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Over 620,000 people help to make Vermont the 49th most populous state in the U.S. Major cities and
towns in the Green Mountain State include Burlington,
Essex, Rutland, Colchester,
South Burlington, Bennington, Brattleboro,
Hartford, Milton, and Barre.
The Green Mountain State prides itself on its agricultural heritage. Vermont is famous for its dairy
industry, claiming milk production of over 2 billion pounds (over 907 million kilograms) annually.
Milk products include milk, cheese, ice cream, butter, yogurt, and other foods. Vermont is also the
top producer of maple syrup in the U.S. Other important crops include apples, potatoes, sweet corn,
eggs, honey, vegetables, Christmas trees, lumber, pulp wood, hay, livestock grains, and green house
nursery products. Important animal products include beef cattle and calves, farm chickens and chicken
eggs, hogs, sheep, goats, turkeys, raising of horses, and aquaculture.
Vermont offers significant mineral wealth in the form of granite, with some of the nation’s largest
quarries located in the state. Other important minerals include limestone, marble, sand and gravel,
slate, and talc.
The largest industry in Vermont is the services industry. Chief among the services are the
community, business, and personal services group, as well as private health care, hotels and ski
resorts, law firms, and repair shops. Other important services include finance, insurance, and real
estate services, as well as wholesale and retail trade. Vermont’s gorgeous landscape attracts many
visitors, giving tourism an important role to the state’s economy.
Valuable manufactures in the Green Mountain State include electronic equipment, food products,
fabricated metal products and machinery, printing and publishing, paper products, machine tools, wood
products, and quarried and finished stone.
In 2005 Vermont had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $32,717. The 1995-2005 average annual
growth rate of PCPI was 4.5 percent. The average annual growth rate for the nation was 4.1 percent.
Vermont boasts a homeownership rate of 74.2 percent and an annual unemployment rate of 3.6 percent.
The median household income in 2005 was $45,686 and the cost of living index was typically lower than
the national average. Vermont levies a sales tax of 6 percent, with some exemptions, and a 9 percent
tax of prepared foods, restaurant meals, and lodging. Vermont’s personal income tax is 9.5 percent in
the highest income bracket.
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