Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Dorset’s subject grades are an A for walkability and health and an A+ for history; the weakest is a D for cost of living. 72% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Dorset, above both Vermont’s towns (40%) and U.S. towns (29%). On cost of living, just 9 of Vermont’s 172 towns do worse. 32% of the land in Dorset is conserved, against 14% in Vermont’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Green Mountain National Forest, at 5,425 acres with 16.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Only 9 of Vermont’s 172 towns score higher on history. Dorset has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Dorset beats most towns.
Census counts: 958 in 1790, 2,133 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1820 and 3 maps from 1894 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Vermont), ordered by how far Dorset is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dorset, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Dorset.
The typical Dorset home is worth about $780,000, up 3.6% in a year, 99% above the Vermont typical home. 91% of Dorset households own their home.
| Dorset | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 91% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,420 a month | $1,135 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorset Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 187 | B |
| Long Trail School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 245 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VT on state tests
Dorset beats the Vermont average on 8 of 31 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 28% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Dorset. Among 72 Vermont towns, just 2 have a higher share of adults who have high blood pressure than Dorset.
| Dorset | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 27% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 32% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 80% | 76% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Dorset | VT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7% | 9.2% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 4.9% | 6.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.6% | 9.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
77 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. Dorset’s trail density is 1.6 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Green Mountain National Forest | 16.5 mi | 5,425 |
| 2. Owls Head Town Forest | 6.8 mi | 265 |
| 3. Raptor Lane Town Property | 5.3 mi | 324 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Dorset has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Dorset is 78°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Dorset.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents leave Dorset for work: only 17% work in town. Jobs based in Dorset grew to 669 in 2023, 102 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Manchester (24%), Rutland (5%) and Arlington (5%).
| Dorset | Vermont towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $111,000 | $80,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 17% | 16% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Dorset. Close and well known come first.
35 mi LakeLake George
35 mi LandmarkFort William Henry
33 mi Theme parkGreat Escape
26 mi Ski areaKillington Resort184 runs · 3,031 ft vertical
7 mi Ski areaBromley Mountain Ski Resort;Bromley Mountain67 runs · 1,297 ft vertical
14 mi Ski areaStratton Mountain Resort106 runs · 1,899 ft verticalLake George: Sixlocal, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort William Henry: IrisKawling at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Great Escape: Jared and Corin, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Killington Resort: NHRHS2010, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bromley Mountain Ski Resort;Bromley Mountain: Jrclark (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Stratton Mountain Resort: Rudi Riet from Washington, DC, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0
None within 15 miles of Dorset; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Dorset residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Vermont.
5 places in Dorset on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Dorset.
Town in Vermont, United States
Dorset is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,133 at the 2020 census. Dorset is famous for being the location of Cephas Kent's Inn, where four meetings of the Convention that signed the Dorset Accords led to the independent Vermont Republic and future statehood. Dorset is the site of America's oldest marble quarry and is the birthplace of Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. East Dorset is the site of the Wilson House and the Griffith Library. The town is named after the English county of Dorset. The East Dorset marble quarry had been established by Bill W.'s great grandfather and stayed in the family for three generations. Marble from these qua…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Dorset.
| Town | VT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dorset | — | — | D | — | B | A |
| Danby | — | — | C | — | B | B |
| Mount Tabor | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Manchester | #36 | B− | D | — | B | A− |
| Rupert | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Peru | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Winhall | — | — | C− | A | B | A+ |
Dorset, Danby and Winhall have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Dorset, Danby and Manchester report no FBI crime data of their own. Mount Tabor, Rupert and Peru aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Dorset with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. That is 10.6 years of the area's median household income ($73,325 across the Bennington, VT area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
3 notable people were born here, including Truman Howe Bartlett and Leonard Sargeant.
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