Skip to main content

PantryPath Research · Rural & Persistent Poverty Atlas

Rural poverty in Vermont

0 persistent-poverty counties

Vermont has 11 nonmetro counties and no counties flagged by USDA ERS for persistent poverty. The state's all-ages poverty rate is 10.3% and child poverty is 10.8%.

0

Persistent-poverty counties

11

Nonmetro counties (RUCC 4–9)

0

Residents in PPCs

14

Total counties

Vermont by county

← Back to national atlas

Toggle between the rural hunger risk score, all-ages poverty, child poverty, the Rural-Urban Continuum Code, and the binary persistent-poverty flag. Hover a county for its ERS typology and ACS poverty rate.

Loading county map…

Lower
Higher

Vermont at a glance

Poverty rate

10.3%

All ages, ACS S1701

Child poverty

10.8%

Under 18

PPC share

0.0%

Of counties in state

Nonmetro share

78.6%

RUCC 4–9

Pantries / 100K

9.45

PantryPath verified

Risk score (mean)

0.24

Composite 0–1

"Pantries / 100K" divides Vermont's 61 verified PantryPath pantries by the state population — a minimum-density indicator, not a saturated census. See methodology.

County-level hotspots

Top five counties across 14 in Vermont.

Highest rural hunger risk

Composite 0–1 score

  1. 1 Essex 0.36
  2. 2 Caledonia 0.35
  3. 3 Orleans 0.34
  4. 4 Orange 0.34
  5. 5 Lamoille 0.29

Highest poverty rate

ACS all-ages

  1. 1 Essex 14.3%
  2. 2 Caledonia 12.6%
  3. 3 Rutland 12.0%
  4. 4 Windham 12.0%
  5. 5 Bennington 11.4%

Persistent-poverty counties

PPCs ranked by current poverty

Vermont has no persistent-poverty counties in the 2025 ERS typology.

Every county in Vermont

All 14 counties with RUCC, typology flags, and ACS poverty data.

County RUCC PPC Flags Poverty Child poverty Population Risk
Addison 6 — — 7.4% 7.0% 37,497 0.22
Bennington 6 — Housing 11.4% 15.7% 37,312 0.23
Caledonia 9 — Housing 12.6% 16.0% 30,425 0.35
Chittenden 3 — Housing 10.4% 8.9% 168,831 0.12
Essex 9 — Pop. loss, Housing 14.3% 17.6% 5,972 0.36
Franklin 3 — Housing 10.1% 10.6% 50,379 0.12
Grand Isle 3 — — 7.6% 8.5% 7,393 0.11
Lamoille 8 — Housing 8.1% 8.0% 26,036 0.29
Orange 9 — — 9.4% 11.5% 29,594 0.34
Orleans 9 — — 10.8% 14.4% 27,492 0.34
Rutland 7 — Pop. loss, Housing 12.0% 11.6% 60,484 0.27
Washington 4 — — 9.4% 10.7% 59,958 0.15
Windham 7 — Housing 12.0% 13.9% 45,913 0.27
Windsor 7 — Housing 8.7% 7.8% 57,968 0.26

Find a food pantry in Vermont

Search Vermont's 61 verified pantries, food banks, and meal programs — filtered by city, open-now status, and service type.

Vermont pantry directory

Vermont SNAP

Income limits, application steps, and EBT card details for residents of persistent-poverty counties and beyond.

Vermont SNAP guide

Emergency food help

National hotlines, 211 referrals, and same-day food options — critical in rural counties where the nearest pantry may be 30+ miles away.

Emergency food

Food deserts atlas

Rural poverty and low food access often overlap. Compare persistent-poverty counties to USDA's low-income / low-access food desert designations.

Vermont food deserts

Methodology

How we combined USDA ERS typology codes, the Rural-Urban Continuum, ACS poverty data, and PantryPath's own pantry directory — plus the risk-score formula.

Full methodology