Best PlacesOrleans County, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Orleans County, 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.
Orleans County ranks 1,878th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Orleans 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.
Orleans County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orleans County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 92% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of counties
Where Orleans County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,312 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Orleans County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orleans County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,404, 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 Orleans County's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 Orleans County
Orleans 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 Orleans County.
Who works in Orleans County, and how
Work in Orleans County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Orleans County
Orleans County has more parkland per resident than 97% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Orleans County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Orleans County growing, and who is moving in?
Orleans County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Burlington, VT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Orleans County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Orleans County, month by month
Orleans County sees roughly 78 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 Orleans County
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 183 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orleans County
Schools across Orleans County average a D+, better than 10% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Rouses Point Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Cumberland Head Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Glover Community SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Country Union Junior High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Northeastern Clinton Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Plattsburgh Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Beekmantown High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Lake Region Union High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orleans County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orleans 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 Orleans County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Orleans County suits
Families
Schools land around the 10th percentile and crime safety beats 97%.
Common questions about living in Orleans County
Is Orleans County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orleans County ranks 1,878th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, tree cover, and heat safety, 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 Orleans County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $227,724. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $70,404 median income, cost of living beats 33% of counties.
Is Orleans County safe?
Yes, Orleans County is safer than 97% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Orleans County?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 28 with lows near 9. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of counties.
Is Orleans County good for families?
Schools beat 10% of counties, crime safety beats 97%, and childcare runs $1,312 a month.
Compare Orleans County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orleans County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orleans 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.
Orleans County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orleans County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orleans County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orleans County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orleans County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orleans 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.