The State of Housing
in Vermont

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Introduction

Vermont has the second-oldest median age in the country, the second-smallest population of any state, and a housing crisis that is the most visible-per-capita in New England. When a state has 645,000 residents and is short roughly 30,000 to 40,000 housing units, every empty home, every camp, every barn-turned-Airbnb is a statistically meaningful slice of the supply.

The Vermont story is not the Colorado story translated east, even though the surface symptoms rhyme: resort towns priced out of their own workforce, college towns where students compete with year-round renters, second homes occupied two weeks a year. Vermont's housing crisis has its own shape, driven by an assessment system organized around towns rather than counties, a property-tax framework that explicitly splits "homestead" from "nonhomestead" use, a housing stock that is the second-oldest in the nation, and a development-review statute (Act 250) that is simultaneously revered and reviled.

This report consolidates research across Vermont's ski towns, its largest city, its college towns, and its rural Northeast Kingdom. Every statistic links to a federal dataset, state agency report, or local news source. The goal is the same as the Colorado report that preceded it: present the reality of housing in Vermont with the rigor it deserves, so that the people affected - and the people in a position to help - can see the full picture.

The data speaks for itself.

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Vermont: The Big Picture

Before examining individual towns and counties, the statewide numbers frame the scale of the problem.

Statewide Housing Supply

Wages vs. Housing Costs

Cost-Burdened Renters

Two trusted sources count Vermont's renter households slightly differently, and both belong in the picture. NLIHC's Out of Reach 2025 reports 71,479 renter households as the base for its housing-wage math. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2019-2023 5-year, Table B25003) counts 73,304 renter-occupied households. The difference is vintage and method - NLIHC's model-year estimate versus the ACS direct count of occupied units - not a contradiction; the two land within about 1,800 households of each other. An earlier version of this report carried a single "~78,000" figure that matched neither source, so both verified numbers are shown here. For reference, the most recent ACS 1-year estimate (2024, Table B25003) puts Vermont renter-occupied households at 76,431.

Homelessness

Housing Stock Heating and Age

Recent State Legislative Action

Figures throughout this section reflect federal and state datasets verified through Q1 2026. See Methodology for confidence notes.

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The Ski Towns

Vermont's ski resorts anchor an economy that pulls in winter weekenders from New York City, Boston, Hartford, and Montreal. Killington, Stowe, Stratton, Sugarbush, Mount Snow, and Smugglers' Notch are the marquee names. What they share with Colorado's ski towns is also what makes their housing crisis legible: the workers who run the lifts, cook the breakfasts, clean the condos, and patrol the trails increasingly cannot afford to live anywhere near where they work.

Vermont's resort towns differ from Colorado's in three important ways. First, they are smaller. Killington town has a year-round population under 900. Second, the assessment unit is the town, not the county, so housing data is reported at the town level and rolls up unevenly. Third, ownership concentration is different - Vail Resorts owns Stowe, Mount Snow, and Okemo; Alterra owns Stratton and Sugarbush; Powdr owns Killington/Pico - and the corporate-housing strategies differ by parent.

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Killington (Rutland County)

Resort: Killington Resort + Pico Mountain (Powdr Corp) Town Population (2023 est.): 858 - Census QuickFacts Killington town Rutland County Population (2023 est.): 60,572 - Census QuickFacts Rutland County Killington town housing units: ~3,200 with year-round occupancy below 25% - Census ACS 2019-2023, Table DP04 Killington town Median Home Price (Killington town, Q1 2026): ~$675,000 - Killington Pico Realty market reports

Killington is the largest ski area in the eastern United States by skiable acreage. The town that bears its name has roughly four housing units for every year-round resident - the highest ratio in the state - because the housing stock is dominated by ski condos and short-term rentals.

Rent Data

• Cumulative FY2020-FY2026: +28.8% ($976 to $1,257) - HUD's FY2026 rebase lowered the Rutland County FMR after several years of double-digit increases
• In Killington proper, market-rate 1BR/seasonal: $1,800-$2,500/month in winter; sub-$1,200 in shoulder season - Killington Pico Realty
• The Rutland County FMR is the metric HUD uses for vouchers; actual Killington-town market rents run substantially higher because of resort proximity.

