Description: Detailed large map of Vermont State, USA showing cities, towns, county formations, roads highway, US highways and State routes.
Borders and waters at a glance: Vermont's northern edge meets Quebec across Franklin, Orleans, and Essex counties. To the west, New York sits across Lake Champlain, facing Grand Isle, Chittenden, Addison, and Rutland counties, with Bennington County also touching New York by land down in the southwest corner. Massachusetts closes off the south through Bennington and Windham counties, and the entire eastern edge meets New Hampshire along the Connecticut River, running through Essex, Caledonia, Orange, Windsor, and Windham counties. Look at the map and all 14 counties stand out clearly, with the Connecticut, Winooski, and White rivers running through the interior as the main orientation lines and Lake Champlain anchoring the whole western basin. Light corridor cues along I-89, I-91, and I-93 help place the state's main population anchors too: Burlington in Chittenden County, Montpelier (the state capital) in Washington County, and Rutland in Rutland County.
Start in the northwest, along the lake. Grand Isle County is little more than a chain of islands linked by the US-2 causeway, with North Hero serving as the shire town and South Hero and Isle La Motte filling out the rest of the townships between Vermont's mainland and New York. Just south of the islands, Franklin County reaches the Quebec line, with St. Albans as the seat and Swanton and Enosburg Falls anchoring the dairy country that spreads north toward the border. Follow the lakeshore further down and you reach Chittenden County, Vermont's population center, with Burlington as the seat sitting right on the water, South Burlington and Winooski packed in close, and the Winooski River cutting east to west through the middle of it. South of Chittenden, Addison County holds Middlebury as its seat on Otter Creek, with Vergennes nearby at the creek's lower falls and the Champlain Valley floor running flat until the Green Mountains rise up behind it.
Move toward the center of the state and Lamoille County sits inland and compact, with Hyde Park as the seat, Morrisville right next door, and Stowe tucked under Mount Mansfield to the south. East of Lamoille, Washington County holds the state capital, Montpelier, with Barre sharing county services as a second hub and Waterbury marking the I-89 corridor west toward Burlington. Keep heading northeast and you're in the Northeast Kingdom: Caledonia County, on its western edge, has St. Johnsbury as its seat, a junction town where I-91 meets I-93, with Lyndonville just to the north. Orleans County touches the Quebec line directly, with Newport as its seat on Lake Memphremagog and Willoughby Lake's steep glacial walls a short drive east near Brownington. Furthest out, Essex County, Vermont's least populous, stretches from the Connecticut River north to the border, with Guildhall as the seat and Island Pond serving as the county's main inland village.
In the central part of the state, Orange County sits between Washington and Windsor, with Chelsea as the seat and Bradford anchoring the river side, where US-302 and VT-110 connect the interior to the Connecticut corridor. Windsor County, to its southeast, is large and varied, with Woodstock as the seat and White River Junction marking the busy interchange where I-89 meets I-91; Springfield sits further south, and the White and Black rivers thread through the towns in between. Back on the western side, Rutland County turns mountainous again after the flat of the Champlain Valley, with Rutland as the seat, Fair Haven near the New York line, Brandon along US-7 to the north, and Killington rising as the high spine east of the city.
Down in the southwest corner, Bennington County is unusual for having two shire towns, Bennington and Manchester, and it's the only county touching both New York and Massachusetts, with US-7 running the quiet north-south line through it. Over in the southeast corner, Windham County holds Newfane as its seat, while Brattleboro and Bellows Falls sit right on the Connecticut River as classic old mill towns, tracing the entire southern stretch of the New Hampshire border.
Because every county block is colored and every seat is labeled the same way, quick questions tend to answer themselves just by looking at the map. Which county is Stowe in? Lamoille. Where does Brattleboro sit? Windham, right on the Connecticut River. Which seat serves the Northeast Kingdom's western edge? St. Johnsbury in Caledonia. What is the seat in the far northwest corner? North Hero in Grand Isle. Where is Manchester relative to Bennington? They are the two shire towns of the same county. Where is Middlebury relative to Burlington? South across Addison from Chittenden. That's the value of this detailed map for residents and visitors alike: counties first, with just enough of a road network to keep you oriented.
Three rivers and one big lake do most of the orientation work on this page. The Connecticut River forms the entire eastern border with New Hampshire, running from Essex County down through Windham County. The Winooski River cuts east to west across the middle of the state, passing Montpelier before it empties into Lake Champlain at Burlington. The White River drains the central valleys past Rochester and Bethel before joining the Connecticut at White River Junction. Lake Champlain anchors the whole western edge, shared with New York, along Grand Isle, Chittenden, Addison, and Rutland counties. Keep those four in your head as you look at the map, and any county falls into place quickly.
