Best PlacesGuilford, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Guilford, 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.
Guilford ranks 22,670th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Guilford
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.
Guilford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Guilford ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
Where Guilford ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,392 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Guilford
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Guilford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,663, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Guilford's effective rate of 1.81%, 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 Guilford
Guilford 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 Guilford.
Who works in Guilford, and how
Work in Guilford centers on construction and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Guilford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Guilford.
What the weather is like in Guilford, month by month
Guilford sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 25° | 15° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 51° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Guilford
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Guilford
Schools across Guilford average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Colrain CentralB · 48% proficient
- Bernardston ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Hinsdale Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hinsdale Middle High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Hinsdale High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Mohawk Trail Regional SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Guilford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Guilford 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 Guilford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Guilford
Is Guilford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Guilford ranks 22,670th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, tree cover, and clean air, 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 Guilford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,829. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $70,663 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Guilford safe?
Yes, Guilford is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
Compare Guilford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Guilford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Guilford 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.
Guilford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Guilford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Guilford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Guilford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Guilford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Guilford 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.