Burlington, Vermont Has a Waiting List for Apartments. Here’s What Happened When Ben & Jerry’s Wasn’t Enough

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Burlington, Vermont is the smallest city in the United States to be a state’s largest city — its population is about 45,000 — and it has a housing market that would be alarming in a city ten times its size. Apartment vacancy rates have run below 1 percent for several years. Residents joke that the only way to get an apartment is to know someone who’s leaving one. And yet Burlington keeps appearing on every livability list published.

Why Burlington Works as a Place to Visit and Struggles as a Place to Live

Burlington’s appeal is genuine and specific. Church Street — the pedestrian marketplace in the heart of downtown — is one of the most authentically pleasant downtown streets in New England. Lake Champlain, two blocks west, provides a waterfront that feels almost European in summer. The University of Vermont and several other colleges give the city intellectual energy and restaurant diversity far beyond what its size would normally support. The Winooski River gorge, the Shelburne Museum, and the ferry to New York State across the lake add richness to even a weekend visit.

The Housing Crisis That’s Not on the Tourism Website

Burlington’s housing shortage has structural roots that are specific to Vermont. The state has some of the most aggressive environmental and zoning regulations in the country — Act 250, Vermont’s landmark land use law, has limited development in ways that have protected the landscape but also constrained housing supply for decades. The result: a city where median home prices have risen to levels that exclude the service workers, teachers, and tradespeople the city needs to function.

The COVID-era remote work migration made this worse. Vermont actively recruited remote workers with a financial incentive program ($10,000 to move to Vermont and work remotely) that successfully attracted higher-earning out-of-state workers into a housing market that was already at capacity. Those workers bid up prices and rents, and the lower-wage workers who were already there were pushed further out — to South Burlington, Williston, Shelburne, and beyond.

What Burlington Actually Offers Visitors

• The ECHO Science Center: On the Lake Champlain waterfront, genuinely excellent natural history and ecology museum
• The Intervale: Working farm community and trail network on the edge of the city, free to walk
• Waterfront Park: Free, gorgeous, and in summer the most pleasant place to spend two hours in northern Vermont
• Shelburne Museum: 7 miles south, one of the most unusual and excellent folk art museums in America — 39 buildings and a steamboat on 45 acres
• Church Street: Real pedestrian life, not manufactured — locals actually shop and eat here

When to Visit Burlington

Fall foliage in Vermont peaks mid-September to mid-October, and Burlington is an excellent base for day trips along Lake Champlain and into the Green Mountains. Summer is the most comfortable season for the waterfront. Winter is real — Burlington averages 80 inches of snow annually and temperatures regularly drop below zero — but the skiing at Stowe and Sugarbush is among the best in the East, and Burlington’s winter calendar is active.

Hotel prices in Burlington can be startling for a city of its size — the combination of limited inventory and strong demand means a decent downtown hotel on a fall weekend runs $200–$280. Book well ahead and consider staying in South Burlington or Shelburne for better rates. Burlington is excellent to visit. The complexity is in trying to live there — and understanding that complexity makes you a better-informed visitor to a community that’s navigating something genuinely difficult.