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Cost & Benefits

Most affordable towns in Vermont, 2026

Middlebury is the most affordable ranked town in Vermont. Rent, the regional price level, taxes, and electricity are 22.5% each. Gasoline is 10%. A lower score is more affordable.

Summary

13
Towns ranked in Vermont.
Middlebury
Number 1 in Vermont. Rent is 16.7% of income. National rank 3646.
20.7%
Median rent share among ranked towns in Vermont.
0
Ranked Vermont towns in the national top 100.
Burlington
Least affordable ranked town in Vermont. Rent is 27.8% of income. National rank 5565.

Gasoline

$4.433

per gallon. EIA does not publish a Vermont price. This is the New England (PADD 1A) price for the week of October 12, 2026. At 12,000 miles a year and 25 mpg, that is $2,127.84 a year for every ranked town in Vermont.

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Cost & Benefits. "2026 Most Affordable Towns Index: Vermont." October 16, 2026. https://costandbenefits.com/reports/most-affordable-towns-2026/vermont

https://costandbenefits.com/reports/most-affordable-towns-2026/vermont

Download the Vermont CSV

National index · Press · How we count

Benefits and taxes in Vermont

Top 25

Vermont has 13 ranked towns, so this is the full list.

  1. #1 in Vermont · National #3646

    Middlebury

    Rent share 16.7% · Price level 98.0 · Score 0.489

    Median rent is $1,201 a month and median income is $86,250, so rent is 16.7% of income, under the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Vermont state price level is 98.0 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  2. #2 in Vermont · National #3873

    Shelburne

    Rent share 15.8% · Price level 100.9 · Score 0.509

    Median rent is $1,439 a month and median income is $109,583, so rent is 15.8% of income, under the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Burlington-South Burlington, VT metro price level is 100.9 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  3. #3 in Vermont · National #4104

    Barre

    Rent share 20.0% · Price level 98.0 · Score 0.528

    Median rent is $1,093 a month and median income is $65,625, so rent is 20.0% of income, under the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Vermont state price level is 98.0 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is regional price level and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  4. #4 in Vermont · National #4144

    St. Johnsbury

    Rent share 20.4% · Price level 98.0 · Score 0.532

    Median rent is $912 a month and median income is $53,711, so rent is 20.4% of income, under the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Vermont state price level is 98.0 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  5. #5 in Vermont · National #4160

    Montpelier

    Rent share 19.3% · Price level 98.0 · Score 0.533

    Median rent is $1,302 a month and median income is $81,030, so rent is 19.3% of income, under the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Vermont state price level is 98.0 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  6. #6 in Vermont · National #4209

    Rutland

    Rent share 20.7% · Price level 98.0 · Score 0.538

    Median rent is $995 a month and median income is $57,675, so rent is 20.7% of income, even with the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Vermont state price level is 98.0 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  7. #7 in Vermont · National #4730

    South Burlington

    Rent share 20.1% · Price level 100.9 · Score 0.578

    Median rent is $1,787 a month and median income is $106,667, so rent is 20.1% of income, under the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Burlington-South Burlington, VT metro price level is 100.9 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is rent share and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  8. #8 in Vermont · National #4878

    Essex Junction

    Rent share 20.8% · Price level 100.9 · Score 0.590

    Median rent is $1,544 a month and median income is $89,257, so rent is 20.8% of income, over the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Burlington-South Burlington, VT metro price level is 100.9 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  9. #9 in Vermont · National #5000

    Bennington

    Rent share 24.7% · Price level 98.0 · Score 0.601

    Median rent is $1,115 a month and median income is $54,257, so rent is 24.7% of income, over the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Vermont state price level is 98.0 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is regional price level and its heaviest mark is rent share.

  10. #10 in Vermont · National #5133

    Brattleboro

    Rent share 25.3% · Price level 98.0 · Score 0.617

    Median rent is $1,113 a month and median income is $52,734, so rent is 25.3% of income, over the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Vermont state price level is 98.0 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is regional price level and its heaviest mark is rent share.

  11. #11 in Vermont · National #5257

    St. Albans

    Rent share 23.8% · Price level 100.9 · Score 0.632

    Median rent is $1,150 a month and median income is $57,980, so rent is 23.8% of income, over the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Burlington-South Burlington, VT metro price level is 100.9 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is electricity price.

