List of counties in Vermont

Last updated

Counties of Vermont
Location State of Vermont
Number14
Populations6,010 (Essex) – 169,481 (Chittenden)
Areas83 square miles (210 km2) (Grand Isle) – 971 square miles (2,510 km2) (Windsor)
Government
Subdivisions
  • Cities, towns, villages, unincorporated communities

There are fourteen counties in the U.S. state of Vermont. These counties together contain 255 political units, or places, including 237 towns, 10 cities, 5 unincorporated areas, and 4 gores. Each county has a county seat, often referred to as a "shire town."

Contents

In 1779, Vermont had two counties. The western side of the state was Bennington County and the eastern was Cumberland County. [1] In 1781, three new counties (including then-called Washington that became part of New Hampshire) were created out of Cumberland County, and the remainder of the county was renamed Windham. Today's Washington County was created in 1810 as Jefferson County; it was renamed Washington in 1814.

Essex County, Orleans County, and Caledonia County are commonly referred to as the Northeast Kingdom .

The FIPS county code is the five-digit Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code which uniquely identifies counties and county equivalents in the United States. The three-digit number is unique to each individual county within a state, but to be unique within the entire United States, it must be prefixed by the state code. This means that, for example, while Addison County, Vermont is 001, Belknap County, New Hampshire and Alachua County, Florida are also 001. To uniquely identify Addison County, Vermont, one must use the state code of 50 plus the county code of 001; therefore, the unique nationwide identifier for Addison County, Vermont is 50001. The links in the column FIPS County Code are to the Census Bureau Info page for that county. [2]

List

County
FIPS code [2] Shire town [3] Est. [3] [4] Origin [5] Etymology [5] Population [6] Area [3] [7] Map
AddisonCounty 001 Middlebury October 18, 1785Part of Rutland County. Joseph Addison (1672–1719), an English politician and writer.37,720770 sq mi
(1,994 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Addison County.svg
BenningtonCounty 003 Bennington,
Manchester 		February 11, 1779One of the original two counties. Benning Wentworth (1696–1770), the colonial governor of New Hampshire (1741–1766).37,183676 sq mi
(1,751 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Bennington County.svg
CaledoniaCounty 005 St. Johnsbury November 5, 1792Part of Orange County.Latin name for Scotland.30,610651 sq mi
(1,686 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Caledonia County.svg
ChittendenCounty 007 Burlington October 22, 1787Part of Addison County. Thomas Chittenden (1730–1797), first governor of Vermont (1791–1797).169,481539 sq mi
(1,396 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Chittenden County.svg
EssexCounty 009 Guildhall November 5, 1792Part of Orange County. Essex, a county in England.6,010665 sq mi
(1,722 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Essex County.svg
FranklinCounty 011 St. Albans (city) November 5, 1792Part of Chittenden County. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), one of the most revered Founding Fathers of the United States.50,994637 sq mi
(1,650 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Franklin County.svg
Grand IsleCounty 013 North Hero November 9, 1802Part of Chittenden County and Franklin County.Largest island in Lake Champlain.7,46783 sq mi
(215 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Grand Isle County.svg
LamoilleCounty 015 Hyde Park (town) October 26, 1835Parts of Chittenden County, Franklin County, Orleans County and Washington County.La Mouette (meaning the seagull), named by French explorer Samuel de Champlain (~1570–1635) but mistranscibed as La Mouelle and eventually corrupted to current spelling.26,060461 sq mi
(1,194 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Lamoille County.svg
OrangeCounty 017 Chelsea February 22, 1781Part of Cumberland County.Prince William (1650–1702) of Orange.29,943689 sq mi
(1,785 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Orange County.svg
OrleansCounty 019 Newport (city) November 5, 1792Part of Chittenden County and Orange County.City of Orléans, France.27,516697 sq mi
(1,805 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Orleans County.svg
RutlandCounty 021 Rutland (city) February 22, 1781Part of Bennington County.Town of Rutland, Massachusetts.60,271932 sq mi
(2,414 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Rutland County.svg
WashingtonCounty 023 Montpelier November 1, 1810Parts of Orange County, Caledonia County, and Chittenden County. Renamed from Jefferson County to Washington County on November 8, 1814 George Washington (1732–1799), first President of the United States (1789–1797).60,142690 sq mi
(1,787 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Washington County.svg
WindhamCounty 025 Newfane February 22, 1779 [a]
(as Cumberland County)
(renamed 1781)		One of the original two counties.Town of Windham, Connecticut.45,966789 sq mi
(2,044 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Windham County.svg
WindsorCounty 027 Woodstock February 22, 1781Part of Cumberland County.Town of Windsor, Connecticut.58,101971 sq mi
(2,515 km2)		 Map of Vermont highlighting Windsor County.svg


See also

Notes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Windham County, Vermont</span> County in Vermont, United States

Windham County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,905. The shire town is Newfane, and the largest municipality is the town of Brattleboro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England town</span> Unit of government in New England, US

The town is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in the six New England states. Most other U.S. states lack a direct counterpart to the New England town. New England towns overlay the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but they are fully functioning municipal corporations, possessing powers similar to cities and counties in other states. New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns, and cities is the system which is most similar to that of New England. New England towns are often governed by a town meeting, an assembly of eligible town residents. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; there, statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place are uncommon, though elsewhere in the U.S. they are prevalent. County government in New England states is typically weak at best, and in some states nonexistent. Connecticut, for example, has no county governments, nor does Rhode Island. Both of those states retain counties only as geographic subdivisions with no governmental authority, while Massachusetts has abolished eight of fourteen county governments so far. Counties serve mostly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems and some other state services in the southern New England states, while providing varying services in the more sparsely populated three northern New England states.

References

  1. ↑ "Vermont County Information". Genealogy Trails. Retrieved July 22, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 "NACo - Find a county". National Association of Counties. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Vermont County Creation Dates and Parent Counties". www.familysearch.org. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Kane, Joseph & Aiken, Charles (2004). The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation, and Population Data, 1950-2000 . Scarecrow Press. p.  1. ISBN   0-8108-5036-2 . Retrieved September 11, 2016. Origins of County Names.
  6. ↑ "Vermont QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved April 20, 2024. (2023 Census estimate)
  7. ↑ "Vermont QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 11, 2016. (2010 Census)
  8. ↑ "Vermont: Consolidated Chronology of State and County Boundaries". The Newberry Library. 2008. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved June 3, 2009.

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