Best PlacesWaterbury, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waterbury, 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.
Waterbury ranks 12,565th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waterbury
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.
Waterbury's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waterbury ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Waterbury ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,466 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waterbury
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waterbury home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,886, 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 Waterbury's effective rate of 1.46%, 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 Waterbury
Waterbury's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Waterbury.
Who works in Waterbury, and how
Work in Waterbury centers on health care & social and professional & technical. 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 4%
Life in Waterbury
Waterbury has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Waterbury and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waterbury, month by month
Waterbury sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 21° | 12° |
| April | 55° | 42° | 31° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 57° |
| October | 61° | 49° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Waterbury
The nearest airport, Patrick Leahy Burlington International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 163 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waterbury
Schools across Waterbury average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Smilie Memorial Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Lake View CampusA− · 60% proficient
- Brookside Primary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crossett Brook Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Peru High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Moriah Junior-senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Woodsville High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waterbury school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waterbury 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 Waterbury against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waterbury
Is Waterbury a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waterbury ranks 12,565th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, transit, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waterbury expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $390,074. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $97,886 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Waterbury safe?
Waterbury is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Waterbury with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waterbury. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waterbury 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.
Waterbury detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waterbury: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waterbury: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waterbury: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waterbury: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waterbury 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.