Why are some Connecticut towns gaining population?
Immigration, quality of schools and housing trends among reasons
Avon, Ellington, Rocky Hill, South Windsor, Farmington and Bloomfield were the fastest-growing towns in central Connecticut over the past decade, and — at least for some — recent immigration and the quality of local schools appear to be part of the reason.
All six towns added 5% or more to their population between 2010 and 2019, while neighboring communities either posted smaller gains, held steady or even lost residents.
There’s no single factor explaining why some communities grew while similar next-door neighbors didn’t: Ellington’s population jumped 5%, for instance, while Somers sank by 10%.
Business and community leaders in several of the six towns cited location as a big draw, saying easy highway access for commuters is a big selling feature. A few suggested relatively low taxes played a role, too.
But all listed their schools as a significant attraction. Avon, South Windsor and Farmington rank in the second tier of Connecticut’s nine-level “district reference group” ranking, which measures affluence — and often closely parallels educational success.
“School systems make a big difference. When people move out of the city, they look for a town with good schools,” veteran real estate agent Rob Saelens said.
And Bloomfield — the only one of the six that ranks below the halfway point — is making progress, Mayor Suzette Debeatham-brown said.
“Our school system is improving. There’s a lot to still be done, but people are seeing the progress,” she said.
South Windsor has put more than $100 million into replacing three outdated elementary schools in the past decade, and voters recently approved spending nearly $60 million on a fourth new one.
“Our community made a real investment in our school system. We’ve been very public about knocking down a school and building a brand new one for kids,” Town Manager Michael Manascalco said. “We’ve got good schools, good location. There’s our affordability — it’s a trifecta of all the things you want to have happening.”
South Windsor has added housing over the decade, but turnover is a bigger reason for the addition of 1,209 residents in the past decade, he said.
“One of the drivers we’re seeing cause an increase in school enrollment is the young families moving into existing homes and renovating them,” he said. “What you’re having is an older couple no longer interested in taking care of a home — they’re moving on to a condo or some other part of the country — and a family is coming in with three people or even four.”
A significant factor for five of the six towns was growth in the Asian population, most notably among immigrants from India.
Statewide, the “Asian” category on the census makes up 5% of the population. But residents describing themselves as Asian accounted for 18.8% in Rocky Hill, 13.1% in Avon, 12.3% in Farmington, 11.6% in South Windsor and 6.5% in Ellington.
Education, public safety and location are three big reasons that Rocky Hill is appealing, said Prabhakar Damineni, who owns Priya, a popular Indian restaurant on the Silas Deane Highway.
“The schools are good. There is no crime at all,” he said. “It’s close to all surrounding small towns and Hartford.”
Rocky Hill officials said there has been a pattern for many years of highly skilled workers from India arriving with visas to work in technology or medicine and then getting permanent resident cards. Most of those jobs are in Hartford, New Haven or along the I-91 corridor of aerospace manufacturers, and Rocky Hill is within commuting distance of all of them.
“Our location is very important: We’re near a lot of technology, engineering and software jobs — high tech, high-paying jobs, aerospace and biomedical clusters,” said Ray Carpentino, Rocky Hill’s economic development director. “It started like a Little Poland or Little Italy. People felt comfortable here. Families felt welcome. They began to volunteer on our town boards and commissions, and they’re shaping the community,” he said.
The town has a wide range of housing between family-size homes and small apartments, making it convenient for people to start out in Rocky Hill and then stay in town as they create and grow families, he said.
“And when a family member relocates to the Hartford area for work, the families relocate with them. And as our demographics have become more diverse, we’ve developed a commission on inclusion and innovation so people can understand a community within a community,” Mayor Lisa Marotta said.
Rocky Hill added two apartment complexes with 144 units each in the past five years, and developers are working on proposals for about 200 more units.
Bloomfield has also gained residents because of new home construction, including the 215-unit Heirloom Flats apartment complex. As with South Windsor, Bloomfield is seeing a shift as older couples and singles sell homes to younger families, Debeatham-brown said.
“There’s a nice mix of young people. Our diversity is very attractive to a lot of people,” she said. “For the past 10 years, our demographics have been changing. We have a high population of African American and Latino people who work in the city, maybe in hospitals or downtown, but they like to come home to a quieter neighborhood.
“Developers are building here because they see a need. The town is changing. People are finding value here.”
Farmington council Chairman C.J. Thomas said a relatively low tax rate combined with a long-term commitment to schools has made his town attractive.
“Farmington has both a vibrant residential community and a thriving business sector,” he said, along with a large commercial tax base that lets the town keep up with infrastructure improvements without pinning the entire burden on homeowners.
Thomas cited Farmington’s recent upgrades to its sewage treatment plant and taxpayers’ approval to build a $135.6 million high school.
Carpentino said that’s a factor for Rocky Hill, too.
“Rocky Hill is only 13.9 square miles, but we have a 33% commercial tax base,” he said. “Many suburban towns would love to have that tax base.”