This report is the second in the series titled The Changing Demographics of Connecticut — 1990 to 2000. In the preceding report, Part 1: Comparing Connecticut to National Averages, it was shown that Connecticut’s statewide averages, whether in terms of income, poverty, or racial composition, provided a misleading description of the state’s socioeconomics. In this report a more representative description of town demographics is provided. Each town has been assigned to one of five town groups. These five town groups reflect separate and distinct Connecticuts and allow the reader to more easily see the separate socioeconomic trends within the state. 

The report is based predominately on data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 1990 and 2000 Decennial Census.

The executive summary from the 2003 State of Connecticut’s Youth report summarizes data in various areas, including health, education, and socioeconomic disparity.

This report determined that the way the state is growing is hurting all communities — from the most impoverished to the most affluent. It recommends regional and statewide reforms to address environmental preservation and problems in regional government.

This crosstab of results from the 2018 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey contains weighted estimates for Connecticut, as well as disaggregations for each of the Five Connecticuts.

The survey conducted in-depth interviews with over 16,000 randomly-selected adults living in every town and city throughout Connecticut.

he Five Connecticuts are a system used to classify individual towns into one of five categories (Wealthy, Suburban, Rural, Urban Periphery, and Urban Core) based on the median household income, population density, and poverty rate of each town as of the most recent Census data.  In many cases, survey estimates for the population of any individual town in Connecticut will be similar to other towns within its Five Connecticuts grouping.

The original classification system for the Five Connecticuts was developed in: Levy, Don, Orlando Rodriguez, and Wayne Villemez. 2004. The Changing Demographics of Connecticut – 1990 to 2000. Part 2: The Five Connecticuts. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut, The Connecticut State Data Center, Series, no. OP 2004-01.  For the 2015 Community Wellbeing Survey, the classification system was updated for DataHaven by Don Levy using 2010 Census data. The 2018 Community Wellbeing Survey uses the same classification system.

The full classification is available here. To cite our updated classification system, please use “Levy, Don and DataHaven. (2015): Five Connecticuts 2010 Update. Produced for Siena College Research Institute and DataHaven based on the original method of assigning designations used in Levy, Don, Orlando Rodriguez, and Wayne Villemez. 2004. The Changing Demographics of Connecticut – 1990 to 2000. Part 2: The Five Connecticuts. Storrs, Connecticut: University of Connecticut SDC Series, no. OP 2004-01. Published by DataHaven.”

File history: Originally posted 12/21/18. Errata: 1) Current version updated 1/4/19 to correct a minor typo in the script (i.e., the row with survey question text) above RENTEVICT.