Wages vs. Housing

Vacancy, Second Homes, and Short-Term Rentals

Workforce Housing Initiatives

• Powdr and Killington Resort own and operate seasonal employee housing along Killington Road; capacity is in the low hundreds against a winter staffing footprint of 1,400+ - Killington Resort jobs page
• Killington town has discussed a workforce-housing impact assessment but, as of early 2026, has not implemented a vacancy tax or hard STR cap
• The Rutland Regional Planning Commission tracks year-round housing supply across the surrounding Rutland-Mendon-Bridgewater corridor - Rutland Regional Planning Commission

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Stowe (Lamoille County)

Resort: Stowe Mountain Resort (Vail Resorts) + Smugglers' Notch Resort (independent) Stowe town Population (2023 est.): 5,355 - Census QuickFacts Stowe town Lamoille County Population (2023 est.): 26,123 - Census QuickFacts Lamoille County Total housing units (Stowe town): ~5,100 | Year-round occupancy ~60% - Census ACS 2019-2023, Table DP04 Stowe town Median Home Price (Stowe town, 2025): ~$1.1M - Stowe Reporter real-estate transfers

Stowe is the most expensive ski-town zip code in Vermont. Vail Resorts acquired Stowe Mountain Resort from AIG in 2017 and folded it into the Epic Pass. Smugglers' Notch sits across the mountain and historically has been more family-oriented and lower-priced - but is now nearly as squeezed.

Rent Data

• Cumulative FY2020-FY2026: +17.4% ($1,089 to $1,278) - HUD's FY2026 schedule pulled the voucher-level Lamoille FMR sharply down from FY2025; voucher recipients searching at the new $1,278 ceiling face a steeper market-rent gap, not a friendlier one
• Market-rate 2BR in Stowe village (2025): $2,400-$3,200/month - Stowe Reporter
• The gap between voucher-level FMR and actual Stowe market rent is the widest of any Vermont town, and the FY2026 FMR cut widens it further.

Wages vs. Housing

Vacancy and Short-Term Rentals

Workforce Housing Initiatives

• Vail Resorts operates dormitory-style employee housing serving Stowe + Okemo + Mount Snow; net new beds built since 2017 acquisition remain modest relative to scaled-up staffing - Vail Resorts ESG Report
• Smugglers' Notch operates a substantial seasonal employee-housing program in Jeffersonville, Cambridge, and Johnson - one of the larger private-employer workforce-housing footprints in the state - Smugglers' Notch jobs
• The Lamoille Housing Partnership maintains a deed-restricted rental portfolio in Morrisville and Stowe - Lamoille Housing Partnership

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Stratton and Mount Snow (Bennington and Windham Counties)

Resorts: Stratton Mountain Resort (Alterra Mountain Company), Mount Snow (Vail Resorts), Bromley Mountain (independent) Stratton town Population: ~140 year-round residents - Census QuickFacts Stratton town Dover town Population (home of Mount Snow): ~1,200 - Census QuickFacts Dover town Bennington County Population (2023 est.): 37,374 - Census QuickFacts Bennington County Windham County Population (2023 est.): 45,901 - Census QuickFacts Windham County

Southern Vermont's ski-town housing crisis is the closest east-coast analog to Summit County, Colorado. The resorts draw weekenders from New York City and Hartford on Friday afternoons and empty out Sunday evening. Workers commute up to Stratton from Manchester, Arlington, and Bennington - sometimes from over the Massachusetts line.

Rent Data (Bennington County and Windham County, 2BR FMR)

• Bennington cumulative FY2021-FY2026: +24.2% ($986 to $1,225) - HUD FY2026 rebased Bennington downward after several years of double-digit increases
• Windham cumulative FY2021-FY2026: +33.8% ($1,012 to $1,354) - same FY2026 rebase
• Stratton condo seasonal rental (winter 2025-26): $4,000-$8,000/month for 2BR ski-in/ski-out - Stratton Mountain Resort Lodging

Wages vs. Housing

Workforce Notes

• Mount Snow's Snow Lake Lodge has been used for seasonal worker housing during peak season - Mount Snow jobs page
• Stratton operates limited dedicated employee housing; many staff commute from Manchester (15-20 minutes), Arlington (25 minutes), and Bennington (35-40 minutes) - Stratton jobs page
• Vermont Castings (Bethel/Randolph foundry tradition) and the broader southern-Vermont craftsmanship economy add a year-round skilled-trades workforce that competes for the same rental stock - Vermont Castings
• The Wilmington corridor near Mount Snow has the highest STR-to-year-round-housing ratio in southern Vermont - see Wilmington (Windham County) below.

