People may have flocked to Vermont during the COVID-19 pandemic. But those days are gone, new U.S. Census estimates show.
Vermont posted the largest population decline by percentage in the country last year, losing more than 1,800 residents.
The drop is only due partly to its aging population. For the second consecutive year, more people moved away from Vermont than relocated to the state. Vermont lost more than 700 residents this way during the 12-month period that ended June 2025, after losing more than 550 residents during the previous year.
The figures show that Vermont has failed to move the needle on its demographic challenge, retired University of Vermont economist Art Woolf said.
“It doesn’t surprise me that Vermont’s population did not grow,” Woolf said. “It surprises me that we were that bad.”
The migration estimates are a worrisome sign for the Vermont economy. Because more residents die each year than are born — Vermont recorded the fewest births of any state last year — the state must woo new residents from other states or overseas to buoy its population.
Yet Vermont is not maintaining the modest gains it made during the pandemic, when the Census Bureau estimates that it netted some 6,700 new residents from other states.
Migration from other countries was also weak last year. The state gained just over 600 residents from abroad — roughly half as many as other recent years.
That dip mirrored what was a historic drop nationwide, according to the Census Bureau, as the Trump administration has imposed restrictive immigration policies and ratcheted up deportations.
Still, Vermont was one of just five states to lose residents in 2025, along with West Virginia, New Mexico, Hawaii and California. The decline in Vermont, while small, was the largest as a proportion of its population, which is 644,600.
The other four with declining populations are contending with either aging populations or losses due to migration. Vermont is the only state to post a deficit in both, noted Kevin Chu, executive director of the Vermont Futures Project, a business-aligned group that advocates for pro-growth policies.
Chu contends that cheaper housing will help improve migration numbers over time, which would ease the workforce shortage and boost the state’s tax base.
“The affordability challenges of Vermont will be exacerbated if we continue on this trend,” he said.
