SLOW GROWTH
NEW CENSUS DATA SHOWS LITTLE POPULATION INCREASE FOR CONNECTICUT IN 2022
Despite reports of a high-demand real estate market and a continued stream of suburb-seeking New Yorkers, Connecticut’s population grew less than 0.1 percent in 2022, new data shows. The Nutmeg State’s population grew by just 2,850 people in 2022, from 3,626,205 in 2021 to 3,623,355, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. It’s a much smaller increase than what Connecticut saw last year — 66,000 new residents between 2020 and 2021 — showing the state’s slowed growth following many New Yorkers’ decision to leave the city for suburbs during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Florida saw the largest population growth in 2022, at 1.9 percent, while New York was the state with the largest population decline, at -0.9 percent. The United States population as a whole grew an estimated 0.38 percent.
New York’s continued population decline does not appear to be contributing to big growth in Connecticut. In 2021, Census data showed that Connecticut had its first net-positive domestic migration since 2010, adding over 19,000 residents from other U.S. states.
In 2022, that number went in the opposite direction, with domestic migration accounting for the loss of 14,000 residents from Connecticut.
International migration numbers have begun to rebound from COVID-era restrictions on international travel, with 10,000 new Nutmeggers moving from other countries this year. In 2021, international migration to the state hit 4,000 — the lowest number since 2010 — likely due to travel limitations.
Connecticut had the second-lowest growth rate in the nation behind Vermont, which grew just 0.01 percent in 2022. A 2021 joint report by the Urban Institute and Fairfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity reported that the population is not expected to grow in the coming years.
“Connecticut’s future population, which is projected to decline over the next two decades, reflects three demographic trends: relatively more people migrating out of the state than into it, an aging population, and a decline in white population.”
A pandemic-era exodus of wealthy individuals, particularly to places in Florida, have been drawn by conditions like lower taxes and better weather. These kinds of movers, among others, are what Urban Institute and Fairfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity predict will contribute to the stagnation of Connecticut’s population growth and eventually cause its decline in the coming years.
CONNECTICUT’S POPULATION GREW LESS THAN 0.1 PERCENT IN 2022, NEW DATA SHOWS.