Best PlacesManchester Center, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Manchester Center, 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.
Manchester Center ranks 4,435th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Manchester Center
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.
Manchester Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Manchester Center ranks high
- Short commute14.4 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
Where Manchester Center ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,384 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Manchester Center
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Manchester Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,260, 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 Manchester Center's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 Manchester Center
Manchester Center 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 Manchester Center.
Who works in Manchester Center, and how
Work in Manchester Center centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Manchester Center
Manchester Center has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Manchester Center and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Manchester Center, month by month
Manchester Center sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 16° |
| April | 60° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 58° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Manchester Center
The nearest airport, Rutland/Southern Vermont Regional, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Manchester Center
Schools across Manchester Center average an A, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Salem Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Manchester Elementary/middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Salem High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Manchester Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Manchester Center 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 Manchester Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Manchester Center
Is Manchester Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Manchester Center ranks 4,435th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, an educated workforce, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Manchester Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $443,734. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $94,260 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Manchester Center safe?
Yes, Manchester Center is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $280 per resident a year.
Compare Manchester Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Manchester Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Manchester Center 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.
Manchester Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Manchester Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Manchester Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Manchester Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Manchester Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Manchester Center 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.