List of counties in Vermont

There are fourteen counties in the U.S. state of Vermont. These counties together contain 255 political units, or places, including 237 towns, 9 cities, 5 unincorporated areas, and 4 gores. Each county has a county seat, often referred to as a "shire town." In 1779, Vermont had two counties. The western side of the state was called Bennington County and the eastern was called Cumberland County.[1] In 1781, Cumberland County was separated into three counties in Vermont plus another county named Washington (not the same as the modern Washington County) that eventually became part of New Hampshire. Today's Washington County was known as Jefferson County from its creation in 1810 until it was renamed in 1814. Essex County, Orleans County, and Caledonia County are commonly referred to as the Northeast Kingdom.

Counties of Vermont
Franklin GI Orleans Lamoille Caledonia Essex Washington Chittenden Addison Orange Rutland Windsor Bennington Windham
Location	State of Vermont
Number	14
Populations	6,163 (Essex) – 161,382 (Chittenden)
Areas	83 square miles (210 km^2) (Grand Isle) – 971 square miles (2,510 km^2) (Windsor)
Government	County government
Subdivisions	Cities, towns, villages, unincorporated communities

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]	Origin[4]	Etymology[4]	Population[3][5]	Area[3][5]	Map
Addison County	001	Middlebury	1785	Part of Rutland County.	Joseph Addison (1672–1719), an English politician and writer.	37,035	770 sq mi (1,995 km²)
Bennington County	003	Bennington, Manchester	1779	One of the original two counties.	Benning Wentworth (1696–1770), the colonial governor of New Hampshire (1741–1766).	36,317	676 sq mi (1,751 km^2)
Caledonia County	005	St. Johnsbury	1792	Part of Orange County.	Latin name for Scotland.	30,780	651 sq mi (1,686 km^2)
Chittenden County	007	Burlington	1787	Part of Addison County.	Thomas Chittenden (1730–1797), first governor of Vermont (1791–1797).	161,382	539 sq mi (1,396 km^2)
Essex County	009	Guildhall	1792	Part of Orange County.	Essex, a county in England.	6,163	665 sq mi (1,722 km^2)
Franklin County	011	St. Albans (city)	1792	Part of Chittenden County.	Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), one of the most revered Founding Fathers of the United States.	48,799	637 sq mi (1,650 km^2)
Grand Isle County	013	North Hero	1802	Part of Chittenden County and Franklin County.	Largest island in Lake Champlain.	6,861	83 sq mi (215 km^2)
Lamoille County	015	Hyde Park (town)	1835	Parts 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.	25,235	461 sq mi (1,194 km^2)
Orange County	017	Chelsea	1781	Part of Cumberland County.	Prince William (1650–1702) of Orange.	28,899	689 sq mi (1,785 km^2)
Orleans County	019	Newport (city)	1792	Part of Chittenden County and Orange County.	City of Orléans, France.	27,100	697 sq mi (1,805 km^2)
Rutland County	021	Rutland (city)	1781	Part of Bennington County.	Town of Rutland, Massachusetts.	59,736	932 sq mi (2,414 km^2)
Washington County	023	Montpelier	1810	Parts of Orange County, Caledonia County, and Chittenden County.	George Washington (1732–1799), first President of the United States (1789–1797).	58,612	690 sq mi (1,787 km^2)
Windham County	025	Newfane	1779^[a] (as Cumberland County) (renamed 1781)	One of the original two counties.	Town of Windham, Connecticut.	43,386	789 sq mi (2,044 km^2)
Windsor County	027	Woodstock	1781	Part of Cumberland County.	Town of Windsor, Connecticut.	55,737	971 sq mi (2,515 km^2)

See also

• List of cities in Vermont
• List of gores in Vermont
• List of towns in Vermont
• List of former United States counties

Notes

• ^a There are several sources that state the formation year for Windham County is 1781 and that Cumberland County was dissolved rather than renamed.[6]

References

1. "Vermont County Information". Genealogy Trails. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
2. "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". EPA. Archived from the original on 2009-08-17. Retrieved 2007-07-22.
3. "NACo - Find a county". National Association of Counties. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
4. 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.
5. "Vermont QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved September 11, 2016. (2010 Census)
6. "Vermont: Consolidated Chronology of State and County Boundaries". The Newberry Library. 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2009-06-03.