Category

Strengths (S)

Weaknesses (W)

Opportunities (O)

Threats (T)

Ease of Doing Business

Strong Internal Culture: Recognized for a high number of "Best Places to Work" (65 businesses in 2025), indicating strong corporate culture and employee retention.

Perceived Regulatory Burden: The state's largest city, Burlington, ranks relatively low (75th out of 83) on some regional "Ease of Doing Business" indexes, suggesting a potentially complex or slow regulatory environment compared to peer cities.

Development Finance Focus: Active government and community development conferences focus on unlocking capital, including use of tax credits and finance programs to catalyze economic and housing development.

Workforce Shortages/Demographics: A declining labor force, driven partly by retirements, poses a persistent challenge to business expansion and sustained economic growth.

Domestic Manufacturing

Niche/High-Value Manufacturing: Strong specialization in certain high-tech (Integrated Circuits/Semiconductors) and specialized products (machinery, computer and electronic products, sports equipment). Small-to-Medium Enterprise (SME) Focus: A high percentage of exports come from SMEs, indicating a broad-based manufacturing sector.

Long-Term Job Decline: Manufacturing's share of private-sector jobs has declined sharply over the last 25 years (from 18% to 10%), a steeper decline than the national average. Lower Wage Growth: Manufacturing wages have not kept pace with inflation over the past quarter-century, potentially hindering talent attraction.

High-Tech Diversification: The existing base of advanced manufacturing (e.g., Integrated Circuits) offers a platform to attract and grow other high-tech, high-wage industries.

Loss of Traditional Industry: Continued decline in traditional manufacturing sectors (e.g., machine tools, textiles) reduces the state's industrial base and necessitates worker retraining.

Sustainability Initiatives

Proactive Climate Policy: State-level initiatives like the Climate Economy Initiative and ClimateReadyVT focus on building a resilient economy by implementing energy efficiency, renewable energy, and transportation transformation.

Energy Goal Attainment: The state has a shared goal of significant fossil fuel reduction by 2025, but achieving these targets requires substantial, ongoing investment and public buy-in.

Outdoor Recreation Economy: The Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC) aims to strategically grow the healthy outdoor recreation sector, fostering sustainable tourism and community development.

Climate-Related Disruptions: Small businesses face climate-related risks (e.g., flooding, extreme weather) that require proactive adaptation and preparation to prevent business disruption.

Balance of Trade & Global Contribution

Key High-Value Exports: Major exports include Integrated Circuits, Sports Equipment, and Aircraft parts, showing a focus on specialized and sophisticated goods. Key Trading Partner Access: Maintains a strong relationship with its largest market, Canada, and utilizes Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners for nearly half of its exports.

Negative Trade Balance: The state imports significantly more than it exports (e.g., July 2025 saw a $34 billion negative trade balance). Low Export Volume: Vermont is the 49th largest exporter of goods among US states, indicating a very small contribution to total US goods trade.

Export Opportunity: Economic Complexity: Export profile shows potential to diversify into highly related and complex products, indicating a capability for more sophisticated global trade.

Geographic Isolation/Logistics: Being landlocked and a smaller trading state creates higher logistical costs and greater reliance on surrounding states' infrastructure for moving goods to ports.