Best PlacesBarre, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barre, 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.
Barre ranks 15,338th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barre
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.
Barre's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barre ranks high
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Barre ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,420 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barre
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barre home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,886, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Barre's effective rate of 2.01%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Barre
Barre 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 Barre.
Who works in Barre, and how
Work in Barre centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Barre
Barre has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of towns and more parkland per resident than 85% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Barre and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Barre, month by month
Barre sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 31° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 57° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Barre
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 147 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barre
Schools across Barre average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Piermont Village SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Monroe Consolidated SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Barre Town Elementary & Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Orange Center SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Spaulding Union High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Woodsville High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barre school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barre 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 Barre against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barre
Is Barre a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barre ranks 15,338th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barre expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $251,424. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $80,886 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Barre safe?
Yes, Barre is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
Compare Barre with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barre. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barre 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.
Barre detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barre: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barre: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barre: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barre: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barre 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.