Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Guilford’s best subject grades are an A− for health, an A+ for civic life, and an A for history; its weakest is a D for cost of living. Only 5 of Vermont’s 172 towns score lower on cost of living. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. Only 1 of the 72 Vermont towns we compare have a higher January low than Guilford. Its National Register listings include Green River Covered Bridge and Christ Church. Guilford has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Guilford beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,432 in 1790, a low of 663 in 1930, 2,120 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1819 and 4 maps from 1891 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 Guilford is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Guilford, 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 Guilford.
Guilford beats the Vermont average on 0 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 27% of Guilford adults have obesity, against 30% in Vermont’s towns and 35% across U.S. towns. 30% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Guilford.
| Guilford | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 30% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 27% | 23% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 30% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 75% | 76% | 79% |
| What stands out | Guilford | VT |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 13% | 10.1% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 7% | 5.7% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 11.2% | 9.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Windham Southeast Unified Union School District #96. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guilford Central SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 143 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VT on state tests and graduation
3.9% of Guilford working residents work locally, below both the Vermont town median (16%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). Since 2013, Guilford has lost 341 jobs, to 251 in 2023. The top destinations are Brattleboro (45%), Vernon (8%) and Greenfield (3%).
| Guilford | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 3.9% | 16% | 8% |
| Work from home | 17% | 15% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Guilford has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. Only 7 of the 72 Vermont towns we compare have a higher July high than Guilford.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 28% of residents (22% statewide). 45% of Guilford adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Guilford has lost 2% of its people since 2020, down to 2,082 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Guilford | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 28% | 22% | 18% |
| Median age | 46.7 years | 43.7 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 45% | 40% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 18% | 19% | 22% |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.7 points. Across Vermont, 50.4% of residents are women.
| Guilford | VT | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.4% | 9.1% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.1% | 8.8% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 11.2% | 10% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.5% | 11.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.5% | 12.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.1% | 12% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.6% | 14.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 17.4% | 13% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.2% | 8.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.4% | 5.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.1% | 26.8% | 26% |
| Some college | 17% | 15.8% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.6% | 8.6% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.2% | 25.2% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 24.6% | 18.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,100, single groups can be off by several points
18 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Fort Dummer State Park, at 119 acres.
| Guilford | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.7% | 14% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sweet Pond State Park | 1.1 mi | 105 |
| 2. Fort Dummer State Park | 0.6 mi | 119 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The typical Guilford home is worth about $361,000, down 8% in a year, 8% below the Vermont typical home.
| Guilford | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 80% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,283 a month | $1,135 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 54% of U.S. communities. Since 2000, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Guilford.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Guilford. Close and well known come first.
27 mi MountainMount Monadnock
29 mi MountainMount Greylock
33 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
31 mi MuseumClark Art Institute
20 mi Ski areaMount Snow119 runs · 1,648 ft vertical
26 mi MuseumMassachusetts Museum of Contemporary ArtMount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mount Greylock: Jstergis, CC BY 3.0 · Quabbin Reservoir: engineerchange, CC BY 2.0 · Clark Art Institute: Daderot, Public domain · Mount Snow: William J Sisti from Morristown, NJ, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art: N-Lange.de, CC BY-SA 3.0
3 within 15 miles of the center of Guilford
About 3 of every 100 Guilford residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Vermont.
Where Guilford’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
6 places in Guilford on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Guilford.
Town in Vermont, United States
Guilford is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The town was named for Francis North, 1st Earl of Guilford. The population was 2,120 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Guilford.
| Town | VT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilford | — | — | D | — | C+ | A− |
| Halifax | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Vernon | — | — | C+ | — | C+ | B+ |
| Brattleboro | #66 | D | C− | D | C+ | A− |
Guilford and Vernon have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Guilford and Vernon report no FBI crime data of their own. Halifax isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Guilford with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
9 notable people were born here, including Charles E. Phelps and John W. Phelps.
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