Costs of Living
Quality of life comes with high costs of living
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Overview
In 2006, The Morgan Quitno Press compared states in more than 44 categories and deemed Vermont the nation’s fourth most livable. Yet Vermont’s promise of quality living is shadowed by the state’s rising cost of living and hefty tax burden. Many families are forced to choose which basic needs they will meet, including groceries, housing, utilities and transportation.
- When state and local taxes are combined, Vermonters contend with a tax burden that is consistently among the ten highest in the nation.
- Vermonters place 22nd for income per capita, and the state’s annual wages are ranked 34th in the nation. Notably, a large number of Vermont residents receive income from investments and other non-wage sources.
- Cost of living factors include the price of groceries, housing, utilities and transportation. These costs are aggregated to produce a cost of living index. Nationally, the median index is 100. Vermont’s index is 114.2.
Read more about the quality of life in Vermont in Understanding Vermont or get a copy of the entire publication.