This article shows U.S. Census totals for Chittenden County, Vermont, broken down by municipality, from 1900 to 2000.

Most areas of New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 are entirely divided into incorporated municipalities, with no unincorporated territory. In the three northern New England states, however, some unincorporated territory does exist, generally in areas that are very sparsely populated. Chittenden County

Chittenden County, Vermont

Chittenden County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of 2010, the population was 156,545. Its shire town is Burlington. Chittenden is the most populous county in the state, with more than twice as many residents as Vermont's second-most populous county, Rutland.Chittenden County...

 contains a very small amount of unincorporated territory, one of four counties in Vermont to have such areas. The unincorporated territory in Chittenden County consists of a tract called Buel’s Gore, measuring about five square miles, in the southeastern corner of the county. The population of Buels’ Gore has reached double digits in only two censuses since 1920. Except for Buel’s Gore, Chittenden County is entirely incorporated.

There are three types of incorporated municipalities in Vermont: towns, cities and villages. As in the other New England states, towns

New England town

The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...

are the basic unit of municipal government. Cities are independent of and equivalent to towns, but differ in their form of government. Villages overlay towns and assume responsibility for some municipal services within their boundaries. Incorporated villages are not found in any of the other New England states, and are less common in Vermont today than they have been in the past. A number of villages have disincorporated over the years, choosing to revert back to full town control; most of those that remain are very small.

It is possible for a village to become a city, in which case it becomes a completely separate municipality from its original parent town. Many of Vermont’s current cities are former villages (unlike the other New England states where cities are almost invariably former towns).

The main tables below show municipalities at the town level, differentiating between towns and cities. For any census, adding up the totals for each town-level municipality (as well as Buel’s Gore) should yield the county total. A separate section follows with population totals for villages from 1930 to 2000.

For more information on the New England municipal system, see New England town.

Corporate changes since 1900

• 1921 – Winooski, formerly an incorporated village within the town of Colchester, incorporated as a city and became a separate municipality from Colchester

• 1971 – South Burlington became a city

1900

County Total: 39,600

• Burlington (city) 18,640
• Colchester 5,352
• Essex 2,203
• Milton 1,804
• Jericho 1,373
• Charlotte 1,254
• Hinesburg 1,216
• Shelburne 1,202
• Williston 1,176
• Underhill 1,140
• Richmond 1,057
• South Burlington 971
• Westford 888
• Huntington 728
• Bolton 486
• St. George 90

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 20 residents.

1910

County Total: 42,447

• Burlington (city) 20,468
• Colchester 6,450
• Essex 2,714
• Milton 1,648
• Richmond 1,419
• Jericho 1,307
• Charlotte 1,163
• Shelburne 1,097
• Hinesburg 1,042
• Underhill 1,004
• Williston 1,000
• South Burlington 927
• Westford 854
• Huntington 760
• Bolton 469
• St. George 109

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 16 residents.

1920

County Total: 43,708

• Burlington (city) 22,779
• Colchester 6,627
• Essex 2,449
• Milton 1,523
• Richmond 1,447
• Charlotte 1,160
• Jericho 1,138
• Shelburne 997
• Hinesburg 964
• South Burlington 938
• Williston 929
• Underhill 896
• Westford 706
• Huntington 651
• Bolton 390
• St. George 100

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 14 residents.

1930

County Total: 47,471

• Burlington (city) 24,789
• Winooski (city) 5,308
• Essex 2,876
• Colchester 2,638
• Milton 1,663
• Richmond 1,315
• South Burlington 1,203
• Jericho 1,091
• Charlotte 1,089
• Hinesburg 1,019
• Shelburne 1,006
• Williston 961
• Underhill 781
• Westford 698
• Huntington 621
• Bolton 325
• St. George 84

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 4 residents.

1940

County Total: 52,098

• Burlington (city) 27,686
• Winooski (city) 6,036
• Essex 3,059
• Colchester 3,031
• Milton 1,750
• South Burlington 1,736
• Richmond 1,225
• Charlotte 1,082
• Jericho 1,077
• Williston 1,021
• Shelburne 1,010
• Hinesburg 1,000
• Underhill 760
• Westford 698
• Huntington 549
• Bolton 287
• St. George 87

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 4 residents.

1950

County Total: 62,570

• Burlington (city) 33,155
• Winooski (city) 6,734
• Essex 3,931
• Colchester 3,897
• South Burlington 3,279
• Milton 1,874
• Shelburne 1,365
• Richmond 1,278
• Charlotte 1,215
• Williston 1,182
• Jericho 1,135
• Hinesburg 1,120
• Underhill 698
• Westford 685
• Huntington 601
• Bolton 301
• St. George 117

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 3 residents.

