Population

The population of the 27 communities that make of the Windham Region totals 48,538, as reported in the 2020 Census. Between 2010 and 2020, the population of the region grew by 1,818, or approximately 3.9 percent. This compares with a population growth of approximately 2.8 percent for Vermont as a whole. The population percentage increase between 2010 and 2020 was noticeably higher than the previous decade (2000 to 2010) when the population grew by only 0.6 percent.

It should be noted there may be an issue with the population count for the town of Marlboro that is artificially inflating the region’s population for 2020. According to the Census data, Marlboro’s population increased by 644 between 2010 and 2020 from 1,078 to 1,722, a growth rate of 60 percent. The ACS 2020 5-year estimates show that Marlboro saw a net decrease in housing units by one during this same time. This discrepancy may have to do with the counting of the student population on the former Marlboro College campus, which closed at the end of 2019-2020 academic year. The additional 644 residents in Marlboro accounts for roughly one-third of the population growth in the region during the past decade and if it were to be subtracted out, the population growth for the region would be closer to 2.5 percent versus 3.9 percent.