Best PlacesAddison County, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Addison County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Addison County ranks 209th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Addison County
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.
The best areas in Addison County
The parts of Addison County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Middlebury
Biking is better, more adults hold degrees, and commutes are shorter.
Bristol
Tree cover is thicker and fewer homes sit empty.
Vergennes
Crime runs lower and streets are more walkable.
Scores across Addison County run from about the 40th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Addison County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Addison County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of counties
Where Addison County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,606 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Addison County
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Addison County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $91,853, 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 Addison County's effective rate of 1.50%, 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 Addison County
Addison County runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Addison County.
Who works in Addison County, and how
Work in Addison County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Addison County
Addison County has less parkland per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Addison County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Addison County growing, and who is moving in?
Addison County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Burlington, VT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Addison County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Addison County, month by month
Addison County sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 23° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Addison County
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Addison County
Schools across Addison County average an A−, better than 89% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bernice A. Ray SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Putnam Central SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Bingham Memorial SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frances C. Richmond SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Middlebury Union Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Hanover High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Mountain View CampusA · 70% proficient
- Moriah Junior-senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Addison County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Addison County 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 Addison County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Addison County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Addison County
Is Addison County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Addison County ranks 209th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and low crime, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Addison County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $373,664. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $91,853 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is Addison County safe?
Yes, Addison County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Addison County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 32 with lows near 14. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Addison County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Middlebury, Bristol, and Vergennes. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Addison County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Addison County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Addison County 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.
Addison County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Addison County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Addison County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Addison County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Addison County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Addison County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.