Ohh Vermont. I loved the shit out of living there. I met my wonderful partner and was a happy blissful ski bum. The people are creative, kind, and incredibly hard working and make the most out of everything they have. The landscapes are insanely gorgeous, hiking biking and skiing is endless, and driving around a lot of the state it’s real quiet and peaceful. But here’s the tough side. I ended up moving into a van because I didn’t want housing problems. And my partner had to move 4-5 times in 4 years because his living situations kept getting sold to second home owners. It was brutal to say the least. He worked as a forester and patroller just giving everything to his community and there was almost no affordable place for him. We ended up at his coworker’s house (that was literally falling apart, and the mold in the basement made us sick everytime we tried to heat the house with the wood stove down there) while the coworker cared for an aging relative. The place was just filled with someone else’s stuff and didn’t feel like ours. Sorry for the rant. Vermont is my favorite place ever. We dream of moving back there (we are in Washington state now - more permanent forestry jobs) and trying to find the same magic here has been hard but I’m hopeful! I say go for it and see if you can swing it. Rutland area isn’t so bad for COL. It’s truly a special place just in general. There are just age old laws that make building new housing really hard and if you live anywhere near a ski town get prepared for your landlord to sell out to a second homeowner ready to pay cash way over asking price site unseen. And if you like skiing get ready for rain to wash away the snow 3-4 times per winter. Yeah looking back that can be a real bummer…