VERMONT – Vermont has been ranked first for number of local journalists per population in 2025. The Muck Rack Local Journalist Index Report revealed this data using bylines from across the country to create the “Local Journalist Equivalent,” (LJE) which includes county journalists, freelancers and a metro adjustment for city-based journalists reporting on small towns. Vermont’s statewide average was 27.5 LJEs. (Washington D.C. ranked higher than Vermont, but Vermont was the top-ranked state.)
Lamoille county ranked first in the state, with 54.8 LJEs per 100,000 people, and 59th out of 3,141 counties nationwide. Rutland, with 41.1 LJEs per 100,000 people was second in the state, followed closely by Caledonia and Washington. Essex County, Vermont’s least populous, was rated last, with just 1.1 LJEs per 100,000 people.
Across the country, the number of local journalists per capita has declined by over 75% since 2002 and “more than 1,000 counties, one out of three, do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist,” said the report. This leaves 20.6 million people without a local correspondent.
They found that counties are maintaining journalist shortages regardless of size, with counties of mid-size (5,000 to 500,000 people) having above the national average of 8.2 LJEs per 100,000 people, and small and large counties having less than the average.
Alex Strand
Alex Strand is a Hardwick Gazette reporting intern for this summer. She is a rising junior at the University of Vermont studying English and Psychology. She is from Boston, MA, but has begun to fall in love with the Northeast Kingdom. In her free time, she likes reading, swimming and canoe tripping.