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Woodstock (Windsor County)

Resort: Suicide Six (now "Saskadena Six," operated by Woodstock Inn / Rockefeller properties), plus proximity to Killington Woodstock town Population (2023 est.): 3,032 - Census QuickFacts Woodstock town Windsor County Population (2023 est.): 57,753 - Census QuickFacts Windsor County Median Home Price (Woodstock village, 2025): ~$850,000 - Woodstock village real-estate transfers

Woodstock is the boutique end of Vermont's ski-town economy. The village green is one of the most-photographed in New England. The town's housing dynamics combine ski-resort weekenders (Killington/Saskadena Six), a heavy second-home concentration, and a small but growing remote-work population that arrived during COVID and stayed.

Rent Data

• Cumulative FY2021-FY2026: +29.1% ($1,008 to $1,301) - HUD's FY2026 schedule rebased Windsor County downward from FY2025

Key Workforce Story

• The Woodstock Inn & Resort - the dominant year-round employer in the village - runs a seasonal workforce program but reports recurring difficulty filling housekeeping and food-service positions because workers cannot find housing in Woodstock proper and commute from White River Junction or Rutland - Vermont Standard coverage
• Woodstock village has explored zoning reform to allow more in-village multi-family housing under Act 47 (HOME Act) - Vermont Standard

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Waterbury and Sugarbush (Washington County)

Resorts: Sugarbush Resort (Alterra Mountain Company), Mad River Glen (cooperative), proximity to Stowe and Bolton Valley Waterbury town Population (2023 est.): 5,313 - Census QuickFacts Waterbury town Warren town Population (Sugarbush base): ~1,750 - Census QuickFacts Warren town Washington County Population (2023 est.): 59,807 - Census QuickFacts Washington County

Waterbury is the commercial hub for skiers heading to Stowe, Sugarbush, and Bolton Valley. The Mad River Valley (Warren, Waitsfield, Fayston) is the heart of the Sugarbush + Mad River Glen ski economy and one of Vermont's most-photographed rural valleys.

Rent Data

• Cumulative FY2021-FY2026: +30.3% ($1,089 to $1,419) - small FY2026 downward rebase after several years of double-digit increases

Key Stats

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The Burlington Region

If Vermont's ski towns are the picturesque face of the housing crisis, Chittenden County - anchored by Burlington - is where the crisis affects the most people in absolute numbers. Burlington is Vermont's largest city, the home of the University of Vermont (UVM), the headquarters of much of the state's hospital and tech employment, and the only metropolitan statistical area entirely within Vermont's borders.

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Burlington (Chittenden County)

Burlington Population (2023 est.): 44,743 - Census QuickFacts Burlington city Chittenden County Population (2023 est.): 172,946 - Census QuickFacts Chittenden County Burlington-South Burlington MSA Population: ~225,000 - Census Burlington-South Burlington MSA Median Household Income (Chittenden County, 2023): $88,253 - Census ACS 2019-2023 Chittenden County University of Vermont enrollment (2024-25): ~14,000 - University of Vermont Fact Book

Burlington is the engine of Vermont's housing crisis at scale. The city's rental vacancy rate has hovered near 1-2% for over a decade. Roughly 60% of UVM students live off-campus, which means thousands of students compete every August with year-round workers, hospital staff, and young families for the same rental stock.

Rent Data (Burlington-South Burlington MSA, 2BR FMR)

• Cumulative FY2019-FY2026: +35.3% ($1,431 to $1,936) - the FY2026 voucher-level FMR dropped relative to FY2025, but downtown market-rate 2BRs continued to clear at $2,200-$2,800; the rebase tightens what voucher-holders can compete for, not what landlords are asking
• Market-rate 2BR in downtown Burlington (Q1 2026): $2,200-$2,800/month - Burlington Free Press market coverage
• Burlington MSA FMR remains the highest in Vermont and comparable to mid-sized Massachusetts metros (Pittsfield, Springfield).

