Best PlacesChittenden, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chittenden, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chittenden ranks 2,616th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chittenden
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.
Chittenden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chittenden ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
Where Chittenden ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,493 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chittenden
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chittenden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,787, 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 Chittenden's effective rate of 1.72%, 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 Chittenden
Chittenden runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chittenden.
Who works in Chittenden, and how
Work in Chittenden centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chittenden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Chittenden.
What the weather is like in Chittenden, month by month
Chittenden sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 23° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Chittenden
The nearest airport, Rutland/Southern Vermont Regional, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chittenden
Schools across Chittenden average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Putnam Central SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Whitehall Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Barstow Memorial SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Whitehall Junior-senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Ticonderoga Junior-senior High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chittenden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chittenden 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 Chittenden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chittenden
Is Chittenden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chittenden ranks 2,616th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, clean air, and tree cover, 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 Chittenden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,820. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $100,787 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Chittenden safe?
Yes, Chittenden is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $147 per resident a year.
Compare Chittenden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chittenden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chittenden 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.
Chittenden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chittenden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chittenden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chittenden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chittenden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chittenden 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.