American Community Survey Data Release: Income and Education Levels Increased, Remote Working Increased, Home Values Decreased

The American Community Survey (ACS) is administered by the United States Census Bureau on an ongoing basis, from January through December of every year. Although Covid-19 delayed the release of the 2020 ACS 5-year estimates, the full set of data tables (covering the period from January 2016 through December 2020) was released on March 17, 2022. In this blog post, we summarize important, high-level findings for the state of Connecticut. Additionally, we have created an interactive platform for you to explore the data further.

It is important to note that the ACS is a survey of a sample of residents, not all residents. Therefore ACS estimates have margins of error which provide information about the precision of the estimate. Roughly speaking, we have 90% certainty that the “real” value is around the estimated value plus-or-minus the margin of error. We show the margins of error after each estimate in the tables and maps below. Additionally, we report the statistical significance of changes from the 2011-2015 to the 2016-2020 ACS 5-year estimates. If a change is not statistically significant, this means there is insufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero.

Throughout, all dollar amounts are inflation-adjusted to 2020 dollars using the Consumer Price Index.

Majority of Towns Experience Decrease in Population

Connecticut’s overall population decreased by 0.6% from 3.59 million in 2011-2015 to 3.57 million in 2016-2020. One hundred and eight towns showed a statistically significant decrease in population, and 28 towns showed a statistically significant increase in population.

In 2016-2020, the five largest cities were Bridgeport (145,014 residents), New Haven (130,381 residents), Stamford (130,057 residents), Hartford (122,549 residents), and Waterbury (107,841 residents). Each of these cities experienced a small decline in residents from 2011-2015 to 2016-2020, except for Stamford which experienced a 2.7% increase in residents.

Explore population change for your town on the map.

Median Household Income Increases Slightly on The State-Level, But Several Towns Experience Decreases

In 2016-2020, Connecticut’s estimated median household income was $79,855, a statistically significant increase of 4% from the median household income of $76,842 (in 2020 dollars) in 2011-2015. Twenty-four towns showed a statistically significant increase in median household income and six towns showed a significant decrease in median household income. The largest increases were seen in Bethany (42% increase from $106,257 to $151,034), East Granby (35% increase from $79,413 to $107,566), and Westport (25% increase from $177,988 to $222,375). The largest decreases were seen in Middlefield (29% decrease from $111,908 to $79,042), North Stonington (25% decrease from $82,986 to $61,963), and Watertown (16% decrease from $86,010 to $71,964).

The highest estimated median household incomes in 2016-2020 were seen in Darien ($243,750), Westport ($222,375), and Weston ($207,863). The lowest estimated median household incomes were seen in Hartford ($36,154), Windham ($42,909), and New Haven ($44,507).

Explore median household incomes for your town from the 2011-2015 and 2016-2020 5-year ACS estimates in the sortable table below.

Home Values Decrease While Rent Increases

After adjusting for inflation, the median home value in Connecticut was $279,900 in 2016-2020, a statistically significant decrease of 5.4% from the median home value of $295,542 in 2011-2015. Eighty-six towns showed a statistically significant decrease in median home value, while two towns (Canaan and Woodstock) showed a significant increase in median home value.

Similar to 2011-2015, Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, and Westport had the highest median home values in 2016-2020, all exceeding a median home value of $1 million.

Explore change in median home values by town in the map to the right and the table below.

While home values decreased, the median gross rent increased by 2.3% to $1,201 in 2016-2020, a statistically significant increase from the median gross rent of $1,175 (in 2020 dollars) in 2011-2015. Sixteen towns showed a statistically significant increase in median gross rent and eleven towns showed a significant decrease in median gross rent. In 2016-2020, rent was most expensive in Easton ($3,140), Darien ($3,052), and Weston ($2,659).

Women Continue to Earn Only 80 Cents on the Dollar Compared to Men

In 2016-2020, the median annual income for women who were working full-time was 80.8% of the median annual income for men working full-time ($55,546 for women versus $68,716 for men across the state). This income gap has not changed significantly from the 2011-2015 ACS 5-year estimates.