Wages vs. Housing

Vacancy and Supply

Burlington-Specific Initiatives

• Burlington 2026 housing zoning reform (NeighborhoodCode) raised allowable density and removed minimum parking requirements across most of the city - Burlington Free Press
• Champlain Housing Trust is one of the largest community land trusts in the U.S. and has ~3,000 permanently affordable rental and ownership units in the region - Champlain Housing Trust
• Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP) has rehabilitated several hundred vacant units in Chittenden County and brought them back to the long-term rental market - Vermont Department of Housing & Community Development

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South Burlington and Suburbs

South Burlington Population (2023 est.): 20,776 - Census QuickFacts South Burlington city Williston Population: ~10,500 - Census QuickFacts Williston town Essex Population: ~22,300 (Essex town + Essex Junction village) - Census QuickFacts Essex town Colchester Population: ~17,500 - Census QuickFacts Colchester town

South Burlington has been the fastest-growing community in Vermont over the past decade. The suburbs around Burlington collectively absorb the housing demand the city itself cannot satisfy, which is creating its own pricing pressure.

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The College Towns

Vermont has one of the highest college-student-per-capita ratios in the country. The University of Vermont (Burlington), Middlebury College, Norwich University (Northfield), Castleton University (Castleton), Saint Michael's College (Colchester), and several smaller institutions inject seasonal rental demand that warps every nearby market.

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Middlebury (Addison County)

Middlebury town Population (2023 est.): 9,193 - Census QuickFacts Middlebury town Addison County Population (2023 est.): 37,294 - Census QuickFacts Addison County Middlebury College enrollment: ~2,800 undergraduate - Middlebury College Fact Book

Middlebury is the most rural college town in New England with a national-tier institution. The college houses nearly all undergraduates on-campus, which partially insulates the town from off-campus rental competition - but faculty, staff, and graduate-fellow demand still pressures a small rental market.

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Montpelier (Washington County)

Montpelier Population (2023 est.): 7,855 - Census QuickFacts Montpelier city Status: Smallest U.S. state capital by population

Montpelier is the smallest state capital in the United States. It has a stable year-round workforce (state government, Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty, healthcare), but the housing crisis there has its own signature: the 2023 Great Flood. Heavy July rains caused catastrophic flooding that destroyed or damaged hundreds of downtown ground-floor apartments and businesses. Many have not returned.

The Flood Aftermath

In July 2023, downtown Montpelier was inundated. Restaurants, bookstores, the Capitol Plaza Hotel, the Savoy Theater, and dozens of apartment buildings flooded to the ceiling on the first floor. The Vermont Disaster Relief Fund, FEMA Individual Assistance, and a state buyout program have processed hundreds of cases. As of early 2026, many ground-floor housing units remain offline. - VTDigger flood-recovery series, Seven Days

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The Northeast Kingdom

The Northeast Kingdom - Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans counties - is Vermont's poorest and most rural region. The housing problem here is not vacation-second-home capture (those dynamics exist but are weaker than in the ski towns). It is housing-stock age, heating-cost burden, and a deindustrialization legacy that left mill towns with surplus housing that no longer matches the workforce.

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St. Johnsbury (Caledonia County)

St. Johnsbury Population (2023 est.): 7,267 - Census QuickFacts St. Johnsbury town Caledonia County Population (2023 est.): 30,127 - Census QuickFacts Caledonia County Median Household Income (Caledonia County, 2023): ~$60,300 - Census ACS 2019-2023 Caledonia County

St. Johnsbury is the commercial hub of the Northeast Kingdom. Its housing stock is genuinely affordable by Chittenden-County standards but ages out the working population: rental units in 100-year-old buildings with outdated heating, lead paint risk, and high winter fuel-oil costs.

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Randolph (Orange County)

Randolph Population (2023 est.): 4,640 - Census QuickFacts Randolph town Orange County Population (2023 est.): 29,422 - Census QuickFacts Orange County Major employers: Vermont Technical College (Randolph Center), Gifford Medical Center

Randolph anchors a rural-workforce corridor straddling Vermont's geographic midline. Vermont Technical College and Gifford Medical Center together employ several hundred year-round workers who compete for a rental stock of only a few hundred units in the immediate town.

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Wilmington (Windham County)

Wilmington Population (2023 est.): 1,876 - Census QuickFacts Wilmington town Proximity: 5 miles from Mount Snow base

Wilmington is the closest year-round commercial center to Mount Snow. The town's housing dynamics overlap heavily with the Mount Snow / Dover discussion above. The Wilmington-Dover-West Dover corridor concentrates one of southern Vermont's densest STR markets.

