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By Guy Page
The salary of Vermont’s governor has risen about $100,000 since 2017, putting the chief executive of the nation’s second-least-populous state among the highest-paid governors in the country.
Last year, beginning July 12 2025, Vermont’s governor earned $234,379. He was paid $222,371 the previous year. As of July 12 this year, he is believed to earn $243,520, according to the 2026 Pay Act bill (VDC is checking with administration officials to determine specific amount). His, and other top state officials’, pay is scheduled to have increased last month as the result of a legislated ‘bump’ that gives to salaried executive staff (including the governor and his appointees) annual percentage increases similar to state employees paid an hourly wage.
That bump was scheduled to give state officers an average 5.9% increase beginning last month, and would give an additional 4.9% bump next July, according to a March, 2026 Joint Fiscal Office report.
Exempt state employees, such as elected statewide officers, cabinet members, and other appointees, are not entitled to overtime pay and typically receive a salary, while non-exempt state employees are entitled to overtime pay and usually earn an hourly wage. The classification is based on job duties and salary levels as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Even at his 2025 pay, Vermont’s governor earns within a few thousand dollars of California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom receives $245,929, despite California having roughly 60 times Vermont’s population. Along with other state officers, the governor’s pay has increased steadily in recent years – he was paid $200,755 in 2023, up $34,709 since 2018.
Vermont’s Gov. Phil Scott earns more than his northern New England counterparts. Maine Gov. Janet Mills currently receives $70,000 annually. Maine law will raise the salary to $125,000 when a new governor takes office in January 2027. New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s salary has been reported at $163,510.
In the southern New England states, Ned Lamont of Connecticut is paid $226,000, which he reportedly forgoes. Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee earns $163,000. Massachusetts’ governor Maura Healey receives a $243,493 salary, according to a Massachusetts state employee website.
Other governors’ salaries, according to public record, include:
– Texas Gov. Greg Abbott receives $153,109.
– Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro receives $253,870
– New York guv Kathy Hochul’s gubernatorial salary is $250,000.
Those numbers put Pennsylvania first at $253,870, New York second at $250,000, California third at $245,929 and Massachusetts fourth at about $243,493. Vermont has about 650,000 residents and ranks 49th among the states in population, ahead of only Wyoming.
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Categories: State Government
Paying a decent salary to our Governor who plays a hard game of defense against the moonbat anarchists is worth every penny. Just think what it would cost you to have Governor Baruth or Governor Krowinski having their hand in your wallet.
Well said Rich!
– Texas Gov. Greg Abbott receives $153,109.
My taxes went up so why shouldn’t Phil’s pay check go up ? (Huh ???)
i think he is being Governor for free. No.t $163, 510.00.
If we have concerns about the high price of running Vermont’s governance, we should demand a mandatory date of March 31st for the legislature to recess, and there is no pay for them after that date. If they can’t get a budget passed in three months, then it means that they are too concerned with superfluous garbage like setting the official State Vegetable.
Gov’s pay is tied to the state legislators increase. This is another reason we must turn the legislature red. The lack of money control is horrendous. Frustrating. Infuriating.
You all know this is wrong and could be thought of as a sort of bribe and taking advantage of their position as law makers.
The number of state employees…their pay packages…the potentially private business arenas invaded by the state…the “full time job” legislative ethos…the pervasive culture of liberty crushing invasive citizen management…the absence of repeal lists on the legislative agendas —- The list of “government ruling citizens” elements increases replacing the constitutional vision of citizens protected from government. We need to resurrect the primacy of individual liberty over management by the commonweal. Vote for anyone who objects to this ruinous direction.
I would note that Vermont doesn’t provide benefits the other states provide such as a mansion or airplane, so while his salary may be up there at the higher end, his total compensation (and the resulting cost to the taxpayers) is less.
That doesn’t make it any better when I have been unemployed for 2.5 years, and the State shows no interest in bringing in meaningful work to benefit its current population. Isn’t that the role of the legislature and governor to provide opportunity to all citizens, regardless of age, or demographics. I know many woman of all ages hit by the lack of meaningful employment. They are working jobs far below their capability. I even know multiple, educated women who have taken second jobs cleaning camps and houses due to the lack of employment options. I have brought this up to our leaders and have been told to work in construction or learn to weld, and then I would have employment. Suggesting manual trades as the default answer for an older professional’s job search (like myself) is ageism — it reduces human value in the labor market to physical capability rather than decades of specialized experience, while ignoring that the trades carry the same age-related hiring barriers documented elsewhere in the workforce. It also shifts a systemic problem onto the individual: framing a lack of matching jobs as the individual’s failure to retrain, rather than a labor market that isn’t producing enough opportunity for a worker over the age of 55.
Vermont is often compared to New Hampshire in matters of money and governance, having roughly the same population, same size and same geography/climate. Vermont taxpayers support about 590 state and local full-time equivalent employees per 10,000 residents. New Hampshire pays for about 485. Not a huge disparity but still noteworthy.
Vermont has about 651,000 people and New Hampshire has about 1.42 million people, a little more than twice the population of Vermont. Hmmm, wonder why that is.
And retired people got a whopping 2.8% COLA last January.