State of Working Vermont 2024

More than 95 percent of Vermonters have healthcare coverage. Public programs provided coverage to 42 percent of Vermonters in 2023, compared with 37 percent of the U.S. as a whole. Much of that difference was driven by Vermont’s older population: A larger share of Vermonters are eligible for Medicare. Meanwhile, 46 percent—just under 300,000 Vermonters—had private coverage through their employers, with an additional 17,000 purchasing coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace. Many low-income Vermonters with Medicare also had Medicaid coverage, but they are counted only under Medicare in this chart. And many older Vermonters purchased supplemental private plans, but they are not included in the private insurance count. Vermont ranked fifth for coverage among the states, although at least 90 percent of residents have coverage in all but 14 states.

While almost all Vermonters have healthcare coverage, the quality of that coverage varies, and the out-of-pocket costs can still be high. While Medicaid and Dr. Dynasaur provide expansive care with limited out-of-pocket costs for low-income adults and children, seniors on Medicare often purchase a supplemental private plan to pay for care that Medicare does not cover. And Vermonters who get private care through their employers have seen increases in premiums, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs in recent years. After growing more slowly than overall inflation from 2021 to 2023, the cost of medical care grew by more than 6 percent from 2023 to 2024. Insurers for small group and individual plans offered on the ACA exchange will impose increases of 11 percent to 23 percent in 2025.

Vermont’s high housing costs are largely driven by limited supply. New residential housing construction has not kept up with demand in recent years, averaging about 2,200 new units per year since 2019. The Vermont Housing Finance Agency estimates that the state needs nearly 10,000 new units to catch up on the backlog; it will need 3,000 to 5,000 additional units per year between 2025 and 2029 to keep pace with migration to the state, replace aging housing stock, and account for shrinking household size. In addition to limited new construction, other factors are constraining supply. The 2023 floods permanently destroyed 300 units and temporarily damaged 1,300 more. The increasing number of short-term rental properties such as Airbnb or Vrbo units is also contributing to the shortage of permanent units, particularly in certain areas of the state.

Nearly 3,500 Vermonters were identified as homeless in January 2024, one of the highest per capita rates in the country and triple the number before the pandemic. During the pandemic, the state used federal relief funds to house people in motels, which had few guests at that time, and changed the eligibility rules so that more people qualified for assistance. When federal pandemic-related housing aid ended in the spring of 2023, the state returned to pre-Covid eligibility rules. Since then the state has extended shelter programs multiple times for eligible groups. But it put in place additional limits in July 2024, resulting in the eviction of over 1,500 people from shelter in the fall of 2024. A more expansive seasonal shelter program is in effect from December through March.

Wages have not kept up with economic growth over the last two decades. While recent wage growth has made up some ground in the last few years, particularly at the low end of the scale, the preceding years of stagnant wages mean that many Vermonters are still struggling to afford their basic needs.

Vermont’s real household income grew 7.8 percent from 2019 through 2023. While that was the sharpest rise in the country, Vermont still ranked 17th in household income, up from a ranking of 26th in 2019 but still behind most of the other states in the region. For most Vermonters, household income is the sum of the wages earned by members of the household, so this increase may reflect an increase in household size rather than real gains. For wealthier Vermonters, a greater share of income is unearned, from sources such as investments.

Vermont’s average wages have trailed the nation’s for decades, while prices are average. That wage lag is driven by two factors: Wages for many jobs in Vermont are lower than for the same jobs in other states; and very highly paid workers in just a handful of states pull up the national figure. In fact, most states’ wages are lower than the average. But Vermont has one of the biggest gaps between wages and prices. In many states, wages correspond more closely to prices.

For over three years—from July 2021 to July 2024—Vermont had more than two job openings for every person looking for work. Over the same period, the state’s unemployment rate remained under 3.5 percent, among the lowest in the country. At the state level there are no details about the types of jobs available or the levels of pay, information that might help explain why more Vermonters have not rejoined the workforce since the pandemic.

The labor force participation rate for men has been gradually falling for the last 20 years, although it has regained some ground since declining during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the rate for women held relatively steady between 2003 and 2013, before beginning to decline. Women’s participation has similarly recovered since the pandemic, but still not to pre-Great Recession levels. For both men and women, Vermont has typically maintained higher participation rates than the U.S. as a whole. And while Vermont has one of the smallest gender wage gaps in the country, women still earn less than men.

