Burlington, VT
Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Burlington ranks 67th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 59th for income. A household earns $89,615 a year while median rent runs $1,631/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 1% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (1st of 300), while rent is the soft spot (243rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 243rd and home prices 237th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Burlington, your take-home is worth about $57,860 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 59th of 300↑19.6%$89,615
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 240th of 300101 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $88,773
- Per-capita income
- $50,352
- Full-time pay
- $48,911
Housing
- Median rent
- 243rd of 300↑31.3%$1,631/mo
- Home value
- 237th of 300↑50.1%$438,100
- Property tax
- $5,880/yr · 1.3%
- Sales tax
- 6.37%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 12th of 3002.4%
- Bachelor's+
- 16th of 30050.9%
- Avg commute
- 65th of 30021.7 min
People
- Population
- 229,550
- Population change
- +4.6%
- Median age
- 39.3 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 7.1%
- Broadband
- 93.8%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 29th of 30037
- Natural-hazard loss
- 41st of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 1st of 30012.1%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 5.8%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — burlington intl ap.
What jobs pay in Burlington
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $242,250
- IT managers
- $162,070
- Pharmacists
- $155,540
- Financial managers
- $134,650
- Software developers
- $126,940
- Lawyers
- $125,190
- General & operations managers
- $98,430
- Civil engineers
- $98,400
- Registered nurses
- $98,330
- Web developers
- $84,550
- Accountants & auditors
- $82,510
- Secondary school teachers
- $80,100
- Elementary school teachers
- $77,030
- Police officers
- $74,400
- Plumbers
- $67,450
- Electricians
- $66,860
- Carpenters
- $62,790
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $62,460
- Waiters & waitresses
- $61,620
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $58,170
- Customer service reps
- $50,160
- Construction laborers
- $49,940
- Janitors
- $41,130
- Retail salespersons
- $37,330
- Cashiers
- $36,880
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Burlington metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Vermont are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Massachusetts2,332
- New York2,204
- New Hampshire642
- New Jersey541
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Burlington
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Burlington metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Burlington metro?
- Median gross rent across the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area is $1,631 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Burlington.
- What is the median household income in the Burlington metro?
- A typical household in the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area earns $89,615 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Burlington expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area runs about 1% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Burlington metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $88,773 (versus its face value of $89,615). CityLedger rates the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Burlington metro?
- The median home value across the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area is $438,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Burlington metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Burlington-South Burlington, VT Metro Area is 2.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).