  12. #12 in Vermont · National #5388

    Winooski

    Rent share 24.8% · Price level 100.9 · Score 0.650

    Median rent is $1,643 a month and median income is $79,522, so rent is 24.8% of income, over the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Burlington-South Burlington, VT metro price level is 100.9 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is rent share.

  13. #13 in Vermont · National #5565

    Burlington

    Rent share 27.8% · Price level 100.9 · Score 0.678

    Median rent is $1,649 a month and median income is $71,109, so rent is 27.8% of income, over the 20.7% median for ranked towns in Vermont. The Burlington-South Burlington, VT metro price level is 100.9 (U.S. = 100). Residential electricity is 23.75 cents per kWh. Gasoline is $4.433 a gallon (New England (PADD 1A)). Among ranked U.S. towns, its lightest mark is tax burden and its heaviest mark is rent share.

Least affordable 10

Every ranked town in Vermont is already in the list above.

The formula

A lower score is more affordable. Rent share, the regional price level, taxes, and electricity each count 22.5%. Gasoline counts 10%. Those weights are our choice. Gasoline stays at 10% because the miles figure is one national standard, not a measured town commute. This is not a government standard.

A percentile is the share of ranked towns with a strictly lower number, divided by the number of ranked towns minus one. The lowest number scores 0. Tied numbers share a percentile.

  1. Rent share = (median monthly rent × 12) / median household income. Both figures are the Census 2020–2024 medians for that place.
  2. RPP-adjusted cost is the BEA 2024 all-items regional price parity. A basket priced at 100 for the U.S. average costs this many dollars in the town's area. We use the metro index when the county is in a metro BEA publishes. Otherwise we use the state index and say so. This index includes housing, so housing also shows up in the rent share.
  3. Tax burden is the average of three percentiles. Income-tax share is state income tax plus the stored 2023 local AGI add-on, divided by the town's median household income, on a joint return. Property share is the state's median effective property-tax rate times the town's median home value, divided by income. Sales rate is the combined state and average local sales-tax rate. We do not turn the sales rate into dollars, because that would require a shopping basket we do not have.
  4. Electricity is the state residential price in cents per kilowatt-hour. Every town in a state shares it. We do not guess how many kilowatt-hours a home uses.
  5. Gasoline is the EIA retail price for all grades and all formulations, in dollars per gallon. Where EIA publishes a state series, we use that state. Every other state uses the PADD region EIA assigns to it. Census does not publish commuting miles for these towns, so annual gas spend is 12,000 miles a year divided by 25 miles per gallon, times the price. That is 480 gallons, the same for every town. Those miles are our standard, not an ACS figure and not a government mileage rule. Because the gallons do not change, the gas percentile is the percentile of the price.

    Weekly prices are for the week of October 12, 2026, from the EIA workbook released October 14, 2026. File: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/xls/pswrgvwall.xls. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Oregon use West Coast (PADD 5) Except California. That series is not in the weekly workbook, so those five use the monthly price dated September 15, 2026. File: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_a_epm0_pte_dpgal_m.htm.

    • State series, week of October 12, 2026: California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington.
    • Central Atlantic (PADD 1B), week of October 12, 2026: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
    • Gulf Coast (PADD 3), week of October 12, 2026: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico.
    • Lower Atlantic (PADD 1C), week of October 12, 2026: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia.
    • Midwest (PADD 2), week of October 12, 2026: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin.
    • New England (PADD 1A), week of October 12, 2026: Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.
    • Rocky Mountain (PADD 4), week of October 12, 2026: Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming.
    • West Coast (PADD 5) Except California, September 15, 2026: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon.

Score = 0.225 × rent percentile + 0.225 × price-level percentile + 0.225 × tax score + 0.225 × electricity percentile + 0.10 × gasoline percentile. Rank 1 is the lowest score. If scores tie, the lower rent share wins, then the lower price level, then the place slug in A-to-Z order.

Questions

What is the most affordable town in Vermont in this index?

Middlebury is number 1 of 13 ranked towns in Vermont. Median rent is 16.7% of median income. Its national rank is 3646.

How many towns in Vermont were ranked?

13 towns in Vermont have at least 5,000 people and published Census rent, income, and home value. Places missing one of those figures are left out.

Does this ranking approve benefits in Vermont?

No. Cost & Benefits does not approve or deny benefits. The score is a cost comparison only.