Honestly, looking at a map of Vermont cities for the first time is a trippy experience if you’re used to the sprawling urban grids of Jersey or California. You’re scanning the paper—or your screen—expecting to see massive clusters of gray pixels representing millions of people. Instead, you get a lot of green. A lot of mountains. And a handful of dots that the state legislature calls "cities," even if some of them feel more like a cozy neighborhood where everyone knows your dog’s name.
Vermont is weird. I mean that in the best way possible. It’s the only state where the "biggest" city, Burlington, has a population that wouldn't even crack the top ten list in most other states. We’re talking about 44,743 people as of the latest 2024 and 2026 estimates. That’s it. That’s the peak. If you’re trying to navigate the Green Mountain State, you have to throw away your standard definition of "urban."
The Ten Cities Club
You’d think a state would have dozens of cities, right? Nope. Vermont only has ten. Just ten. Everything else you see on that map of Vermont cities is technically a town or a village. This isn't just a semantic argument for locals to have over craft IPAs; it’s a legal distinction.
In Vermont, a city is its own sovereign municipality, usually split off from a parent town years ago. They have their own charters and mayors. If you look at the list, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher:
- Burlington: The big fish. It’s the cultural hub on Lake Champlain.
- South Burlington: The younger, suburban sibling that actually has the big airport and the only real "mall" left.
- Rutland: Down in the valley, once the marble capital of the world.
- Barre: The "Granite City." Don't pronounce it like the fitness class; it rhymes with "berry."
- Montpelier: The state capital. It has about 8,000 people and—this is a real fact—no McDonald’s.
- Winooski: The "Onion City." Tiny, dense, and currently the trendiest place to grab a cocktail.
- St. Albans: Way up north near the Canadian border.
- Newport: Sitting pretty on Lake Memphremagog.
- Vergennes: The smallest city in the state, and arguably the smallest in the US by some metrics, with only about 2,500 residents.
- Essex Junction: The newest member of the club, having officially separated from the Town of Essex recently.
It's a tiny list. Vergennes is literally two miles wide. You can walk across the "city" in twenty minutes if you're a fast walker.
Why the Map Looks So Empty (But Isn't)
If you're staring at a map of Vermont cities and wondering where everyone else lives, look at the towns. This is where the confusion starts. Take Essex. It’s a town, not a city (though it surrounds the new city of Essex Junction). Essex has over 22,000 people. That makes it way bigger than almost every "city" on the list except Burlington.
Colchester and Bennington are the same way. They have 17,000+ residents. They’ve got the infrastructure, the schools, and the traffic. But they call themselves towns. Why? Because Vermonters love a Town Meeting. It’s a literal day in March where everyone shows up to a gym or a theater and argues about the budget for a new snowplow. Cities usually ditch that for a city council and a mayor.
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Geography plays a massive role here, too. The Green Mountains run right down the spine of the state like a jagged backbone. This naturally forces the population into the valleys. When you look at the map, you’ll see the "cities" are mostly strung along three main lines: the Champlain Valley in the west, the Winooski River valley in the center, and the Connecticut River valley in the east.
The "Northeast Kingdom"—that top right corner of the map—is basically the wilderness. You’ve got Newport up there, but otherwise, it’s just miles of trees, moose, and people who really, really value their privacy.
The Secret Geometry of Vermont Governance
Most people don't realize that Vermont is almost entirely incorporated. In the West, you have huge stretches of "unorganized territory." Here, every square inch of the map of Vermont cities and towns belongs to someone. Even the "Gores" and "Grants"—tiny slivers of land like Avery's Gore—have a legal status, even if zero people live there.
Actually, five towns in Vermont are considered "inactive." Averill, Ferdinand, Glastenbury, Lewis, and Somerset. They have no functioning government because, well, nobody lives there. If you get lost in the woods in Glastenbury, you aren't in a city. You're in a ghost town that technically still exists on a map.
Navigating the "Metros"
If you're using a map of Vermont cities to plan a move or a trip, don't get fooled by the word "Metropolitan." The Census Bureau calls Burlington-South Burlington a "Metropolitan Statistical Area." To a New Yorker, that sounds like a massive urban sprawl. In reality, it means you might see a few more stoplights and a Target.
South Burlington is where the action is for growth right now. While the rest of the state struggles with a shrinking population, "SoBu" (as some people try to call it, though it hasn't really stuck) is building up. It’s where the high-density housing is going. It's the engine of the state's economy, even if Burlington gets all the postcards.
Real Advice for Using the Map
If you are actually looking at a map of Vermont cities for navigation, here is the ground truth:
- Don't trust the "City" label for services: You might find more amenities in the "Town" of Brattleboro than in the "City" of Vergennes.
- Watch the gaps: Between those dots on the map are "notches" and "gaps." These are mountain passes. In the winter, a ten-mile drive between two cities can take an hour if you're going over a gap like Smugglers' Notch (which actually closes entirely in winter).
- Check the County Seats: Often, the most interesting historical architecture isn't in the biggest city, but the county seat. Places like Middlebury (a town) or St. Johnsbury (a town) feel more like "cities" than the actual cities do.
Vermont’s map is a lesson in scale. It teaches you that "big" is relative. When you’re in a state with only 648,000 people, a city of 7,000 feels like a metropolis. It has a courthouse, a downtown, and maybe even two whole parking garages.
To get the most out of your research, you should pull up a digital map that allows you to toggle between "Incorporated Cities" and "Census Designated Places" (CDPs). CDPs are often what travelers actually mean when they say "city"—places like Stowe or Woodstock. They aren't cities. They aren't even technically towns (they are villages within towns). But they are the heartbeat of Vermont tourism.
If you're planning a trip, try searching for "Vermont Regional Planning Commission maps." These guys produce the most granular data that shows exactly where the city lines end and the wilderness begins. It's the best way to see the real Vermont, beyond the basic highway maps.