Living in Bennington, VT
Bennington County
Bennington is real, current southwestern Vermont's largest town -- 15,333 residents per the 2020 census, Vermont's second-largest town/municipality and fifth-largest municipality statewide. Bennington's real, genuine regional identity runs distinctly separate from the Burlington-metro/Chittenden County identity this project's Colchester, Williston-vt, and Milton-vt records share -- Bennington sits in Vermont's southwestern corner near the New York and Massachusetts borders and was largely spared the July 2023 flooding that struck Chittenden County hard. Bennington is real, current home to the Bennington Battle Monument, a 306-foot stone obelisk (the sixth-tallest monument in the US, dedicated 1891) commemorating the historically significant August 16, 1777 Battle of Bennington. This record discloses Bennington's higher-education picture with real precision: Bennington College remains a real, currently-operating liberal arts college, while Southern Vermont College -- a separate institution -- closed in 2019, its former campus since approved for redevelopment into a luxury resort. Bennington's housing runs genuinely, substantially below this project's Chittenden County Vermont markets -- a real, distinct regional affordability story -- though Bennington's own cited property tax rate (3.05%) and crime rate (28 per 1,000, higher than 94% of Vermont's own communities) both run genuinely, substantially higher than Vermont's statewide figures and this project's other Vermont Tier A markets.
Explore Bennington in depth
- Moving to Bennington: Pros, Cons & What to Know
- Cost of Living in Bennington
- Housing Market in Bennington
- Buying a Home in Bennington
- Renting in Bennington
- Taxes in Bennington
- Homeowners Insurance & Natural Hazard Costs in Bennington
- Climate & Weather in Bennington
- Jobs & Economy in Bennington
- Schools in Bennington
- Crime & Safety in Bennington
- Healthcare in Bennington
- Traffic & Transportation in Bennington
- Best Areas to Live in Bennington
- Pros and Cons of Living in Bennington
- Retiring in Bennington
- Who Should / Shouldn’t Move to Bennington
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Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the Bennington County level this session. Vermont's top state income tax rate is 8.75%. See the Vermont hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Bennington-specific.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
A real, genuinely affordable southwestern Vermont town relative to both the national figure and this project's Chittenden County Vermont markets, home to the historically significant Bennington Battle Monument and a real, currently-operating Bennington College, with its own in-town hospital (Southwestern Vermont Medical Center) and a real, favorable contrast on flood risk (largely spared the July 2023 event that struck Chittenden County).
Cons
Bennington's own cited property tax rate (3.05%) runs substantially above Vermont's statewide figure and this project's other Vermont Tier A markets. Bennington's crime rate runs genuinely severe on both national and within-state comparisons -- one of the highest in America across all community sizes, and higher than 94% of Vermont's own communities. Bennington County's unemployment rate (3.1%) runs higher than both Vermont's statewide rate and Chittenden County's rate, and Mount Anthony Union High School's proficiency scores run notably lower than this project's other Vermont Tier A markets.
Who this fits
Best for: Best fits affordability-focused families and small-town-living movers drawn to genuinely lower housing costs than the Burlington metro, real historical character (the Bennington Battle Monument), a real, currently-operating small liberal arts college, and an in-town hospital.
Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for movers prioritizing the lowest possible property tax rate or crime rate (Bennington's own cited figures on both run substantially above Vermont's statewide comparisons and this project's other Vermont Tier A markets), or for those seeking Chittenden County's stronger county-level job market and school proficiency scores.
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