Best PlacesPownal Center, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pownal Center, 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.
Pownal Center ranks 14,930th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pownal 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.
Pownal Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pownal Center ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
Where Pownal Center ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,384 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pownal Center
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pownal Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $67,293, 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 Pownal Center's effective rate of 1.29%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Pownal Center
Pownal 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 Pownal Center.
Who works in Pownal Center, and how
Work in Pownal Center centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Pownal Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pownal Center.
What the weather is like in Pownal Center, month by month
Pownal Center sees roughly 69 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 Pownal Center
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pownal Center
Schools across Pownal Center average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Williamstown ElementaryA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- Hoosick Falls High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Mt Greylock Regional HighA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pownal Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pownal 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 Pownal Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pownal Center
Is Pownal Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pownal Center ranks 14,930th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, good schools, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on childcare costs and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pownal Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $281,355. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $67,293 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Pownal Center safe?
Yes, Pownal Center is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $259 per resident a year.
Compare Pownal Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pownal Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pownal 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.
Pownal Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pownal Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pownal Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pownal Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pownal Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pownal 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.