As a person born in the North East Kingdom, and still have many relatives there, I am not surprised at what JP wrote. The majority of the people there are normal, hard working people. The remaining population, are a very ignorant and often racist bunch. It does have a high unemployment rate, and most struggle to make ends meet. Many of the small surrounding towns used to be full of dairy farms, but that has dwindled to a few.
While the area is large, the population is small and somewhat isolated. St. Jay has a population of about 8000 and is considered a large town compared to the surrounding towns. If you discount the college student population of Lyndonville, the next largest town is Newport which is north and near the Canadian border.
I was born in Orleans which is between St. Jay and Newport. It used to be a bustling small (very small) town because it had an Ethan Allen Factory. That has since closed, so employment rates are very low. Before my grandmother passed, I was up there every 2 months or so, and it was sad to see the whole area slowly declining.