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Vermont at a Glance

Fair Market Rent and Housing Wages by County

FY2026 figures from HUD FY2026 FMR Schedule. Housing wages from NLIHC Out of Reach 2025 (uses FY2026 FMRs). Hours/week calculated at Vermont state minimum wage of $14.01/hr (2026). Several counties saw FMRs rebase downward in FY2026 after multi-year double-digit increases - voucher reach narrowed even where market rents continued to climb.

Demographics and Renter Households (selected towns and counties)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates. Tables B25003 and DP04.

Key takeaway: Across these 10 Vermont counties, approximately 70,900 renter households compete for an extremely limited supply of year-round rentals, while ~54,500 housing units sit seasonal or otherwise vacant - largely as second homes, ski condos, and short-term rentals. The ratio of seasonal/vacant units to renter households is roughly 0.77:1 - lower than Colorado's mountain counties (2:1), but Vermont's smaller absolute housing stock means even a smaller imbalance hits a higher share of the workforce.

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Six Themes Across the Data

Across Vermont's ski towns, college towns, the Burlington region, and the Northeast Kingdom, six patterns repeat themselves. Some of these mirror what surfaced in Colorado. Others are uniquely Vermont.

1. The Homestead vs. Nonhomestead Divide

Vermont is one of the few states that explicitly splits its property-tax system between "homestead" use (the owner's primary residence) and "nonhomestead" use (second homes, rentals, investment properties). Nonhomestead rates are routinely 30-60% higher than homestead rates in the same town. This is the closest thing in the U.S. to a built-in vacancy disincentive - and yet seasonal-home ownership continues to grow in resort towns. - Vermont Department of Taxes - Homestead Declaration

The data:

• Vermont 2024 statewide homestead education tax rate: ~$1.39/$100 assessed value
• Vermont 2024 statewide nonhomestead education tax rate: ~$1.57/$100 assessed value (delta varies by town's Common Level of Appraisal)
• Resort-town deltas (Killington, Stowe, Stratton): consistently the largest in the state - Vermont Department of Taxes - Property Tax Rates
• In Stowe, the nonhomestead-to-homestead tax differential alone implies a built-in carrying-cost penalty for keeping a unit off the long-term market

2. The Heating-Cost Squeeze

Vermont has the oldest housing stock in the country by some measures, the second-oldest median age in the country, and the highest reliance on fuel oil for home heating. The combination creates a winter cost burden that does not show up in HUD's rent calculation but determines whether a household can actually live in a unit.

The data:

• About 38% of Vermont homes heat primarily with fuel oil - the highest share of any U.S. state. Adding propane and kerosene, the combined non-electric, non-gas heating share approaches 60% - Census ACS 2019-2023, Table B25040
• Average winter heating bill (single-family, oil): ~$3,200 - Vermont Department of Public Service - Fuel Price Reports
• LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program) Vermont enrollment routinely 20,000+ households - Vermont Department for Children and Families - Fuel Assistance
• Adding winter heating to rent in a typical Caledonia County 2BR pushes housing-cost burden over 40% of median renter income even when HUD-defined "rent burden" measures show <30%

3. The Aging-in-Place Demographic Squeeze

Vermont has the second-oldest median age in the country (43.2). A disproportionate share of Vermont's single-family housing is owned by households age 65+, many of whom are equity-rich but income-modest, and many of whom are physically house-stuck. The pipeline of starter homes coming back to market through generational transition is slower than the demographic math implies.

The data:

• Vermont households with all members age 65+: ~28% - Census ACS 2019-2023, Table B11007
• Vermont owner-occupied units where head of household is 65+: ~33% - Census ACS 2019-2023, Table B25007
• Net domestic migration of Vermonters age 65+ has been roughly neutral - they age in place rather than retiring out-of-state - Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development demographic reports

4. The Town-Meeting Zoning Frontier

Vermont's housing-supply legal infrastructure runs through town meeting and town planning commissions. Act 47 (HOME Act, 2023) preempted some of the most restrictive single-family zoning rules and legalized duplexes statewide. Act 250 reform (2024) carved out in-town housing from the most onerous environmental review. But the implementation gap - between what state law allows and what each town's zoning bylaw still says - remains the binding constraint in many communities.

