Migration doesn’t follow the climate script Vermonters might expect

Dear Editor,

In a recent commentary for VTDigger regarding tax loopholes for the wealthy, author Dan Jones said, “As I watch the South become insufferably hot and the West burn up, Vermont’s moderate climate looks more and more attractive. I’m pretty sure that, even with increased taxes, our well-to-do property owners won’t be going anywhere as the larger climate collapses.”

Climate change is not a new factor in 2026. The U.S. South and Southwest have been heating up for well over a generation to what seems to me, a longtime Vermonter, unbearable temperatures much of the year. Despite that, parts of the South and Southwest are experiencing the largest net domestic migration in the country, relative to their population. Ranked by net domestic migration rate per 1,000 residents between 2020 and 2024, the top 10 states include Nevada, Arizona and Florida. Ranks 11 to 20 include Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Georgia. Vermont ranked 20th.

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I do not have answers to the incredibly complex question of what our state’s tax policy should be, but if the conversation is based on how the country’s population moves around, how our population actually moves is a critical piece to understand.

Joe Connelly, Burlington, Vt.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Migration doesn’t follow the climate script Vermonters might expect.