The United Health Foundation ranked Vermont as the second healthiest state in the country in 2014. Part of the reason for this is the high rate of physical activity among residents and the state’s relatively low rate of cancer.
The state of Vermont spent more than $24.6 million on public health initiatives in fiscal year 2013-14 alone, in addition to the federal funding the state received. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) funding in Virginia that year was the second highest in the country on a per capita basis. Additional funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration was the sixth highest in the country. This level of spending on public health has a direct impact on the availability of money for retaining public health professionals, and helps to ensure that salaries in the public health sector remain high.
The Vermont Department of Public Health works from its Healthy Vermonters 2020 plan to further improve the sate of public health by reducing the prevalence of chronic disease, substance abuse, and mental illness. Increasing the rate of childhood immunization is an additional long-term goal.
Epidemiologists with this department track a number of communicable diseases and provide this information to the public. They identified 896 cases of chronic Hepatitis C and 581 Lyme disease cases in 2014.
Vermont’s public health agencies work with the CDC to track environmental health hazards in the state. Tracking of this kind has identified correlations, such as increased rates of asthma attacks among children who live by highways.
The close relationship between Vermont’s public health professionals and their federal, state, and local colleagues has resulted in great gains.
A Look at Public Health Salaries in Burlington
The Vermont Department of Labor provides the salaries for public health professionals who were employed in the Burlington area in 2013. Professionals with advanced degrees such as a Master of Public Health are more likely to be in the 90th percentile:
An Analysis of Earnings in Vermont’s Public Health Sector
The average salary among epidemiologists, based on experience, employed with the Vermont Department of Public Health is shown below (2015):
- Epidemiologist IV – $74,318 – $47,528
- Epidemiologist III – $70,013 – $44,824
- Epidemiologist II – $62,400 – $40,082
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides the salaries for a number of other public health professionals employed in Vermont in 2014:
