Bennington County is a county in Vermont, United States, tucked into the state’s southwest corner where the Green Mountains meet the New York and Massachusetts borders. It had a population of 37,347 at the 2020 census and covers 675 square miles (1,750 km2) of land, centred near 43\u00b002\u2032N 73\u00b007\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Bennington County is unusual in Vermont for having two co-equal county seats, called shire towns: Bennington and Manchester. Bennington’s postal code is 05201. The county has 17 towns, 3 incorporated villages and 12 census-designated places, no cities and no unincorporated territory outside Glastenbury. It sits in the Eastern time zone and carries FIPS code 50003.<\/p>\n
Vermont has no county governments in the usual sense and no civil townships — the town is the basic unit of local government, and every part of the county lies inside one of the 17 towns below. Villages are smaller incorporated places inside a town; census-designated places (CDPs) are Census Bureau statistical areas with no government of their own.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bennington<\/td>\n | Town · shire town<\/td>\n | 15,333<\/td>\n | 05201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Manchester<\/td>\n | Town · shire town<\/td>\n | 4,391<\/td>\n | 05254<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Arlington<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05250<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dorset<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05251<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Glastenbury<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Landgrove<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Peru<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05152<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pownal<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05261<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Readsboro<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05350<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Rupert<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sandgate<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Searsburg<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shaftsbury<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05262<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Stamford<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05352<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sunderland<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Winhall<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05340<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Woodford<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Manchester Village<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05254<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| North Bennington<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05257<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Old Bennington<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Arlington CDP<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05250<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bennington CDP<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05201<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bondville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05340<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dorset CDP<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05251<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| East Dorset<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05253<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Manchester Center<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05255<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| North Pownal<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05263<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pownal CDP<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05261<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pownal Center<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05261<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Readsboro CDP<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05350<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| South Shaftsbury<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05262<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Stamford CDP<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05352<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Stratton Mountain<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 05155<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Stratton Mountain is split between Bennington and Windham counties, with most of the ski resort itself over the line in Windham County. A number of small hamlets from the old list — among them Barnumville, Beartown, Bouplon Corner, Bourne Brook, Bromley Village, Chiselville, East Kansas, Fayville, Forest Farms, Freedleyville, French Hollow, Haines Manor, Heartwellville, Hidden Valley, Intervale, Kansas, MacIntyre, Mountain View Estates, North Dorset, North Landgrove, North Rupert, Paper Mill Village, Piper Ridge, Richville, Sodom, South Dorset, Stocker Acres, Stratton Acres, Strattonwald, Vermont Ventures, Village of Alpenwald, West Arlington, West Rupert and West Sandgate — are genuine local place names but are informal localities or subdivisions inside the towns above rather than separately platted or gazetted places, so they are folded into their parent towns rather than listed as their own rows.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nRupert, Sandgate, Searsburg, Landgrove and Glastenbury are small enough that mail for them routes through a neighboring town’s post office; their specific ZIP assignments are not verified here.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nBennington County lies in Vermont’s southwest corner, where the Taconic Mountains on the west meet the Green Mountains running down the county’s eastern side. The Walloomsac and Batten Kill rivers drain the western valleys, both flowing west into New York’s Hudson watershed; the Deerfield River rises in the county’s southeast corner. Elevations range from under 700 feet along the Walloomsac to over 3,800 feet on Glastenbury Mountain, and the Long Trail and Appalachian Trail both cross the county’s eastern towns.<\/p>\n Bennington County borders Rutland County to the north, Windsor County to the northeast, Windham County to the east, the Massachusetts counties of Franklin and Berkshire to the south, and Rensselaer and Washington counties in New York to the west. Of these, Windham County<\/a> and Franklin County, Massachusetts<\/a> have their own pages on this site; Rutland County, Windsor County, Berkshire County (Massachusetts) and Rensselaer County (New York) are not yet covered here, and Washington County, New York<\/a> borders the county’s northwest corner.<\/p>\n Bennington County’s population was 37,347 at the 2020 census, with a density of about 55 people per square mile. Bennington and its surrounding CDP form the county’s largest population center, followed by Manchester and the Manchester Center CDP. The county’s median household income runs below the Vermont median of $81,211, reflecting the manufacturing-and-tourism economy of its southern towns; Manchester and Dorset, with their resort and second-home economy, skew well above that county average. Roughly a quarter of residents are 65 or older, among the higher shares in the state.<\/p>\n Manufacturing, tourism and higher education anchor the county’s economy. Bennington is home to Bennington College and to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, the area’s main hospital; the town’s historic Bennington Battle Monument, a 306-foot stone obelisk marking a 1777 Revolutionary War battle, is Vermont’s tallest structure. Manchester’s downtown outlet shopping district and the Hildene estate, once home to Robert Todd Lincoln, draw year-round visitors. Stratton Mountain and Bromley Mountain ski resorts, both in the county’s eastern towns, are major seasonal employers. Bennington’s Southern Vermont Arts Center and its long-running Garlic Festival are among the county’s best-known local events.<\/p>\n Bennington County was established on March 17, 1778, one of Vermont’s original counties and, since none of the others have been discontinued, its oldest still in existence. It takes its name from the town of Bennington, itself named for colonial New Hampshire governor Benning Wentworth, who chartered the town in 1749. The county was the site of the 1777 Battle of Bennington, a decisive American victory over British and Hessian forces that helped set up the surrender at Saratoga later that year, though the battle itself was fought just across the line in New York. Bennington County has voted for the statewide winner in every Vermont gubernatorial election for decades, a streak local political writers note as among the longest of any Vermont county.<\/p>\n US Route 7 runs north-south through the county connecting Bennington and Manchester; Vermont Routes 9, 30, 100 and 11 provide the main east-west and secondary links. There is no interstate highway in the county.<\/p>\n William H. Morse State Airport in Bennington handles general aviation only. The nearest commercial airport is Albany International Airport in Albany, New York.<\/p>\n Where is Bennington County?<\/strong> What is the population of Bennington County?<\/strong> How big is Bennington County?<\/strong> What is the county seat of Bennington County?<\/strong> How many towns are in Bennington County?<\/strong> What ZIP codes are in Bennington County?<\/strong> |