The data:

• Vermont towns that have updated their zoning bylaws to fully comply with Act 47 (as of late 2025): <40% of towns - estimated from Vermont Planners Association tracking
• Number of towns where ADUs are technically legal post-Act 47 but practically blocked by setback / parking / lot-coverage rules: majority - VTDigger Act 47 implementation coverage
• Act 250 carve-out applies to "tier 1A" downtowns and village centers - representing only a small share of Vermont's developable area

5. Out-of-State Migration and the COVID Premium

Vermont gained roughly 15,000 net new residents from out-of-state during 2020-2022 - the largest per-capita migration surge since the 1970s "back-to-the-land" wave. Primary origins: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey. These households arrived with metro-area wages and metro-area savings and bid against locals for a fixed housing stock.

The data:

• Vermont net domestic migration 2020-2022: ~+15,000 - Census State Population Estimates
• Vermont median home price increase 2020-2024: ~+40% statewide; ~+55% in Chittenden County - Vermont Realtors
• Vermont "Think Vermont" relocation incentive program disbursed grants to several thousand new arrivals from 2018-2024 - Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development - Relocation
• Post-2023 net migration has slowed but not reversed

6. The College-Town December Exodus and the August Crunch

Vermont's college-town rental markets follow the academic calendar with unusual sharpness. Burlington's apartment turnover is concentrated in late August (move-in week at UVM, Saint Michael's, Champlain College), and many short-term landlords structure 9-month or 10-month leases to free their units for higher summer rents to tourists and traveling clinicians. The result: a Vermont renter looking for a year-round apartment in Burlington starting January 1 faces nearly zero supply because most of the market just signed September-through-May leases.

The data:

• Burlington-area lease commencements concentrated August-September: ~65% of annual turnover - estimated from Champlain Housing Trust and Burlington Free Press coverage
• UVM off-campus undergraduate population: ~8,400 - University of Vermont Fact Book
• Champlain College off-campus housing share: majority - Champlain College Residential Life
• Saint Michael's College off-campus housing share: growing - Saint Michael's College

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The Hidden Capacity

The data above documents the crisis. But embedded in that crisis is something less obvious: there is housing capacity in Vermont communities that could be unlocked, if the infrastructure existed to connect it safely.

This is not about building 30,000 new units alone (though that is needed too). It is about the rooms, units, and properties that already exist but are not serving the people who need them.

The Vermont Vacancy Paradox in Numbers

Across the ten counties profiled in this report, approximately 54,500 housing units sit seasonal or otherwise vacant while 70,900 renter households compete for a tightening pool of year-round rentals. In Lamoille County (Stowe), roughly one in three housing units is classified seasonal. In Killington town specifically, roughly 70% of housing units are seasonal.

Proof of Concept: VHIP

The Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP) is one of the few state-level programs in the country that explicitly subsidizes the rehabilitation of long-vacant units in exchange for committing them to the long-term rental market for at least five years. Since 2021, VHIP has rehabilitated several hundred previously vacant units across the state.

VHIP demonstrates that a meaningful share of Vermont's "missing rental supply" is not units that need to be built - it is units that exist, have fallen out of code or out of habitability, and need a trusted process to come back online.

The Trust Gap

In Vermont's tight markets, the informal channels people use to find housing - Facebook groups, Craigslist, word of mouth, the bulletin board at the Hannaford in Killington - have no verification, no accountability, and no trust.

• Front Porch Forum, the hyperlocal community-bulletin network used by ~200,000 Vermonters, is one of the primary informal housing-channel platforms in the state - Front Porch Forum
• Vermont Attorney General's office routinely warns about rental-listing scams targeting newcomers and college students - Vermont AG Consumer Protection
• Burlington-area rental scams targeting UVM and Champlain students surge every July-August - Burlington Free Press seasonal coverage
• A typical Killington seasonal-worker arriving in November encounters dozens of Facebook-group housing posts with no verifiable landlord identity, no verifiable address, and no recourse if the listing turns out to be fake

What Workers Are Actually Doing

Without trusted infrastructure, this is what the Vermont housing market looks like on the ground:

