How much would someone have to make to live comfortably in Vermont?

Submitted by AggressiveWallflower t3_zcxo37 in vermont

Hello all,

I hope this question hasn't been asked before.

I am trying to figure out where I would like to settle down and Vernont ticks all my boxes. I'm currently living in Colorado, a HCOL state. I would say my husband and I make roughly $55,000 after taxes together and we are scrapping by okay. I will be starting a new job in January and we should be making around $80,000 then. So we are not high earners.

I've seen some houses in rural areas of Vermont for under $100,000. Which sounds attainable for us. However, I have heard that income tax, utilities, and property taxes are quite high in VT.

So my question is: How much do those of you with modest houses make to live comfortably? Also, what would you say contributes the most to the HCOL?

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czo79 t1_iyzje8v wrote

You will have a hard time finding even a run down older mobile home for under 100k in most of the state and you will both likely take a significant pay cut moving here. We have a fairly high cost of living, especially housing, and fairly low wages.

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Reptilegoddess t1_iz00ub3 wrote

I know. When we were looking in our part of the state, there were trailers selling for almost 200k. I wouldn't think anything below 100k is livable. Probably needs a lot of work.

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Mallard_a4_Thoth t1_iz03a8g wrote

Yeah, most of the under $100k houses are one step above condemned. I've even seen some listings that are for "as is" houses, and the previous owner was a garbage hoarder. Whole house is full of trash bags that you're on the hook for disposing of, hence the "as is".

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Corey307 t1_iz0r2e0 wrote

Those can actually be good deals if the house itself is still fairly solid. But on a Tyvek suit, respirator, goggles and get to clearing. Or better yet pay a pro 5-10k to do it and disinfect the place. Then tear out any carpet, paint the walls and all that.

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Reptilegoddess t1_iz2wqqi wrote

That's what we had to do to our 130k home. We're from here and it took a lot of work. Well worth it though

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Accomplished_Scar717 t1_iyz0fex wrote

There’s a tremendous housing shortage in Vermont. To me, that’s what is driving the HCOL. If you can actually get a house for $100K, then of course you can live on $80K. I might have expensive tastes, but I would want $80K above the cost of housing.

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Existing-Bat5810 t1_iz033vz wrote

Rural living is more expensive than you’d think… buying firewood ($300-600 a cord), getting your driveway plowed ($60 a pop), and so much more. So even if you’re finding a house for 200k beware of the day to day expenses.

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popquizmf t1_iz097ai wrote

Even more so if it's an old house. We paid 280k for a house in town, on town water/sewer but the house is 200 years old with 200 year old problems. The list of possible repairs is endless and the amount of money it would take is daunting.

For reference, we bought at 2.9% interest and we make about 120k between us. We live in eastern Vermont along the Connecticut river in the upper valley.

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businessrighter t1_iz4gnw1 wrote

$600 a cord for firewood? That's gotta be stacked on the third floor or something right? I've never seen above $300 a cord.

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Deep_Significance496 t1_iz1icct wrote

I’ll be honest I would absolutely not recommend a move to Vermont right now in general and especially on that income.

I say this as a household who nets more than you, has a ton of family in Vermont I could stay with/lean on, connections from growing up here, and is STILL not able to buy a viable home.

I’d recommend looking at upstate NY- possibly very similar in terms of checking those boxes but much more affordable. Additionally since I don’t see it mentioned yet- I’m assuming you’re working remote, and any of those 100k listings you’re seeing beyond likely being completely dilapidated will probably not have reliable internet capacity.

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CodPopular7697 t1_iz2w2xm wrote

Don’t come here. I moved from Colorado and it’s cold and dark. The food is sad. It’s way more expensive.

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Trajikbpm t1_iyz4won wrote

Without kids anything is possible

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Galadrond t1_iz11ps0 wrote

VT doesn’t care about anyone under 43 years old unless they can buy a $500k home for cash with the intent to make it their primary residence. Phil Scott is gentrifying this State at an alarming pace.

