227,846 people live in Burlington, VT, which places it 207th of the 387 metropolitan areas. People, homes, work, and the shape of the local business landscape, drawn from public data.
Officially the Burlington-South Burlington, VT metropolitan statistical area, it takes in Burlington and South Burlington.
The typical owner-occupied home is valued at $401,000, 21 percent above the national figure. Households here bring in a median of $93,043, 15 percent above the national figure.
Owner-occupied housing 67.6%, 2 points above the US share, which is the figure home-service advertisers should watch. A labor force of 131,585 carries an unemployment rate of 3.2%, 2 points below the US share. Education: 50.2% with a bachelor's or higher, 14 points above the US share. Age first: the median is 38.5, about the same as the national median.
Against the state as a whole, the median income is 15 percent higher than the Vermont figure, the median home value is 27 percent higher than the Vermont figure, and the number of businesses per resident is 6 percent thinner than the Vermont figure; see the Vermont page for the full figures.
There are 6,936 employer businesses in Burlington, VT. That works out to 30.4 businesses per 1,000 residents, 22 percent above the national figure (the national rate is 25 per 1,000). Of those, 365 are home-services contractors (plumbing and HVAC, electrical, roofing, concrete, specialty trades and landscaping), a 5.3% share of the business base, about the same as the US share.
| Trade (NAICS) | Count | Per 100,000 | Index vs US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 8 | 3.5 | 1.04× |
| Self-storage facilities | 10 | 4.4 | 0.65× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 13 | 5.7 | 0.67× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 22 | 9.7 | 0.62× |
| Roofing contractors | 29 | 12.7 | 1.37× |
| General freight trucking | 39 | 17.1 | 0.40× |
| Automobile dealers | 40 | 17.6 | 1.02× |
| Beauty salons | 56 | 24.6 | 0.80× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 84 | 36.9 | 0.74× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 91 | 39.9 | 0.99× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 93 | 40.8 | 1.12× |
| Electrical contractors | 99 | 43.5 | 1.43× |
| General automotive repair | 103 | 45.2 | 1.46× |
| Child day care services | 103 | 45.2 | 1.51× |
| Dentists | 107 | 47 | 0.95× |
| Landscaping services | 111 | 48.7 | 1.13× |
| Physicians' offices | 114 | 50 | 0.63× |
| Personal care services (all) | 118 | 51.8 | 0.89× |
| Legal services | 122 | 53.5 | 0.81× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 411 | 180.4 | 0.80× |
Index: local share of all establishments divided by the US share; above 1 means the trade is more common here than nationally.
Burlington, VT is dense with child day care services, general automotive repair, electrical contractors and roofing contractors compared with the US pattern. Child day care services lead at 103 establishments, 1.5 times the US share. Fewer than the national pattern would suggest: general freight trucking, specialty trade contractors, physicians' offices and self-storage operators. With 39 locations, general freight trucking sit at about 40% of the national share. Close to the national mix: plumbing and HVAC contractors, landscaping services and road and paving contractors.
By raw count the largest categories here are restaurants (411), legal services (122) and personal care services (118). Per 100,000 residents: restaurants 180.4, followed by legal services and personal care services. Across the groups, automotive businesses run 1.3 times the US share and trucking, storage, real estate and road construction about 60% of.
For child day care services, general automotive repair and electrical contractors, expect the Google Ads auction to be contested: more advertisers per search means higher cost per click and a real premium on ad relevance, landing-page quality and call tracking that proves which keywords produce jobs. A business in general freight trucking, specialty trade contractors and physicians' offices enters a lightly contested auction. That is the time to build organic visibility and a review base before the category fills in. Household income 15 percent above the national figure supports higher ticket sizes, which is why premium positioning and financing offers tend to work in this market. The population is younger than the national median (about the same as the national median), which raises the value of Instagram, streaming and AI-answer visibility next to search.
Services for a business advertising in Burlington, VT, picked from the full list.
Measurement that ties spend to phone calls and form fills.
An answering service that books and qualifies rather than sending callers to voicemail.
Paid search that shows up when someone in Burlington, VT is ready to call, not just browsing.
Management of the Google listing that decides the map pack.
Search optimization aimed at the local queries that produce calls.
A website that loads fast, states the offer and gets the visitor to the phone.
Burlington, VT has 227,846 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 207th of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Burlington, VT is $93,043 (ACS 2024 5-year), above the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 6,936 employer establishments in Burlington, VT (County Business Patterns 2023), or 30.4 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Burlington, VT is $401,000, and 67.6% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), child day care services, general automotive repair and electrical contractors have more establishments per resident than the US average; general freight trucking, specialty trade contractors and physicians' offices have fewer in Burlington, VT.
One conversation about your trade, your area and your goals; then a written plan.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.