Best PlacesWindham County, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Windham County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Windham County ranks 1,386th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Windham 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.
The best areas in Windham County
The parts of Windham County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Putney
Fewer homes sit empty, crime runs lower, and incomes run higher.
Vernon
Streets are more walkable, though it is noisier.
Bellows Falls
Schools score higher, though prices have run up more.
Brattleboro
Scores close to Bellows Falls, except that tree cover is thicker here.
Scores across Windham County run from about the 13th to the 72nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Windham County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Windham County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
Where Windham County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,392 a month, better than only 4% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Windham County
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Windham County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,498, 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 Windham County's effective rate of 1.69%, 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 Windham County
Windham 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 Windham County.
Who works in Windham County, and how
Work in Windham County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Windham County
Windham County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Windham County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Windham County growing, and who is moving in?
Windham County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Cheshire County, NH.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Windham County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Windham County, month by month
Windham County sees roughly 64 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 Windham County
The nearest airport, Rutland/Southern Vermont Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Windham County
Schools across Windham County average a C+, better than 54% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hoosick Falls Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Dover Elementary SchoolA− · 62% proficient
- North Walpole SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Walpole Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Brattleboro Area Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Vilas Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Hoosick Falls High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Cambridge Junior-senior High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Salem High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Windham County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Windham 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 Windham County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Windham County suits
Families
Schools land around the 54th percentile and crime safety beats 66%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 19% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Windham County
Is Windham County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Windham County ranks 1,386th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, an educated workforce, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Windham County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $286,598. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $72,498 median income, cost of living beats 28% of counties.
Is Windham County safe?
Yes, Windham County is safer than 66% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Windham County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 15. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 11% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Windham County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Putney, Vernon, and Bellows Falls. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Windham County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Windham County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Windham 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.
Windham County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Windham County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Windham County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Windham County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Windham County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Windham 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.