Best PlacesDerby, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Derby, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Derby ranks 23,675th 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 Derby
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.
Derby's strengths and weaknesses
Where Derby ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 84% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
Where Derby ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,312 a month, better than only 9% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Short commute33.5 minutes each way, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Derby
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Derby home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,442, 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 Derby's effective rate of 1.40%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Derby
Derby 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 Derby.
Who works in Derby, and how
Work in Derby centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Derby
Derby has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Derby and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Derby, month by month
Derby sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 19° | 9° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 30° |
| July | 80° | 68° | 57° |
| October | 60° | 48° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Derby
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 188 miles away.
The best schools in and around Derby
Schools across Derby average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stewartstown Community SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Stratford Public SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Colebrook Academy And Elementary School (h)C · 34% proficient
- Groveton High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Derby school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Derby 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 Derby against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Derby
Is Derby a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Derby ranks 23,675th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, cheap car insurance, and heat safety, and lowest on childcare costs and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Derby expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $233,859. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $78,442 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Derby safe?
Yes, Derby is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
Compare Derby with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Derby. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Derby 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.
Derby detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Derby: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Derby: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Derby: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Derby: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Derby 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.