Vermont
Vermont offers an Additional Veterans Exemption of $40,000 ($60,000 with town option) on the homestead for veterans rated 50 percent or higher, free hunting and fishing licenses for resident veterans rated 60 percent or higher, in state tuition at the Vermont State Colleges System, and free admission to state parks.
Vermont Department of Veterans AffairsProperty tax exemption
$40,000 exemption from the assessed value of the homestead (towns may increase to $60,000). Transfers to the unremarried surviving spouse.
State income tax
Under Act 71 (2025), Vermont fully exempts military retirement and survivor-benefit pay from state income tax for filers with federal AGI of $125,000 or less, with a phased partial exemption up to $175,000. VA disability compensation is not taxed.
Disabled veteran registration
Vermont waives the annual motor-vehicle registration fee for former POWs and veterans who received a VA specially adapted vehicle grant, and exempts the purchase-and-use tax on a VA-grant vehicle. Apply through the DMV or your town clerk.
Public employment preference
Vermont adds 5 points to an honorably discharged veteran's state employment exam score and 10 points for veterans with a service-connected disability, extendable to certain spouses and unremarried surviving spouses.
In state tuition
Under 38 USC 3679(c) (originally Section 702 of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act), every public college that accepts Post-9/11 GI Bill or Montgomery GI Bill students must charge in state tuition to covered students using their GI Bill, regardless of state residency. The old requirement to enroll within 3 years of separation was removed by the Isakson and Roe Act effective August 1, 2021, so there is no longer a time limit after discharge. State specific extensions to this rule are noted below where applicable.
Dependent / survivor education
Surviving spouses and children of veterans who died of, or are permanently and totally disabled by, a service-connected cause use federal VA Chapter 35 benefits. The Vermont National Guard Tuition Benefit covers a Guard member's own tuition at Vermont public colleges.
Hunting and fishing license
Free combination hunting and fishing license.
State park entrance
Free entry to Vermont state parks for qualifying disabled veterans.
State parks & licenses
Vermont gives veterans rated 60 percent or higher free day-use admission to state parks plus discounted camping, and offers honorably discharged resident veterans a free lifetime hunting and fishing license.
State veterans cemetery
The Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center provides the plot, grave opening and closing, and perpetual care at no cost for eligible veterans, spouses, and dependents.
Vermont ranks 3 of 51 for rural veterans' access to accredited help: 4.70 accredited representatives per 10,000 veterans, with 65.2 percent of its veterans living rural.
Email me the Vermont benefit checklist
A clean, printable checklist of every Vermont benefit on this page - with the eligibility threshold and official source for each - sent straight to your inbox.
State legislatures revise thresholds and dollar amounts every session. The figures above are sourced from the state agency that administers each program, but the latest year is the state's word, not ours. Before you file an application, click the source link in each section and verify the current threshold.
Writing about Vermont veteran benefits? You are welcome to reference this guide. Copy the citation below and link back so your readers can verify each program against the state source, or download the benefits table.
Developers: this record is available as structured data VBD:STATE:VT