53033 FipsDecoder
50023 County FIPS Code

Washington County

Vermont · County seat: Montpelier · Active county or equivalent

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FIPS code 50023 is Washington County, Vermont. With a population of 59,768 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #3 in Vermont and #880 nationally. Washington County is part of the Barre, VT. The state FIPS code for Vermont is 50. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.

County FIPS

50023

State FIPS

50

VT

Population

59,768

2022 ACS · #880 nationally

Density

87.0/mi²

people per sq mile

Land Area

687

sq miles

Urban/Rural

Nonmetro — urban 20K+, adjacent to metro

RUCC 4

How This FIPS Code Works

50 023
50 = State FIPS (Vermont)
023 = County FIPS

The 5-digit FIPS code 50023 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 50 (Vermont) with the 3-digit county identifier 023. Together they uniquely identify Washington County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.

Census ACS Data for FIPS 50023

From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 50023.

Median Household Income

$77,278

ACS B19013_001E

Poverty Rate

9.9%

ACS B17001 (below poverty level)

Median Age

43.8

ACS B01002_001E

Metropolitan Area

Adjacent Counties (5)

Counties that share a border with Washington County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 50023.

Federal Datasets Using Code 50023

FIPS code 50023 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.

Using FIPS Code 50023 in Code

Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.

Census ACS API — Python 50023
import requests

url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
    "get":  "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
    "for":  "county:023",
    "in":   "state:50",
    "key":  "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json()  # [[header...], [Washington County, Vermont, income, pop, ...]
SQL — filtering by county FIPS 50023
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '50023';

-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '50'
  AND county_fips = '023';

-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 50023 is WRONG for this county
R — tidycensus 50023
library(tidycensus)

get_acs(
  geography = "county",
  variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
  state     = "50",
  county    = "023",
  year      = 2022
)
Zero-padding reminder: FIPS codes must always be stored and compared as zero-padded strings. 50 (not 50) and 023 (not 23) — losing the leading zeros is one of the most common data-join bugs in federal datasets. Full guide →

ZIP Codes in Washington County

ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Washington County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →

ZIP Code % in county
05682 100.0%
05602 100.0%
05640 100.0%
05667 100.0%
05670 100.0%
05673 100.0%
05674 100.0%
05677 100.0%
05678 100.0%
05681 100.0%
05647 100.0%
05648 100.0%
05650 100.0%
05651 100.0%
05658 100.0%
05660 100.0%
05664 100.0%
05666 100.0%
05663 97.2%
05676 79.0%
05669 69.7%
05641 61.7%
05654 48.3%
05843 12.3%
05649 8.7%
05060 6.2%
05873 3.6%
05680 2.3%

Other Counties in Vermont