Road-light orientation: The road layer here stays deliberately thin. I-89 runs from White River Junction through Montpelier up to Burlington. I-91 tracks the Connecticut River the whole length of the state, from Brattleboro north to the Quebec line, passing St. Johnsbury and Newport along the way. I-93 only clips the state's edge, ending near St. Johnsbury. US-7 is the quiet north-south line on the western side, running through Bennington, Rutland, Middlebury, and Burlington. US-2 crosses the Champlain islands and links Burlington to Montpelier and on to New Hampshire. US-4 runs cross-state from Rutland toward Woodstock and the river valley. None of these roads are meant for turn-by-turn navigation, they're just here as county-placement cues, so follow this on the map rather than in your GPS.
Every one of Vermont's 14 counties and its shire town, in alphabetical order: Addison County (Middlebury), Bennington County (Bennington and Manchester), Caledonia County (St. Johnsbury), Chittenden County (Burlington), Essex County (Guildhall), Franklin County (St. Albans), Grand Isle County (North Hero), Lamoille County (Hyde Park), Orange County (Chelsea), Orleans County (Newport), Rutland County (Rutland), Washington County (Montpelier), Windham County (Newfane), and Windsor County (Woodstock).
Vermont borders Quebec to the north, New York to the west across Lake Champlain (and by land through Bennington County's southwest corner), Massachusetts to the south, and New Hampshire along the entire eastern edge via the Connecticut River. The state holds 14 counties. Windsor County is the largest by land area at about 971 square miles, while Grand Isle County is the smallest at about 83 square miles. Chittenden County is the most populous at roughly 168,563 residents, and Essex County is the least populous at roughly 6,099 residents. Bennington County is the oldest, established in 1778 as one of Vermont's two original counties (the other, Cumberland, was later renamed Windham). Vermont covers about 9,614 square miles in total, with about 9,250 square miles of land. The capital, Montpelier, sits in Washington County near the center of the state, and the state's largest population center runs along the Burlington-South Burlington-Colchester corridor in Chittenden County on Lake Champlain. Landscape-wise, the state moves from the Champlain Valley in the west, up through the Green Mountains running north to south along the spine, out to the Connecticut River valley in the east, with the wilder, more forested Northeast Kingdom filling the far north.
Look at population and Vermont's story is mostly a Chittenden County story. Vermont's ten largest cities and towns by current population are Burlington (about 43,864, Chittenden County), South Burlington (about 21,728, Chittenden County), Colchester (about 17,413, Chittenden County), Rutland (about 15,297, Rutland County), Bennington (about 14,802, Bennington County), Brattleboro (about 11,814, Windham County), Essex (about 11,276, Chittenden County), Hartford (about 11,204, Windsor County), Essex Junction (about 10,950, Chittenden County), and Milton (about 10,564, Chittenden County). Burlington anchors state commerce and higher education, with the University of Vermont's medical and research complex sitting right in the city. Chittenden County more broadly has grown into Vermont's technology and advanced-manufacturing base, and software and precision firms cluster around the Winooski Valley. Head east and Washington County carries most of the state government jobs around Montpelier and Barre, while Windsor County keeps a long precision-manufacturing tradition alive around Springfield and Hartford. Agriculture, dairy especially, still shapes the landscape in Franklin, Addison, and Orleans counties, alongside a growing specialty foods and maple sugaring economy statewide. Vermont is landlocked with no seaport, but Lake Champlain keeps steady recreational boating and cross-lake ferry traffic moving to New York through Chittenden, Grand Isle, and Addison counties.
Vermont's identity leans hard into its small-town character and its mountain landscape. Burlington's waterfront and Church Street Marketplace in Chittenden County anchor much of the state's music and arts scene, while Brattleboro, down in Windham County, has built a reputation for galleries and independent theater. Ski culture runs through the mountain counties: resorts at Stowe in Lamoille County, Killington in Rutland County, and Bromley and Stratton near Manchester in Bennington County all draw crowds every winter. Woodstock, in Windsor County, is often held up as the classic Vermont village, covered bridges, green common, and all. Higher education spreads across the map too, with the University of Vermont in Burlington (Chittenden County), Middlebury College in Addison County, Norwich University in Northfield (Washington County), and Castleton University in Rutland County. And each March, Town Meeting Day still brings Vermonters out in person to vote on local budgets, one of the state's most distinctive civic traditions.