1960

County Total: 74,425

• Burlington (city) 35,531
• Winooski (city) 7,420
• Essex 7,090
• South Burlington 6,903
• Colchester 4,718
• Milton 2,022
• Shelburne 1,805
• Williston 1,484
• Jericho 1,425
• Richmond 1,303
• Charlotte 1,271
• Hinesburg 1,180
• Underhill 730
• Westford 680
• Huntington 518
• Bolton 237
• St. George 108

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported no residents.

1970

County Total: 99,131

• Burlington (city) 38,633
• Essex 10,951
• South Burlington 10,032
• Colchester 8,776
• Winooski (city) 7,309
• Milton 4,495
• Shelburne 3,728
• Williston 3,187
• Jericho 2,343
• Richmond 2,249
• Charlotte 1,802
• Hinesburg 1,775
• Underhill 1,198
• Westford 991
• Huntington 748
• St. George 477
• Bolton 427

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 10 residents.

1980

County Total: 115,534

• Burlington (city) 37,712
• Essex 14,392
• Colchester 12,629
• South Burlington (city) 10,679
• Milton 6,829
• Winooski (city) 6,318
• Shelburne 5,000
• Williston 3,843
• Jericho 3,575
• Richmond 3,159
• Hinesburg 2,690
• Charlotte 2,561
• Underhill 2,172
• Westford 1,413
• Huntington 1,161
• Bolton 715
• St. George 677

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 9 residents.

1990

County Total: 131,761

• Burlington (city) 39,127
• Essex 16,498
• Colchester 14,731
• South Burlington (city) 12,809
• Milton 8,404
• Winooski (city) 6,649
• Shelburne 5,871
• Williston 4,887
• Jericho 4,302
• Hinesburg 3,780
• Richmond 3,729
• Charlotte 3,148
• Underhill 2,799
• Westford 1,740
• Huntington 1,609
• Bolton 971
• St. George 705

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 2 residents.

2000

County Total: 146,571

• Burlington (city) 39,824
• Essex 18,626
• Colchester 16,986
• South Burlington (city) 14,879
• Milton 9,479
• Williston 7,650
• Shelburne 6,944
• Winooski (city) 6,561
• Jericho 5,015
• Hinesburg 4,340
• Richmond 4,090
• Charlotte 3,569
• Underhill 2,980
• Westford 2,086
• Huntington 1,861
• Bolton 971
• St. George 698

Unorganized territory (Buel’s Gore) reported 12 residents.

Villages

This section lists census totals for incorporated villages for 1930 through 2000.

As of 1930, Chittenden County contained three incorporated villages:

• The village of Essex Junction (inc. 1893), within the town of Essex

• The village of Milton (inc. 1902), within the town of the same name

• The village of Richmond (inc. 1902), within the town of the same name

Over the next few decades, two additional villages were incorporated, bringing the total to five:

• 1933 – New village of Jericho incorporated, within the town of the same name

• 1947 – New village of Essex Center incorporated, within the town of Essex

Three of the villages have since disincorporated:

• The village of Essex Center apparently disincorporated at some point in time, although sources conflict as to when this happened. One page of the Vermont state archives web site indicates that Essex Center disincorporated in 1947 (presumably later in the same year it was incorporated), while another page indicates that it disincorporated in 1977. It was never reported in the Census, which is consistent with the former date. However, there were at least two other villages in Vermont (as well as one borough in Connecticut) that were for some reason not reported separately from their parent towns in the 1950 and 1960 Censuses, and did not appear in the initial 1970 Census reports, either. It is not inconceivable that the latter date is correct and whatever resulted in those villages/boroughs not being reported also affected Essex Center.

• The village of Richmond disincorporated in 1989

• The village of Milton disincorporated in 2003

Note: Complete data for 1900, 1910 and 1920 are not available, but the population of the village of Winooski was 3,783 in 1900, 4,520 in 1910, and 4,932 in 1920 (by the time of the 1930 Census, Winooski had incorporated as a city). The population of the village of Jericho was not reported separately from the town of Jericho in the 1950 and 1960 Censuses; it is not clear why.

1930

• Essex Junction 1,621
• Richmond 718
• Milton 641

1940

• Essex Junction 1,901
• Milton 729
• Richmond 692
• Jericho 254

1950

• Essex Junction 2,741
• Richmond 731
• Milton 739
• Jericho not reported

1960

• Essex Junction 5,340
• Milton 817
• Richmond 765
• Jericho not reported

1970

• Essex Junction 6,511
• Milton 1,164
• Richmond 935
• Jericho 749

1980

• Essex Junction 7,033
• Milton 1,411
• Jericho 1,340
• Richmond 865

1990

• Essex Junction 8,396
• Milton 1,578
• Jericho 1,405

2000

• Essex Junction 8,597
• Milton 1,537
• Jericho 1,457