We plan on further analyzing income disparities by sex, race/ethnicity, town, and/or industry in future posts. We will update our Special Analyses section on our ACS 2020 page as we publish additional analyses.

Poverty rates decreased slightly, but some towns still experience high poverty rates

In 2016-2020, an estimated 90.2% of Connecticut residents lived above the federal poverty line, a statistically significant increase from the 2011-2015 estimate of 89.5%. However, eight towns were estimated to have fewer than 80% of their residents living above the poverty line: Hartford (72%), Mansfield (73%), New Haven (75%), Windham (75%), New London (76%), Bridgeport (77%), Waterbury (79%), and New Britain (79%). This means that at least 1 out of every 5 residents of these towns is estimated to be experiencing poverty.

The map shows 2020 poverty rates, with the towns with the highest rates highlighted.

Education Levels Have Increased

Across Connecticut, from 2011-2015 to 2016-2020 the percentage of adults aged 25 and older who had obtained at least a bachelor’s degree increased significantly by 2.4 percentage points, from 37.6% to 40%. The percentage of adults who had obtained at least a high school diploma or equivalent showed a small but statistically significant increase of 1 percentage point from 89.9% to 90.9%.

Thirty-seven towns showed a statistically significant increase in attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree, and four towns showed a significant decrease in degree attainment. The largest significant increases in bachelor’s degree attainment were seen in Easton (12.8 percentage-point increase from 57.8% to 70.6%), Somers (12.1 percentage-point increase from 27.5% to 39.6%), and Westbrook (12.1 percentage-point increase from 36.1% to 48.2%). The largest significant decreases in bachelor’s degree attainment were seen in Lebanon (9.7 percentage-point decrease from 41.2% to 31.5%), Morris (9.6 percentage-point decrease from 42.3% to 32.7%), and Newtown (4.9 percentage-point decrease from 56.2% to 51.3%).

The highest rates of bachelor’s degree attainment in 2016-2020 were seen in Darien (86.2%), New Canaan (79.2%), and Westport (78.9%), whereas the lowest rates of bachelor’s degree attainment were seen in Plainfield (11.8%), Griswold (16.7%), and Hartford (17.0%). The lowest rates of attaining at least a high school diploma or equivalent were seen in Hartford (73.9%) and Bridgeport (76.1%).

Explore educational attainment in your town using the table below.

Working From Home Is Becoming Increasingly Common

Overall, 7.6% of Connecticut residents indicated that they work from home in 2016-2020, a significant increase of 3.2 percentage points from only 4.4% in 2011-2015. While we do not have reliable 1-year ACS estimates for 2020, part of this increase may be attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy-eight towns in Connecticut showed a significant increase of residents who work from home, with the highest increases in Sherman (21.4 percentage-point increase from 6.2% to 27.6%) and Mansfield (17.2 percentage-point increase from 4.2% to 21.4%).

We plan on further analyzing data around working remotely. We will update our Special Analyses section on our ACS 2020 page as we publish additional analyses.

More Connecticut Residents Have Health Insurance Coverage

The percentage of Connecticut residents with health insurance coverage increased significantly by 2.8 percentage points, from 92.1% in 2011-2015 to 94.9% in 2016-2020. Eighty-two towns showed a statistically significant increase in health insurance coverage rates over this period, whereas no towns showed a significant decrease in coverage rates. However, three cities were still estimated to have fewer than 90% of their residents covered by health insurance in 2016-2020: Norwalk (85.6%), Danbury (86.4%), and Bridgeport (87.2%).

What Next?

Annual releases of the ACS are crucial to understanding how Connecticut is evolving, both as a whole and on the town level. ACS data helps leaders and policymakers in Connecticut make informed decisions around income, housing, education, and more.

We will be updating our ACS 2020 portal weekly with additional and special analyses here. Please send us a message at info@ctdata.org if you have any specific analyses you would like to see!

To further explore the ACS 2020 data, please visit our interactive platform here.

To learn more about the Census and resources provided by CTData, head to our Census Data portal. Explore other data sets and analysis at data by topic and data projects. You can stay up-to-date on the latest data and tools by subscribing to our newsletter and following CTData on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.