• Killington seasonal workers sharing 3-bedroom condos with 6-8 people, paying $700-900/month for a shared room - reported anecdotally across Vermont Standard and Mountain Times coverage
• Burlington nurses with two-year hospital contracts living in extended-stay hotels because nothing else is available - VTDigger coverage
• Mount Snow line cooks driving in nightly from Greenfield, Massachusetts - a 35-mile commute over an unlit two-lane state road - Brattleboro Reformer
• Vermont's motel-shelter program peaked at ~1,800 households nightly during winter 2023-24, including hundreds of employed adults and families - VTDigger motel-shelter series

These are not people who cannot work. These are people who work in communities that depend on their labor. They are sharing rooms, commuting from out-of-state, and rotating through motels because the systems that connect Vermont's housing supply to housing demand are broken.

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Why This Matters

The data across these ten counties paints a clear picture: Vermont's housing crisis is not confined to one region, one income level, or one type of market. It touches resort towns and Burlington alike. It affects renters, would-be homeowners, and elderly Vermonters trying to age in place. It is driving away the teachers, nurses, ski patrollers, restaurant workers, and young professionals Vermont communities depend on.

The numbers point to several conclusions:

The supply problem is real but not the whole story. Vermont is short 30,000-40,000 units. Construction costs have risen sharply since 2020. The state needs roughly 7,000 new homes per year to close the gap by 2029. But the gap is not just unbuilt housing - it is housing that has been absorbed by uses (second-home, short-term-rental, single-occupant aging-in-place) that do not serve the year-round workforce.

Vermont's smallness makes every unit visible. When a state has 340,000 housing units and is short 30,000-40,000, every empty condo at Killington, every flooded apartment in Montpelier, every dormant ADU in Burlington is a statistically meaningful slice of supply. Trust-driven matching has unusually high leverage in a small state.

Trust is a missing piece. In markets this tight, renters face heightened risks: scams, fake listings, unresponsive landlords, lack of transparency about who they will be living with. A bad housing decision is not just an inconvenience - it can be a season-ending event for a seasonal worker, an out-of-state offer for a nurse, an exit from Vermont entirely.

Verification creates value. When housing is scarce, trust becomes the differentiator. Verified listings, verified landlords, verified roommates. These are not nice-to-haves. They are the foundation of a housing market that works for people, not just investors.

The data demands action. Not just from the legislature, the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, and the regional planning commissions - but from the infrastructure people use to find housing. The platforms, the tools, the systems. They need to be built with trust at their core.

That is why Rookd exists. Not as a solution to the housing supply crisis - that requires policy, investment, and construction. But as a trust layer for the housing that does exist. A way to verify that the listing is real, the landlord is legitimate, and the person you are sharing a home with is who they say they are.

Vermont is the East Coast counterpart to Colorado's mountain-town crisis. The mountains are smaller, the houses are older, the towns are more tightly governed by town meeting. But the dynamic is the same: a state where the workers who keep communities running cannot find a place to live. In a market this small and this broken, trust is not optional. It is essential.

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Methodology and Notes

Data Sources

This report draws from five primary categories of data:

1. Federal housing data: HUD Fair Market Rents via the HUD FY2026 FMR Schedule and per-county pages at US Housing Data, plus the HUD 2024 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR)
2. National Low Income Housing Coalition: 2BR housing wages and hours-per-week derivations from NLIHC Out of Reach 2025 - Vermont. ELI-tier shortage, cost-burden, and affordable-units-per-100 figures from NLIHC Gap 2025 and the NLIHC Vermont Housing Profile
3. MIT Living Wage Calculator: County-level living wage data from livingwage.mit.edu
4. U.S. Census Bureau: Population, vacancy rates, housing-unit counts, and tenure data (owner vs. renter) from the 2020 Decennial Census and American Community Survey 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates (Tables B25003, DP04, B25004, B25040, B25064)
5. Vermont state agencies and local reporting: Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA), Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development, Vermont Department of Taxes, Vermont Department of Public Service, and local outlets (VTDigger, Seven Days, Burlington Free Press, Vermont Public, Mountain Times, Rutland Herald, Stowe Reporter, Manchester Journal, Brattleboro Reformer, Vermont Standard)

Provenance and Validation Notes

Live web validation was completed on May 18, 2026 across the HUD FMR schedule, NLIHC Out of Reach 2025, NLIHC Gap 2025, the HUD 2024 AHAR, and journalism corroboration in VTDigger and Vermont Public. The May 18 verification pass replaced a prior draft that relied on cached-knowledge figures; ten of ten FY2026 FMRs, all thirteen NLIHC 2BR housing wages, the headline ELI affordable-units-per-100 statistic, and the Vermont per-capita homelessness rank were corrected to live values. Inline citations throughout point to the verified primary source.

