Best PlacesGrand Isle County, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Grand Isle County, 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.
Grand Isle County ranks 213th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Grand Isle 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.
Grand Isle County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Grand Isle County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 97% of counties
- QuietBetter than 97% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of counties
Where Grand Isle County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,625 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Short commute30.9 minutes each way, better than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Grand Isle County
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grand Isle County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $98,648; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Grand Isle County's effective rate of 1.33%, 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 Grand Isle County
Grand Isle 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 Grand Isle County.
Who works in Grand Isle County, and how
Work in Grand Isle County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Grand Isle County
Grand Isle County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Grand Isle County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Grand Isle County growing, and who is moving in?
Grand Isle County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Burlington, VT metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Grand Isle County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Grand Isle County, month by month
Grand Isle County sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 22° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Grand Isle County
The nearest airport, Plattsburgh International, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 200 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grand Isle County
Schools across Grand Isle County average an A−, better than 97% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Chazy Central Rural Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Rouses Point Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Cumberland Head Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beekmantown Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Stafford Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Northeastern Clinton Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Plattsburgh Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Beekmantown High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Northern Adirondack Middle/high SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grand Isle County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grand Isle 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 Grand Isle County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Grand Isle County
Is Grand Isle County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grand Isle County ranks 213th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, good schools, and quiet, and lowest on childcare costs and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grand Isle County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $392,335. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $98,648 median income, cost of living beats 79% of counties.
Is Grand Isle County safe?
Yes, Grand Isle County is safer than 99% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
Compare Grand Isle County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grand Isle County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grand Isle 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.
Grand Isle County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grand Isle County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grand Isle County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grand Isle County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grand Isle County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grand Isle 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.