On this map, Mount Mansfield in the Green Mountains, near Stowe in Lamoille County, and the Connecticut, Winooski, and White rivers double as quick landmarks for finding your way to a county. For elevation, terrain, watersheds, and land-cover detail, see our Physical Map of Vermont.
Vermont runs a humid continental climate: warm summers, and winters that get long, cold, and snowy, especially up in the Green Mountains and the Northeast Kingdom. Down in the Champlain Valley, winters stay a good bit milder. For a full seasonal and biome breakdown, see our Physical Map of Vermont.
North-south travel mostly means I-91 along the eastern side, tracking the Connecticut River from Brattleboro up to the Quebec line, or US-7 along the western side through Bennington, Rutland, and Burlington. I-89 is the state's main diagonal route, connecting White River Junction to Montpelier and Burlington, with I-93 just clipping in briefly near St. Johnsbury. One thing worth knowing: ZIP codes in Vermont don't follow county or town lines, so a single ZIP code can span more than one town. When in doubt, check the county name against the map or the index rather than guessing from a ZIP prefix.
Use this as a quick index. Every line lists the county with its shire town (and a familiar city or landmark when the map labels one). Short cues mention river, border, or gentle corridor context only.
Grand Isle – North Hero; island chain linked by the US-2 causeway.
Franklin – St. Albans; dairy country on the Quebec line.
Chittenden – Burlington; Vermont's population center on the lakeshore.
Addison – Middlebury; Otter Creek valley, Champlain floor to the Green Mountains.
Lamoille – Hyde Park; Stowe and Mount Mansfield to the south.
Washington – Montpelier; state capital, shared services with Barre.
Caledonia – St. Johnsbury; where I-91 meets I-93.
Orleans – Newport; Lake Memphremagog and the Quebec line.
Essex – Guildhall; Vermont's least populous county.
Orange – Chelsea; connects the interior to the Connecticut corridor.
Windsor – Woodstock; White River Junction at the I-89/I-91 interchange.
Rutland – Rutland; Green Mountain spine, Killington to the east.
Bennington – Bennington and Manchester; touches both New York and Massachusetts.
Windham – Newfane; Brattleboro and Bellows Falls on the Connecticut River.
This directory aligns with what you see on the page: every county, its shire town, and a one-line locator that keeps the focus on counties rather than driving steps.
Vermont has 14 counties and the map shows every one with a colored block and shire town.
County boundaries, shire towns and neighboring states, with only light road references for orientation.
Montpelier in Washington County, near the center of the state.
Chittenden County.
Rutland County; Rutland is the shire town.
In Bennington County, one of two shire towns along with Manchester.
In Windham County on the Connecticut River, at the southeast corner.
St. Albans is the shire town of Franklin County, near the Quebec line.
In Windsor County, next to White River Junction.
Chittenden County.
Lamoille County.
Rutland County.
Orleans County, around Newport.
Guildhall is the shire town of Essex County, on the Connecticut River.
In Addison County, on Otter Creek.
Vergennes, in Addison County.
Rutland, Addison, Washington, Lamoille, and Bennington counties.
I-89, I-91, I-93, US-7, US-2, and US-4 only as soft reference lines.
Franklin, Orleans, and Essex.
Grand Isle, Chittenden, Addison, and Rutland across Lake Champlain, plus Bennington by land.
Essex, Caledonia, Orange, Windsor, and Windham, along the Connecticut River.
Bennington and Windham.
Bennington County, with Bennington and Manchester.
Grand Isle, Franklin, Chittenden, Addison, and Rutland.
Burlington, South Burlington, Colchester, Essex, Winooski, and Williston, all in Chittenden County.
Windsor County.
Washington County, along I-89.
In Bennington County, one of two shire towns.
In Windham County, inland from Brattleboro.
In Caledonia County, where I-91 meets I-93.
In Orleans County, on Lake Memphremagog near the Quebec line.
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Addison County.
Grand Isle County.
In Rutland County, on the New York line.
Windsor County, at about 971 square miles.
Grand Isle County, at about 83 square miles.
Chittenden County, with roughly 168,563 residents.
Essex County, with roughly 6,099 residents.
Burlington, in Chittenden County, with about 43,864 residents.
Bennington County, established in 1778 as one of Vermont's two original counties.
No. ZIP codes cross town and county lines, so use the boundaries and shire towns shown here instead.
Physical Map of Vermont
Physical map and map image of Vermont.
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