More than 10 percent of Vermonters accessed 3SquaresVT in 2024—about 66,000 people. That share has been consistent since before the pandemic. What has varied is the benefit amount those recipients have gotten each month. During the peak of Covid, 2021 to 2023, the per-person monthly benefit was over $200, peaking at $260 in 2022. In 2024, after federal Covid relief funds ended, it dropped back to just over $150, meaning Vermonters have nearly $650 less per year to cover food costs than they did in 2023. The cost of food has not tracked overall inflation. While inflation was highest in 2021 and 2022, food prices saw much bigger spikes in 2022 and 2023 and little change in 2024.

Over 64 percent of Vermont’s baby boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964—were 65 or older as of 2023, the age at which they become eligible for Medicare. They become eligible for full Social Security benefits at age 66 or 67, depending on their birth year. Labor force participation has been increasing for older Vermonters. At 26 percent in 2023, it was the highest in the country. But that’s much lower than the participation rate for workers under 65.

Vermont’s population has increased by 4,387 since the start of the decade. Deaths outnumbered births, but net positive migration (in-migration minus out-migration), both international and domestic, drove the overall increase. All counties except Rutland and Bennington have added population since 2020, with Grand Isle seeing the biggest percentage increase.

When government aid is accounted for, childhood poverty drops. The Supplemental Poverty Measure accounts for noncash aid; the Official Poverty Rate does not. That decline holds true across the New England states and the U.S. as a whole. In Vermont, childhood poverty was a third lower from 2021 through 2023 when government benefits were counted. State-level refundable tax credits, particularly the Child Tax Credit enacted in 2022, helped lift 3,000 Vermont kids out of poverty during this period.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) provide cash to families, reducing poverty and providing flexibility to meet their differing needs. The state EITC is 38 percent of the federal credit. In 2021 Covid relief increased the federal EITC for filers without children and expanded eligibility, leading to an increase in uptake at the state level too. In 2022, the Vermont Legislature enacted a Child Tax Credit for families with young children. In its second year, the CTC provided $24 million to 20,000 Vermont families, while 32,500 households claimed $26 million from the state EITC.

Vermont is one of 20 states where the minimum wage is indexed to inflation and increases automatically each year. The minimum wage in Vermont was $13.67 in 2024 and increased to $14.01 on January 1, 2025; the tipped minimum wage is half the standard minimum wage. Vermont began indexing in 2007, earlier than many states, and has also raised the wage by more than inflation multiple times since then. However, Vermont still has the lowest minimum wage of any of the New England states except New Hampshire, which matches the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. Vermont’s tipped minimum is higher than all other states’ in the region except Maine.

In 2023, Vermont committed over $100 million annually to expand access to childcare and improve the system for providers and families. The investment increased the subsidies as well as the number of families eligible for them. One challenge has been matching supply to demand. After an abrupt decline during the pandemic, enrollment has been growing again but was not back to 2019 levels by the end of 2023. Total licensed capacity for centers has increased in the state, but providers are struggling to staff programs or meet demand in some areas of the state.

Reach Up provides cash assistance to low-income Vermonters with children based on an estimate of the cost of basic needs and housing. It’s a different—and much lower—standard than the Basic Needs Budget amount in the state’s livable wage report, more a bare minimum than a self-sufficiency standard. For the last 20 years, the state has aimed to provide a maximum benefit that covers half that minimum basic needs amount. But for 15 years, from 2004 to 2019, the state did not update the benefit amount for inflation, continuing to use the 2004 basic needs standard. To address the increasing gap between what families needed and what the program provided, the state began basing grants on the 2008 basic needs amount in 2019, and in 2021 started using the 2019 standard, where it remains. The current maximum benefit for a family of four is $976, which covered 40 percent of basic needs in 2023. The housing allowance is still based on 2001 housing costs, which have risen by 66 percent since then.

More than half of single adults in Vermont, with kids or without, cannot afford to meet their basic needs. Even many two-earner households fall short. Meanwhile, the wealthiest Vermonters have over $1 million left annually after covering their needs.

The state budget reflects our priorities. Healthcare and pre-K-through-12 public education each account for about a third of the total state budget. But the other policies and programs that help make Vermont affordable—like cash assistance, food programs, childcare subsidies, and housing support—together account for only 10 percent. That means reasonable, targeted investments in these areas can make a big, immediate difference to Vermonters struggling to afford their basic needs.

Our laws enshrine the promises we’ve made to each other: that everyone has quality healthcare, housing, dignified work, education, food, social security, and a healthy environment. We have the resources to deliver on these promises and make Vermont a state that is both affordable and equitable for everyone who lives here.