Best PlacesWindsor County, VT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Windsor 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.
Windsor County ranks 1,010th 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 Windsor 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 Windsor County
The parts of Windsor 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.
Woodstock
It is quieter, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
White River Junction & Norwich
Fewer homes sit empty and schools score higher.
South Royalton
More households have young kids, though advertised internet is slower.
Bethel
Tree cover is thicker and prices have run up less.
Windsor & Hartland
Biking is better, though local pay stretches less far.
Springfield
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Windsor County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Windsor County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Windsor County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of counties
Where Windsor County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,505 a month, better than only 2% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Windsor County
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Windsor County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,098, 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 Windsor County's effective rate of 1.75%, 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 Windsor County
Windsor 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 Windsor County.
Who works in Windsor County, and how
Work in Windsor County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Windsor County
Windsor County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of counties and more parkland per resident than 89% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Windsor County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Windsor County growing, and who is moving in?
Windsor County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Windham County, VT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Windsor County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Windsor County, month by month
Windsor County sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 24° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 87° | 72° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Windsor County
The nearest airport, Lebanon Municipal, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Windsor County
Schools across Windsor County average a B−, better than 72% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bernice A. Ray SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Marion W. Cross SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Putnam Central SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Frances C. Richmond SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Hartford Memorial Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- White River Valley Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Hanover High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Granville Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Lebanon High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Windsor County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Windsor 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 Windsor County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Windsor County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Windsor County
Is Windsor County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Windsor County ranks 1,010th 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 Windsor County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $320,255. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $83,098 median income, cost of living beats 62% of counties.
Is Windsor County safe?
Yes, Windsor County is safer than 77% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Windsor County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 14. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 11% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Windsor County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Woodstock, White River Junction & Norwich, and South Royalton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Windsor County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Windsor County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Windsor 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.
Windsor County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Windsor County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Windsor County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Windsor County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Windsor County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Windsor 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.