Surge in Downtown, South End populations
Census: City saw a more than 10% jump in new residents in a decade
STAMFORD — Data from the 2020 Census shows that, even though Stamford's population ballooned between 2010 and 2020, that growth was far from equal.
The city gained almost 13,000 residents between 2010 and 2020, according to data released in August by the Census Bureau, but that 10.5 percent population growth consolidated around two neighborhoods primarily: the South End and Downtown.
People can look to the budding skyline as proof.
Above all other neighborhoods in the city, the South End saw the most growth. Both of its census tracts — 222.01 and 222.02 — had populations that more than doubled between 2010 and 2020.
In 222.02, which covers the northern half of the South
End, the population grew by 123.03 percent. For the latter tract, home to the bulk of Building and Land Technology's vast Harbor Point development, the population grew by 152.5 percent, more than any other place in Stamford.
Across both areas, the South End welcomed 4,455 new residents in 10 years and now has a total population of 7,641 people.
The South End's population changes closely mirror the number of apartments built along the peninsula since BLT redeveloped the neighborhood. In 10 years, BLT Co-President Ted Ferrarone said the company has added 3,840 total housing units to the district, with another 360 more under construction.
“The majority of where Harbor Point has been built on, those were all old essentially abandoned factories,” he
said. “So the initial period of development was really infilling the factory spaces, and I think what you've seen, in the last 24 months in particular, is that the community has really filled in.”
That "infill" growth isn't just limited to BLT properties. Ferrarone highlighted that other developers like Jonathan Rose, who built the 231-unit Metro Green building in 2009, have seized on the decade of change.
Gains downtown closely rivaled growth in the South End in its two census tracts, 201.01 and 201.02. Overall, the neighborhood gained 3,327 new people and reported 6,850 total residents.
The population changes were more moderate outside of the four census tracts packed closely near Stamford's central business district. Excluding those four areas, census tracts in Stamford grew on average by 4.2 percent, with most neighborhoods gaining people overall.
Only seven of the 34 census tracts in Stamford shrunk between 2010 and 2020. One of the four census tracts that cover the West Side, one — 214.01 — shrunk by 14.23 percent, the most of any area, with noticeable decreases in the number of Black and white residents. The Black population decreased by 44.62 percent, while the white population shrunk by 40 percent.
Despite part of the West Side contracting substantially over the decade, the three other West Side tracts saw population increases more in line with the citywide average. For example, tract 214.02, which borders Greenwich, grew by almost 22 percent. Similarly, census tracts 215.01 and 215.02 each grew by about 10 percent.
Part of the East Side also saw a slight dip in population, along with Shippan, the northwestern half of North Stamford and parts of Newfield.
Across all neighborhoods, Stamford is also one of the few cities in Connecticut that is meeting housing demand as it continues to grow, according to Michelle Riordan-Nold, who leads the Connecticut Data Collaborative.
"It's an outlier," she said, pointing out that Stamford met its 10.5 percent population increase with a 12.6 percent increase in housing units.
And, according to city Economic Development Director Thomas Madden, those apartments are almost all occupied.
"We cannot build apartments fast enough to meet this demand," he said.
Madden estimates the apartment occupancy rate is currently hovering around 95 percent. While new buildings have opened downtown and in Harbor Point in the last months, Madden said he expects fewer to open moving forward.
Like other city officials, Madden said he believes that Stamford's upward trajectory in terms of population will eventually have to level off. For him, the next phase of growth for the city tackles infrastructural changes rather than population increases.
"It all comes back to investing into the infrastructure," he said. "And so that's, you know, now you're making your investments into your sidewalks or schools. And as people move in, you've got to look at the ages that they are as they move in."
City and state leaders alike have suggested significant changes could be in the works for the Stamford Transportation Center. Still, Madden pointed out smaller-scale changes already in the works, like 5G towers and workforce development programs.
But Madden said that future infrastructural changes would be guided, in large part, by the census data the city just received.
"As we look at the ages of each of (the) neighborhoods, and the median age — that's gonna be telling to us as we start to plan out our infrastructure needs over the next 10 years," Madden said.