The 10 Richest Cities In Vermont For 2023


We analyzed 13 places in Vermont to determine where the 1% live.

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Montpelier, Essex Junction, Vergennes: These cities aren’t just some of the best places to live in Vermont. They are also home to some of the richest people in the Green Mountain State.

Montpelier in particular houses the richest residents in the state thanks, in part, to a median household income of $71,163 and a ridiculously low poverty rate of 4.873737373737374%.

If you’re thinking of moving to one of these towns, you’ll probably need to start saving. The richest places in Vermont share common characteristics such as having a genius level populous, sky high home prices, and a Pleasantville level of married couples.

How did we come up with these mega wealthy cities? We analyzed Census data from the 2017-2021 American Community Survey for the 13 places in Vermont with more than 2,000 people.

For more on how we calculated the top ten, read on or skip to the end for the full list of the richest cities in Vermont.

Rich people not your cup of tea? Feel free to check out some more reading about Vermont:

The 10 Richest Cities In Vermont For 2023

1. Montpelier

Montpelier, VT

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 7,966
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Income: $71,163
Unemployment Rate: 2.0%
Poverty Rate: 4.9%
More on Montpelier: Real Estate | Photos

2. Essex Junction

Essex Junction, VT

Overall SnackAbility

7.5
/10

Population: 10,473
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Income: $79,677
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%
Poverty Rate: 7.6%
More on Essex Junction: Real Estate | Photos

3. Vergennes

Vergennes, VT

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 2,573
Rank Last Year: 4 (Up 1)
Median Income: $65,750
Unemployment Rate: 1.5%
Poverty Rate: 10.3%
More on Vergennes: Real Estate | Photos

4. South Burlington

South Burlington, VT

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 20,042
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 1)
Median Income: $83,750
Unemployment Rate: 4.5%
Poverty Rate: 7.7%
More on South Burlington: Real Estate | Photos

5. Winooski

Winooski, VT

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 8,015
Rank Last Year: 5 (No Change)
Median Income: $61,033
Unemployment Rate: 3.1%
Poverty Rate: 20.6%
More on Winooski: Real Estate | Photos

6. Swanton

Swanton, VT

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 2,356
Rank Last Year: 6 (No Change)
Median Income: $64,091
Unemployment Rate: 7.9%
Poverty Rate: 11.7%
More on Swanton: Real Estate | Photos

7. Newport

Newport, VT

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 4,446
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 1)
Median Income: $52,283
Unemployment Rate: 6.3%
Poverty Rate: 12.1%
More on Newport: Real Estate | Photos

8. Rutland

Rutland, VT

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 15,934
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 1)
Median Income: $51,868
Unemployment Rate: 5.5%
Poverty Rate: 12.2%
More on Rutland: Real Estate | Photos

9. St. Albans

St. Albans, VT

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 6,866
Rank Last Year: 7 (Down 2)
Median Income: $49,063
Unemployment Rate: 4.0%
Poverty Rate: 16.2%
More on St. Albans: Real Estate | Photos

10. Bellows Falls

Bellows Falls, VT

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 2,734
Rank Last Year: 12 (Up 2)
Median Income: $46,806
Unemployment Rate: 3.7%
Poverty Rate: 19.2%
More on Bellows Falls: Real Estate | Photos

Methodology: How We Determined The Richest Places In Vermont For 2023

Map Of The Richest Places To Live In Vermont
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the richest places is to simply identify personal incomes. After all, rich people have really high salaries.

However, we don’t believe that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “richest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:

  • Poverty Level
  • Median Household Income
  • Unemployment Rate

Median household income is the most digestible way to understand how rich a place really is. The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for more people to become rich. If more people are employed, the richer the future looks.

After we collected the data for all 13 places with more than 2,000 people in Vermont, we ranked each place from 1 to 13 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the richest.

We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Rich Score” with the place having the lowest overall Rich Score, Montpelier, crowned the “Richest City In Vermont For 2023”. You can download the data here.

You can learn more about the top ten below or skip to the end to see the rankings for all 13 places.

Summary: The Wealthiest Places In Vermont For 2023

Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the richest places in Vermont, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Vermont.

When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very top of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.

If you’re curious enough, here are the poorest cities in Vermont, according to data:

Poorest: Barre
2nd Poorest: Morrisville
3rd Poorest: Burlington

For more Vermont reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Richest Cities In Vermont

Rank City RichScore Median Income
1 Montpelier 2.0 $71,163
2 Essex Junction 2.67 $79,677
3 Vergennes 3.0 $65,750
4 South Burlington 4.0 $83,750
5 Winooski 6.67 $61,033
6 Swanton 7.67 $64,091
7 Newport 8.33 $52,283
8 Rutland 8.67 $51,868
9 St. Albans 8.67 $49,063
10 Bellows Falls 9.0 $46,806
11 Burlington 9.0 $59,331
12 Morrisville 9.33 $58,203
13 Barre 12.0 $44,298

How Is The Area In ?

Editor’s Note: Data has been updated for 2023. This is our tenth time ranking the richest cities in Vermont.

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.