Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Calais’ subject grades are an A for health and civic life and an A+ for history; the weakest is a D− for walkability. No town in Vermont scores lower than Calais on walkability. Its National Register listings include Kents Corner Historic District and Old West Church. Calais has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Calais beats most towns.
Old West Church
Census counts: 443 in 1800, a low of 443 in 1800, 1,661 in 2020. The archive holds 9 old photos and papers going back to 1908 and a map from 1940 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Vermont), ordered by how far Calais is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Calais, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Calais.
In Calais, 9.5% of adults have diabetes, against 9.1% in Vermont’s towns and 12% across U.S. towns. This Vermont town does better than the Vermont average on 2 of 31 CDC measures and worse on 1. The share of adults in Calais who sleep under 7 hours: 25%.
| Calais | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 30% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 30% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 27% | 23% |
| What stands out | Calais | VT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults sleeping under 7 hours | 24.7% | 28.6% |
| More adults getting cholesterol checked | 88.4% | 85.9% |
| More adults with high cholesterol | 35.3% | 32.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its one school is below. The Washington Central Unified Union School District #92 runs its public schools. 91 students attend Calais’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calais Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 91 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VT on state tests and graduation
Only 6 of the 72 Vermont towns we compare have a higher typical journey to work than Calais. Most people who work leave Calais to do it: just 5% work in town. In Calais, the middle household income is $101,000, where Vermont’s towns sit at $80,000 and U.S. towns at $80,000. The top destinations are Montpelier (18%), East Montpelier (10%) and Barre (6%).
| Calais | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $101,000 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 5% | 16% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Households in Calais have drawn federal disaster aid in 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2024. On expected storm and flood damage, Calais sits below just over three quarters of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 70% come from inland flooding and 7% from cold waves. 3 flood insurance claims have been paid in the town since 2011.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In July, afternoons reach 78°; in January, nights fall to 6°, and about 126 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest park or preserve is Chickering Bog Natural Area, at 160 acres. In 3 parks and preserves, walkers have 8.0 miles of trail. Calais’ trail network density comes in at 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chickering Bog Natural Area | 0.3 mi | 160 |
| 2. Calais Town Forest | — | 124 |
| 3. East Montpelier Municipal Forest | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Typical home values rose 3.3% in the year to September 2026. For households in Calais, the share who live in a home they own is 92%. Also worth knowing: in Calais, the median rent is $1,408 a month.
| Calais | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 92% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,408 a month | $1,135 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Calais. Close and well known come first.
21 mi MountainMount Mansfield
20 mi Ski areaStowe Mountain Resort144 runs · 2,390 ft vertical
34 mi LakeLake Willoughby
26 mi Ski areaSugarbush Resort142 runs · 2,569 ft vertical
21 mi Ski areaSmugglers' Notch Resort110 runs · 2,533 ft vertical
40 mi Ski areaCannon Mountain104 runs · 2,201 ft verticalMount Mansfield: Original uploader was Calzarette (Joe Calzarette) at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Stowe Mountain Resort: Stevage, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Willoughby: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Sugarbush Resort: Mrtrek1701 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Smugglers' Notch Resort: Jrclark (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cannon Mountain: Mikespenard at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Calais
About 7 of every 100 Calais residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Vermont.
Where Calais’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
6 places in Calais on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Calais.
Town in Vermont, United States
Calais is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,661 at the 2020 census. Calais contains the unincorporated communities of Adamant, East Calais, North Calais, Kents Corner, Maple Corner and Pekin.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Calais.
| Town | VT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calais | — | — | C− | — | B+ | A |
| East Montpelier | #11 | A− | C− | — | B+ | A+ |
| Worcester | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Marshfield | — | — | C | — | B+ | A− |
| Woodbury | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Elmore | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Calais and Marshfield have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Calais, East Montpelier and Marshfield report no FBI crime data of their own. Worcester, Woodbury and Elmore aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Calais with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. That is 4.9 years of the area's median household income ($83,449 across the Barre, VT area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
3 notable people were born here, including George H. Guernsey and Calvin C. Bliss.
