Also known as: Burlington Metro Authority
Burlington is a middle-income town of 44,675 with home prices 1.4× the Vermont median.
Burlington sits on a bluff above Lake Champlain, which is the kind of geographic fact that sounds pleasant until you realize it also means the wind has a clear run at you for most of the year. It is the largest city in Vermont, which is itself a state that takes a certain quiet pride in not being very large, and it holds a population of 44,675 people in a way that feels, demographically speaking, more like a university town than a conventional New England city — because, in significant measure, it is.
Population and Age
According to the Census ACS 5-Year 2024 estimates, Burlington's total population stands at 44,675, with a median age of 26.8 years. That figure rewards a moment's attention. The median American city skews considerably older; Burlington's median age places it among the youngest mid-sized cities in the northeastern United States. The Census ACS data shows 23,079 residents between the ages of 18 and 34, against 11,237 between 35 and 64, and 4,938 residents under 18, who represent 11.1 percent of the population. The shape of that distribution — a large young-adult cohort, a comparatively modest family-age cohort, a small children's share — is the demographic signature of a city organized substantially around higher education.
Housing and Affordability
The Census ACS 5-Year 2023 data, as calculated from Census median income and home value figures, places Burlington's price-to-income ratio at 6.3 and its rent-to-income percentage at 27.8 percent. By conventional affordability thresholds, the city is classified as expensive. A price-to-income ratio above 5 is generally considered a marker of significant housing cost pressure; at 6.3, Burlington sits well above that line. The rent burden figure of 27.8 percent sits just below the standard 30-percent threshold that housing researchers use to define cost-burdened renters, though it leaves limited margin. These figures reflect a city where housing demand, driven partly by the student and young-professional population, has outpaced the supply of moderately priced units.
Climate
The nearest weather station to Burlington is Burlington International Airport, located 4.2 miles from the city center. According to NOAA ACIS data, the city records an average annual temperature of 48.9 degrees Fahrenheit and annual precipitation of 37.8 inches. Those numbers describe a climate that is, in the technical sense, temperate, though residents who have experienced a Burlington February might use different language.
Air quality, per the EPA AQI Annual Summary for 2024, is notably clean. Of 366 measured days in 2024, 323 were classified as good and 43 as moderate. There were zero days recorded as unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy, or hazardous. The maximum AQI recorded during the year was 84, which falls within the moderate range. For a city of its size and density, that is a favorable profile.
Broadband Infrastructure
According to FCC Broadband Data Collection figures as of June 2025, Burlington has 22,304 total units with broadband availability. Coverage at the 25/3 Mbps threshold, the FCC's basic broadband standard, reaches 100 percent of units. Coverage at 100/20 Mbps and 250/25 Mbps also reaches 100 percent. At the 1,000/100 Mbps tier, coverage extends to 95.3 percent of units. That last figure is the only one that falls short of universal, and 95.3 percent is not a figure most cities would find cause for complaint.
Education
The Census ACS data records a total of 17,691 households in Burlington, of which 6,514 are family households. The city is home to the University of Vermont, which according to NCES IPEDS 2022 data enrolls 11,743 students, charges in-state tuition of $19,058 and out-of-state tuition of $45,502, reports an average SAT score of 1,374, an admission rate of 65.3 percent, and a completion rate of 78.6 percent. The presence of an institution of that enrollment in a city of 44,675 people explains, without requiring further elaboration, the median age of 26.8.
Childcare infrastructure, per state licensing data, includes 20 licensed facilities, among them Burlington Children's Space Inc. at 241 North Winooski Avenue and Burlington Kids at the Sustainability Academy, both operating as center-based programs.
Civic and Community Organizations
The IRS Exempt Organizations BMF identifies the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce as the city's primary business association. Civic service organizations include the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington Inc., located at 62 Oak Street, and the Junior League of the Champlain Valley. The IRS BMF also records 12 religious congregations operating in the city, ranging from the Burlington Monthly Meeting of Friends to Chabad on Campus Vermont Inc., a distribution that reflects both the city's historic New England character and its university population.
Four animal welfare organizations appear in the IRS BMF under NTEE code D: Wild in Vermont Inc., Kensington Kitties, Rescue Me VT, and Queen City Cats Inc. Arts organizations include the Vermont Symphony Orchestra Inc., the Amateur Musicians Orchestra, and the Youth Opera Company of Vermont, alongside the Council for Cooperative Christian Ministry at the University of Vermont.
Attractions
Burlington's immediate vicinity includes 17 documented attractions. Among the closest are the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain and the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum, each located approximately 1.1 miles from the city center. The concentration of cultural and natural-history institutions within walking distance of the downtown core is consistent with Burlington's role as the primary urban destination in a state that does not have many competing urban destinations.
Banking and Financial Services
FDIC branch data records multiple banking institutions operating in Burlington, including Mascoma Bank at its Burlington Old North End branch at 242 North Winooski Avenue, and Northfield Savings Bank at its Burlington branch. The presence of community and regional banks alongside larger institutions reflects the city's mixed economy of university, healthcare, and small-business activity.
Municipal Governance
Burlington operates under a city council structure. The Burlington Municipal Code, maintained at https://library.municode.com/vt/burlington-city-vermont, governs land use, zoning, and municipal services. The zoning framework, like most Vermont municipal codes, operates within the broader context of state enabling legislation, and the code is periodically amended by council ordinance, with amendment history noted in parenthetical annotations following each amended provision.
Racial and Ethnic Composition
Per Census ACS 5-Year 2023 data, Burlington's population of 44,675 includes 38,307 residents identifying as white, 1,665 as Black, 1,655 as Asian, and 1,484 as Hispanic or Latino. The city is less racially diverse than many American cities of comparable size, a pattern common to Vermont as a whole, though the university population introduces a degree of international student presence that the Census categories do not fully capture.
Further Reading
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (https://data.census.gov)
- Federal Communications Commission, Broadband Data Collection
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, AQI Annual Summary 2024
- National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)