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Eagle_Arm t1_iyz5mzp wrote

It's all depends on where you're living. Chittenden County? Unlikely. Moving up north to Berkshire or Montgomery, you could swing that.

Vermont has some major price differences based on location.

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1010lala1010lala t1_iyzpaa5 wrote

I was surprised at how much more food costs around here vs central NY where I moved from.

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Corey307 t1_iz0qnrb wrote

Anything under $100,000 is going to be a trailer on next to no land or a teardown. Vermont has the oldest housing stock in the country and even if you find something that looks like a good deal it’s probably way off grid. Dealing with septic tanks, inground propane tanks, a well and maybe even satellite Internet because you can’t get anything else can get annoying when things go wrong.

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Southern-Ad-7168 t1_iyzb3v7 wrote

I would not want to earn less than 100k for a childless household in Chittenden county. With kids, considerably more. As with most things lifestyle wise, ymmv.

We pay a lot for the privilege of living in VT. It is absolutely worth it, but it’s very expensive.

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Chernobyl-Chaz t1_iyzuj3t wrote

I think if you really want to live in a place, you can find a way to make it work, as long as you brace yourself for a potentially bumpy ride at first. You can adapt to anything, especially if your liabilities are minimal.

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whys0brave t1_iz036x2 wrote

I don't believe you'll be able to find a home under 250k and it will still need a lot of work. I recently bought a pretty basic house for 375 and already (4 months) needed to out 75k in (new roof, windows, doors, oil tank removal and propane installation) We each earn about 60k and have no kids. Our mortgage is 2,500 and other bills total about the same amount so our break even requirement for living (for us with our lifestyle and animals) is about 5k a month

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Galadrond t1_iz111v6 wrote

To say that most affordable homes in VT are dilapidated would be a massive understatement. At this rate you’d be better off buying some land with a buddy and build a multi unit home to both live in and rent out the extra units.

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iamkatedog t1_j09nuph wrote

Perhaps where you live. Plenty of houses under $200k in southwest VT.

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OhyouThiccc t1_iz01tqz wrote

Six figures. 80k can work.

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0thell0perrell0 t1_iz07yle wrote

It was doable before covid, not so much now

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yhtomitn64 t1_iz0ff9c wrote

How much crap do you buy?

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mchisto0450 t1_iz830tf wrote

You could afford housing in some counties, but be ready to give up some amenities. Rutland County has some more affordable housing and so does the Springfield VT area. All depends on what hobbies you may have, where you might work, etc. Some people live in Upstate NY and commute to work in VT, NY has very affordable housing just across lake Champlain.

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kswagger t1_iz0ewnn wrote

Wife and I net around 80 and own a house in Franklin County, this house sat on the market for four months, we spent two months mulling it over, but this was at the very onset of Covid and the housing market here is a lot different now. For one, houses in my town are selling for ~160 to 180K more than what we paid for ours, and then interest rates, so becoming a homeowner right now on 80K doesn't sound good, you'd probably need to plan to rent. I have no idea what rents are like in '22 but when we moved here we paid 1600 for a 2 bedroom in Chittenden County and we were fine, had enough to afford a ski pass and budget our lives to pay the bills. Great part about VT is that from, call it late May to (well, this is changing, I'd say based on recent years call it Dec) you can enjoy the outdoors and that doesn't cost anything, until Skiing time of course. As others have said, number one thing to think about is heat source & cost, we have propane but I invested in a pellet stove and use that as my primary heating source, spend about $500-600 to heat the house in Winter, way cheaper than gas.

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Galadrond t1_iz0zbdv wrote

In Windham County in Southern VT you need to be making at least $50,000 a year to scrape by, and that’s assuming you own your own home. If you rent in Windham County then you would probably need to be making at least $75,000 a year to afford to live without a roommate.

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Necessary_Cat_4801 t1_izbn6a5 wrote

Vermont is a high cost, low wage state. Ideally, you come here with a trustfund

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