Here’s what the numbers say.

by VDC Staff

Based on data analysis by The Mendoza Law Firm

Vermont is known for its rolling green hills, progressive politics, and tight-knit communities. But new data reveals a troubling reality hidden behind that reputation: when it comes to anti-Black hate crimes, no state in the country exposes its Black residents to more risk per capita than Vermont.

A Small Community, an Outsized Burden

Vermont’s Black population is small — roughly 7,316 residents on average over the past several years. That’s fewer people than fill many sports stadiums. Yet between 2021 and 2025, the state recorded an average of 17.6 anti-Black hate crimes per year, according to FBI hate crime data.

The result is a per-capita rate of 240.6 anti-Black hate crimes per 100,000 Black residents — the highest of any state in the country.

To put that in perspective: Oregon ranks second nationally at 121.0 incidents per 100,000 Black residents. That’s less than half Vermont’s rate — and Oregon has more than ten times as many Black residents. Vermont sits nearly 120 points above second place, a gap that reflects how dramatically its small community size amplifies the impact of each incident.

How Vermont Compares to the Rest of the Country

The ten states with the highest rates share one notable feature: relatively small Black populations, where even a handful of incidents per year produces an elevated per-capita figure.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer and Missouri Census Data Center

The contrast with states at the other end of the spectrum is even starker. Mississippi ranks last with just 0.9 incidents per 100,000 Black residents — meaning Vermont’s rate is more than 267 times higher. Louisiana and Georgia each sit at 1.7; Florida and Arkansas at 1.6. Even against 46th-ranked Louisiana, Vermont’s rate is nearly 239 points higher.

This is not simply a story of high absolute numbers. Vermont does not record hundreds of hate crimes each year. The story here is one of concentrated risk — what happens when a very small community is targeted repeatedly in a place where that community has little critical mass or political visibility.

The Year-by-Year Picture

Looking at individual years adds texture to the story:

After peaking at 24 incidents in 2021, Vermont’s annual count dropped steadily — falling 63% to a low of 9 in 2024. That trend might have looked like progress. But 2025 brought the sharpest single-year increase in the five-year period, with eight additional incidents recorded over the prior year.

That rebound warrants attention. Given Vermont’s already high per-capita rate, even a modest increase in the raw number of incidents has an outsized statistical effect on the community’s exposure.

Why Per-Capita Rates Matter

It can be tempting to dismiss small-state figures as statistically insignificant — after all, we’re talking about 17 or 24 incidents in a year, not hundreds. But that framing misses the point.

For Vermont’s roughly 7,300 Black residents, 17 hate crimes in a year is not a small number. It means that in any given year, roughly 1 in every 430 Black Vermonters is directly targeted in a bias-motivated crime. In a small, close-knit community, that’s not a distant statistic — it’s a neighbor, a coworker, a family member.

Per-capita rates exist precisely to make these comparisons fair across populations of different sizes. When we use them, Vermont doesn’t just appear elevated — it stands alone.

About This Data

This analysis was produced by The Mendoza Law Firm, an immigration law practice focused on community advocacy and accessible legal support. The study examined anti-Black hate crime data from the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer and Black population estimates from the Missouri Census Data Center across all 50 states for the years 2021–2025. States were ranked by average annual hate crimes per 100,000 Black residents. The full research dataset is available here.