Best PlacesEssex County, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Essex County, 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.
Essex County ranks 2,345th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Essex 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.
Essex County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Essex County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of counties
- QuietBetter than 96% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of counties
Where Essex County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,437 a month, better than only 3% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Essex County
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Essex County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,483, 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 Essex County's effective rate of 1.49%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Essex County
Essex 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 Essex County.
Who works in Essex County, and how
Work in Essex County 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 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Essex County
Essex County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of counties and more parkland per resident than 96% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Essex County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Essex County growing, and who is moving in?
Essex County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Caledonia County, VT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Essex County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Essex County, month by month
Essex County sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 19° | 8° |
| April | 56° | 41° | 28° |
| July | 82° | 68° | 53° |
| October | 62° | 47° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Essex County
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 71 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 163 miles away.
The best schools in and around Essex County
Schools across Essex County average a D+, better than 17% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mildred C. Lakeway SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Whitefield Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Colebrook Academy And Elementary School (e)C− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Daisy Bronson Junior High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Groveton High School (middle)D · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Colebrook Academy And Elementary School (h)C · 34% proficient
- White Mountains Regional High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Littleton High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Essex County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Essex 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 Essex County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Essex County
Is Essex County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Essex County ranks 2,345th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, quiet, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on cell coverage and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Essex County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $179,013. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $58,483 median income, cost of living beats 12% of counties.
Is Essex County safe?
Yes, Essex County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
Compare Essex County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Essex County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Essex 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.
Essex County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Essex County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Essex County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Essex County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Essex County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Essex 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.