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Burlington, VT
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Burlington profile


Living in Burlington



Burlington is a medium-sized city located in the state of Vermont. With a population of 44,781 people and 11 constituent neighborhoods, Burlington is the largest community in Vermont. Burlington has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

Burlington home prices are not only among the most expensive in Vermont, but Burlington real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Of important note, Burlington is also a city of artists. Burlington has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Burlington’s character.

Also of interest is that Burlington has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 12.76% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

Burlington is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Burlington have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Burlington’s economy is one such example of this.

Burlington, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Burlington is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Burlington area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

If knowledge is power, Burlington is a pretty powerful place. 56.95% of the adults in Burlington have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Burlington in 2018 was $34,054, which is lower middle income relative to Vermont, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $136,216 for a family of four. However, Burlington contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Burlington is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Burlington home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Burlington residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Burlington include Irish, German, English, Italian, and French.

The most common language spoken in Burlington is English. Other important languages spoken here include French and Serbo-Croatian.