Housing costs, demographic trends big concerns as winter tourism season starts in Vermont

Daunting demographics and rising costs create housing challenges

Vermont faces well-known and challenging demographic trends, including a high median age, the nation's lowest fertility rate, and a decreasing population. Meanwhile, housing costs continue to rise. In the last year, only Alaska saw a bigger increase in its house prices.

Fewer workers and rising costs are trouble for the state's workforce and employers.

Solimano said that about a decade ago, Killington's seasonal workers, including international employees, found abundant and affordable housing in neighboring communities like Rutland. But now housing is scarce and expensive, and it's forced the resort to invest more in employee housing so its workers could live locally.

Chris Karr owns The Karr Group, which runs dining, nightlife, and retail venues around Killington and also invests in employee lodging. He said his company isn't designed to operate in the housing market, but it has no choice.

"That's not investing (directly into) our business, but it's just more to keep staff in place, or to attract them, and that's tough," he said.

Vermont's business climate rating drops slightly, despite some expectations of growth

The Vermont Futures Project's recent 2026 Business Climate Survey reflected some of the concerns shared in Monday's discussions.

The project's Executive Director Kevin Chu shared some survey results at the Killington discussion, noting that about 37% of respondents said their business grew in the last year, and the same percentage expect it to continue growing next year. But at the same time, their rating of Vermont's overall business climate dropped from 2.86 to 2.62 out of 5.

Robert Miller, the CEO at EastRise Credit Union in Williston, said at the Waitsfield roundtable that he sees the strain among his customers over rent, childcare, and healthcare. He said no one is saving money for big discretionary items.

"This just doesn't seem sustainable," he said.

Blain Newton is the chief information officer at BETA Technologies, which makes all-electric aircraft and is expanding. The South Burlington firm has about 1,500 employees, including 650 added just this year, and Newton told the Waitsfield roundtable they're planning to add thousands more jobs in coming years.

Still, Newton doesn't see BETA escaping the problems related to the state's high housing costs and low inventory.

Like Killington, BETA owns employee housing, and it rents to new hires for 6-9 months while they find suitable housing in the state - if they can, Newton said.

"We found enough ways to make it work, but we see a wall coming, probably sooner than later, where we just struggle," he said.

Dennise Casey, who works in public affairs at BETA, said Vermont has lots of enthusiasm, doers, and opportunities. But she said its problems are, at root, linked to its declining population, and that must be addressed.

"If we don't all get super laser-focused on growth, like literal growth, like more people being born than dying, we're going to continue to struggle," she said.