South Burlington, Vermont

Area Profile

20,756 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for South Burlington, in Chittenden County.

69out of 100
Area Score
Top 21% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 31% of 3,904 published cities66
Growth2311th of 2,973 published cities34
Housing affordabilityTop 47% of 4,223 published cities82
Climate3813th of 4,223 published cities58
Physical resilienceTop 8% of 4,182 published cities93
Access3060th of 4,226 published cities84
Economic stabilityTop 10% of 4,226 published cities78
The quick read

Unemployment is 2.2% and median household income $106,667, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Residential permitting has slowed: 27 units authorized over the past twelve months, 72% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing South Burlington in the top 8% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
20,756
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$106,667
Top 16% nationally
Density
1,263/sq mi
16.4 sq mi of land
Median age
38.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Chittenden County
Vermont
Metro area
Burlington-South Burlington, VT
Nearest major airport
PBG
20 mi · Plattsburgh Intl
Median home value
$443,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 2.2% is lower than 100% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 3.2% over the past year, to 12,290 employed residents.

68% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 96% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$12,797$106,667Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,716$59,566Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.2%Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.4 minBottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher67.6%Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment12,290Bottom 7%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.7%Bottom 23%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-3.2%Bottom 4%June 2026
Labor force12,571Bottom 6%June 2026
Labor force participation72.9%Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$74,360Top 30%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$60,020Top 20%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%June 2026
Unemployment rate2.2%Bottom 1%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/063.21.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 2.2% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024107k84k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $106,667 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Burlington-South Burlington, VT
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons3,550$37,330
Registered Nurses3,150$98,330
General and Operations Managers2,930$98,430
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,770$37,190
Cashiers2,590$36,880
Stockers and Order Fillers2,230$37,780

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 58% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
46.4%
Reading proficiency
58.4%
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
South Burlington High SchoolSouth Burlington School District79311.0
Frederick H. Tuttle Middle SchoolSouth Burlington School District56512.847%67%
Chamberlin SchoolSouth Burlington School District49018.141%51%
Orchard SchoolSouth Burlington School District40211.854%59%
Rick Marcotte Central SchoolSouth Burlington School District37811.845%54%

29.0% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Vermont’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,787 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
20.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,787
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$443,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.16Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate61.6%Bottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4209,673Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$59$1,787Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,509$443,400Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.1%Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2.1%Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
34/ 100
Ranks 2311 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 7% since 2020, reaching 21,713 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
27
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.3
Bottom 37% nationally
Year over year
−72%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202422k20k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20202021202220232024202541966
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+14%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 13°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 37.5 inches, including 87.5 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BURLINGTON INTL AP, 2.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index51.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation37.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall87.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low13°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index37.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing52°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

93 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are earthquake, heat wave and cold wave.

Winter weatherModerate
LightningModerate
Ice stormModerate
EarthquakeElevated
LandslideModerate
Heat waveElevated
HurricaneModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: avalanche, inland flooding, strong wind, tornado, wildfire, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Chittenden County records 1.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.0 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.3 per 100,000 residents in Chittenden County.

Homicide
1.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
18.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
15.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Chittenden County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around South Burlington rather than South Burlington itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 20 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Plattsburgh IntlPBG20 mi11,759 ft
Albany IntlALB121 mi8,500 ft
Manchester Boston RgnlMHT136 mi9,250 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
69
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Other cities in Burlington-South Burlington, VT

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BurlingtonChittenden County44,67566vs South Burlington
Essex JunctionChittenden County10,80365vs South Burlington

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in South Burlington

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0540320,614$105,61669