Why would anyone live there? Weather
Beautiful Beaches
Bernie Saunders?
I think it's to get away from the riff-raff.
I live next door in NH. So, I will try to answer your question. First of all, they were born there. Secondly, it really is a beautiful state. It is all mountains & river valleys. It is still very rural in comparison to its neighbors. Up until recently there were more cows in VT than people. Like a lot of blue states, the people in the more rural areas are out numbered by the liberals in the cities and college towns. This is the case with VT too. All the liberals live in Burlington. The salt of the earth dairy farmers are conservative. However, they have been outnumbered by the transplants from New York. Every bed & breakfast in VT is owned by some former New Yorker. Many were people that got rich in the financial business and then semi retired to VT to escape the rat race. Unfortunately, they brought their liberal politics with them.
The other Vermonter is your basic Hippie that moved there in the 1960’s. Literally people like Ben and Jerry. Hippies moved to VT in the 1960’s and lived in communes. Again, many were transplants from NY, Mass and other states. Now their kids have been indoctrinated in socialism since they were in diapers.