | 10° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 80° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 60° | 48° | 37° |
Flying in and out of 05850
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around 05850
Schools across 05850 average a D+, better than 16% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Lancaster Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- White Mountains Regional High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 05850 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
05850 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 05850 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 05850
Is 05850 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 05850 ranks 20,433rd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on heat safety, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 05850 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,058. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $72,896 median income, cost of living beats 37% of zip codes.
Is 05850 safe?
Yes, 05850 is safer than 78% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $254 per resident a year.
Compare 05850 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 05850. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 05850 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
05850 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 05850: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 05850: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 05850: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 05850: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
05850 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.