[Remy11]

I am from the Boston area but went to UVM in the early aughts. I really enjoyed my time at school and couldn’t have asked for a better college experience. I remember I couldn’t wait to leave my small town in Mass and head to Burlington. However, by the end of my four years, I also couldn’t wait to get back to Boston. I think the biggest thing for me was the lack of jobs up in VT. At the time, the only places you could really get a professional job were at IBM, the hospital, and Burton Snowboards.

For what it’s worth, most college friends also moved back down to Boston and some went to NYC. A few did move back up to the Burlington area over the years and seem to enjoy being there to raise their families. I do love Burlington (and VT in general) and if money was no object, it would be the first place I’d buy a second home.

Onionexperience—did you end up making the move?

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Perhaps the critical mass will go that way, but as likely, the poor will exit the state, as has always been the case. Being poor in Vermont can be an ugly thing. I've seen it up close.

So where do the poor people go? Boston?

I could imagine the Vermont winter is no fun if you can't afford heat and good clothes.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

So where do the poor people go? Boston?

I could imagine the Vermont winter is no fun if you can't afford heat and good clothes.

Obviously that varies with the individual. Economic migration generally follows job opportunities. Right now, the Huntsville area of Alabama is seeing a significant growth as auto plants and other industries also migrate here. Homeless populations often have different attractors, such as social services and established encampments.

Years ago, when I moved out of the state, I landed a job in New York State and then a better one in the warmer climate of Birmingham Alabama. I had experienced enough cold weather to last me for years.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

So where do the poor people go? Boston?

I could imagine the Vermont winter is no fun if you can't afford heat and good clothes.

My life experience is that truly poor people don’t move. They lack the means and they’re tied to the state safety net that isn’t all that portable. The top 10% of my high school graduating class mostly moved to high cost of living regions for the job opportunities. The more average people who left town tended to go to Florida, Texas, and the southeast where housing is affordable on a middle class income. I think you’ll find that is typical anywhere in the northeast.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

My life experience is that truly poor people don’t move. They lack the means and they’re tied to the state safety net that isn’t all that portable. The top 10% of my high school graduating class mostly moved to high cost of living regions for the job opportunities. The more average people who left town tended to go to Florida, Texas, and the southeast where housing is affordable on a middle class income. I think you’ll find that is typical anywhere in the northeast.

That is true as well; I saw it most in those where family was close and a support or needing support, and where there were medical issues that made any changes impossible or impractical. Grandma on oxygen isn't likely to move to Colorado, nor is a daughter who is a caregiver. Generational poverty happens all over.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

So where do the poor people go? Boston?

I could imagine the Vermont winter is no fun if you can't afford heat and good clothes.

Trailer parks. There are quite a few. And the ones I have seen are awful.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by sheena12

Trailer parks. There are quite a few. And the ones I have seen are awful.

I can't recall seeing lots of trailer parks in VT. Manufactured homes, some mobile homes, but not trailer parks. Might just be out of sight though.

[atypicalLIer]

Originally Posted by timberline742

I can't recall seeing lots of trailer parks in VT. Manufactured homes, some mobile homes, but not trailer parks. Might just be out of sight though.

I've seen a few clusters of mobile homes, but no large trailer parks like I've seen in FL or NY.

[Remy11]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

So where do the poor people go? Boston?

I could imagine the Vermont winter is no fun if you can't afford heat and good clothes.

Assuming this isn’t a joke because I honestly can’t tell if it is or not, but poor people definitely don’t go to Boston. Boston is outrageously expensive. I’m pretty sure it has surpassed New York City at this point when it comes to real estate and rental prices and is now one of the priciest cities in the US. A lot of people from there originally are actually leaving because it’s become so grossly expensive and unaffordable.

[Beenaroundabit]

Originally Posted by Ann Alison

Great question(s)! Thank you for asking. I created a rant, below, because it's a passionate topic for me. I haven't lived there for most of my life but I will always be a native Vermonter.

This is not directed at you, OP; it's in response to your linked article about the two women who hated Vermont. One was adopted as a girl by a rural family and the other came for two years from Minnesota (!) recently to "change the culture" of Burlington. Here are my impressions:

I was born in, and grew up in Vermont, close to Burlington. I had a total of two Black classmates in 12 years of school before college. (I also had Korean, Hispanic, Indian (from India), etc. classmates.)

One of my Black classmates, a girl, was treated like ... a regular kid. I really liked her; she was a lot of fun. She was best friends with one other (white) girl whose father was a university professor. And after a year she was gone. Her father likely was doing a one-year stint at the university or something like that and she might have had that in common with her best friend. My other Black classmate was a boy who was pretty popular - kind of a partier and fun to be around - and was treated perfectly normally, from what I could see.

My Black classmates might not have had the same (positive, I believe) Vermont experience had they grown up farther from the city. But it's the same all over. Compare rural France or England to their cities. Rural people are different: they're less dependent on others, while having more serious and urgent responsibilities for animals, land, wells, septic, snow removal, etc., that their urban "counterparts" don't comprehend. Therefore, they might have less patience for the agendas and whims of "outsiders." And they don't appreciate anybody coming in and telling them they have to change. What do they have to change? It's unfortunate that a girl rescued from southeast Asia was teased because she was different. I was teased for being puny. Damn.

When I lived in Vermont, Burlington was a nice, small city with a few colleges and a university. Although Whites comprised the vast majority, there was a very diverse minority population from all over the world due to the university and its medical college. In the decades I've been away, the city has changed drastically. For one thing, it has become a haven for people moving drugs from Canada. Coincidentally, there is an observed need for someone to come in from a seriously maladapted location and tell the denizens how to live. I'm sure that was a great success. Perhaps 99.99% of Burlingtonians are busy growing up/striving/working/going to college/raising families, while the rest are busy ... moving drugs. Who, exactly, was her target audience?

Outsiders in any scenario might think they have a different perspective; that's great. Perspective can sleep late, call in sick, spend hours on social media, be bored, lie, cheat, steal. "Woke" doesn't plow the fields or the roads. Do you want food on your table? Don't f*** with us.

To answer your question, OP, I left the state because there were no jobs outside the retail/hospitality industries, none that were hiring even college-educated Vermonters. A lot of people still were being hired and moving in from outside for the great jobs. Worse, it was a terrible job market in terms of the economy/inflation/recession. So, despite having two professional parents and being educated, I had to leave my home state to find work. I intend to return one day. Watch out.

Funny. My experience is almost identical to yours, albeit with only one black classmate instead of two (!). I grew up in Montpelier. It wasn't exactly a "rainbow" of mixed races/ethnicities. Unless you count German and Swiss immigrants mixing with French Canadians . I joined the Marine Corps. after graduating from high school, returned after my four year enlistment was up, and found no jobs. So I left and went to college in a place where I could more effectively support myself while going to school. I still visit family there, but things seem a lot different, and a lot less naturally "small town-like." I say "naturally" because a lot of places seems to be trying hard to be that way, even though they traditionally never were. I get the sense that any community who could build a covered bridge and control the times when the leaves change would do so, just to attract more tourists. It also seems more crowded - though I suspect a lot of people who leave home find that to be the case when they go back, wherever they may be from. My brother has lived in VT all his life and complains bitterly about taxes, but again, that could be said about anywhere if you add 20 years.