A follow-up pass on June 16, 2026 re-verified the statewide renter-household count and corrected it. The report previously listed a single "~78,000" renter-household figure that matched neither of its underlying sources. That figure was replaced with two live-verified numbers, shown side by side: NLIHC Out of Reach 2025 (71,479 renter households) and Census ACS 2019-2023 Table B25003 (73,304 renter-occupied households), with the 2024 ACS 1-year value (76,431) noted for reference. The same pass re-verified the report's dated journalism citations and corrected two URLs that had drifted - the Vermont Public 2024 homelessness article and the Leo Schiff VTDigger commentary - and removed one citation that did not support the claim it was attached to. No federal figure (FMR, housing wage, FMR-derived hours, cost-burden, or ELI shortage) was changed in the June 16 pass.

Minimum Wage Notes

• Vermont state minimum wage (2026): $14.01/hr - applies statewide; Vermont has no local minimum wage ordinances
• Vermont state minimum wage (2025): $13.67/hr
• Burlington Livable Wage Ordinance: Applies only to city contractors and city-funded positions; does not apply to private employers - City of Burlington Livable Wage
• Where "hours/week at min wage" figures are listed as "Calculated," they use $14.01/hr applied to the most recent FMR using the NLIHC 30%-of-income methodology

FMR Notes

• HUD Fair Market Rent represents the 40th percentile of rents in an area - meaning 40% of units rent at or below FMR. Actual market rents, especially in resort towns and Burlington, are often significantly higher.
• FMR fiscal years begin October 1 of the prior calendar year (e.g., FY2025 FMR applies starting October 1, 2024)
• Vermont counties are individually rated for FMR except where rolled into the Burlington-South Burlington MSA (which combines Chittenden, Franklin, and Grand Isle counties)
• Killington, Stowe, Stratton, Sugarbush, and Mount Snow town-level actual market rents in winter routinely exceed the relevant county FMR by 50-100%

Vacancy Rate Notes

• Vacancy rates throughout this report are drawn primarily from the 2020 Decennial Census and ACS 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates
• In Vermont resort and Northeast Kingdom counties, "vacant" housing splits between seasonal/recreational use (most of the Lamoille, Windham, Bennington, Rutland, and Windsor vacancy total) and longer-term vacancy due to housing-stock condition (a larger share of the Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans vacancy total)
• Vermont's town-level data is the primary unit of analysis for housing in Vermont - county roll-ups can obscure dramatic intra-county variation (e.g., Killington town vs. Rutland city, both in Rutland County)

Town vs. County Notes

• Vermont's assessment, planning, and zoning unit is the town (or city, in the case of Burlington, South Burlington, Montpelier, Rutland City, Barre City, Vergennes, St. Albans, Newport, and Winooski). Counties exist for federal census purposes and a small set of state functions but do not have planning authority.
• Where this report cites a "county" figure, it represents the federal data unit. Where it cites a "town" figure, it is the unit at which Vermont housing policy operates.

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Complete Source Index

Federal Data

State and Regional

Local Government and Resort

News and Reporting

STR Data Platforms

Vermont Castings and Craftsmanship Economy

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This report was researched and compiled by John Cronin, founder of Rookd - a verified housing platform expanding to Vermont. Every statistic in this report includes a named source and verifiable URL. All federal-data figures (HUD FY2026 FMRs, NLIHC Out of Reach 2025, NLIHC Gap 2025, HUD 2024 AHAR, Census ACS 2019-2023 renter-household counts) were live-verified against the primary source - the federal housing data on May 18, 2026 and the statewide renter-household figures on June 16, 2026 - with VTDigger and Vermont Public coverage providing journalism cross-checks. Data covers ten Vermont counties with focused profiles of Killington, Stowe, Stratton, Mount Snow, Woodstock, Sugarbush, Burlington, South Burlington, Middlebury, Montpelier, St. Johnsbury, Randolph, and Wilmington.

Last updated: June 2026