Buying in Washington County, Vermont

Washington County at a glance

Washington County is one of 14 counties and county-equivalents in Vermont. Its county seat is Montpelier. With a 2024 Census Bureau population estimate of 59,844, it is the third most populous county in Vermont. In the FBI's 2024 reported-crime file, agencies here reported 1,042 offenses — 17.41 per 1,000 residents; the breakdown is below.

Records to check before you buy in Washington County

• Property record card — the Washington County assessor / appraisal office. Pull the parcel's assessed-value history, exemption status, and last sale. This is the file your future tax bill is calculated from, and it shows whether the current owner is enjoying exemptions you will not inherit. County government sits in Montpelier — start there for office locations and the parcel search.
• Deeds & liens — the Washington County recorder / land-records office. Read the deed chain, open liens, easements, and plat maps — the file a listing never mentions.
• Official flood determination. Check the exact parcel on FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer — not the listing site's licensed model. Zone boundaries cut through streets; the house next door can be in a different zone. Washington County is the primary county for 22 ZIP codes in the Census Bureau's ZIP-to-county crosswalk — and zone lines ignore every one of them.
• The county's reported-crime record. In the FBI's 2024 file, agencies in Washington County reported 1,042 offenses — 17.41 per 1,000 residents; the largest single category was larceny-theft (802). The crime section below sets that beside the Vermont county median.
• Registry check. Run the address through Vermont Sex Offender Registry (Vermont Crime Information Center, Department of Public Safety) and note the counts within a mile — then check again the week you close.
• Permits & code history — the Washington building department. Open permits, expired permits, and code cases tell you whether the renovation in the photos was ever inspected. County permitting is run out of Montpelier.
• School assignment — the district office, not the listing. Only the district's own boundary lookup confirms which school an address is actually zoned for.

County list, land area and population: U.S. Census Bureau (population: 2024 PEP estimate). County seat and official website: Wikidata (CC0), checked 2026-11-04. Flood determinations: FEMA. Registry: Vermont.

Reported crime in Washington County — FBI 2024

Reported crime in Washington County in 2024 was overwhelmingly property crime: agencies logged 1,042 offenses, of which 899 were property offenses and 143 violent. The total rate is 17.41 per 1,000 residents (violent 239.0, property 1502.2 per 100,000).

Inside Vermont, the median county in the same file recorded a violent-crime rate of 228 per 100,000 and a property-crime rate of 930 per 100,000 (medians computed from the FBI 2024 county file across 14 counties).

The largest reported categories were larceny-theft (802), aggravated assault (91) and burglary (66).

Coverage: 15 of 15 law-enforcement agencies assigned to this county reported at least one month of 2024 offense data to the FBI; 15 reported all 12 months. Counts are reported offenses only (FBI Return A / Arson master files), assigned whole to each agency's primary county; they are not adjusted for non-reporting agencies.

These are offenses reported to law enforcement — not convictions, and not a verdict on any street or address. A CurbFacts report pairs this county record with the ZIP-level picture for the specific address you are buying.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, UCR Return A + Arson master files, data year 2024 (pulled 2026-11-04).

The Vermont rules that apply in Washington County

Traps researched for Vermont buyers: Private-well and septic risk sits with the buyer.

Read the full Vermont guide — disclosure standard, tax math, registry and flood

More Vermont counties

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