CT Insider | By: Jordan Nathaniel Fenster
We set out to find the hottest ZIP code, but we learned about some other things in the process.
The dataset shows more than where home sales are brisk, pointing to changing populations, rising housing costs and communities where transportation may be a challenge.
When looking at home sales, rents, demographic changes and commuting measures for Connecticut ZIP codes, no single number explains what is happening in a community, but the comparisons can point to shifts in who lives there, how quickly homes are selling and how difficult housing costs can be for residents.
Here are five takeaways from CT Insider’s 169 project, which looks at which Connecticut ZIP codes are in highest demand, and for whom. The analysis scores neighborhoods five ways: how competitive the housing market is, how friendly it is to families, how attractive it is to younger working adults, how well it serves older residents and how much value homes offer relative to income.
1. Population and age dynamics can vary
A variety of towns are gaining adults ages 25 to 44 while losing children and population overall.
In Madison, the population ages 25 to 44 grew 24% between the two five-year periods in the dataset, 2015–19 and 2020–24, while the number of children under 18 fell 23%. The town’s overall population declined 2.5%.
Newtown showed a similar pattern: Its 25-to-44 population grew 16%, while its population under 18 fell 14% and its total population declined 5.9%.
Those Madison and Newtown ZIP codes that saw all three changes — an increase of residents aged 25-44, and a decrease in both the population of children and the total population — are not unique, though not common. More often, nearly half of the ZIP codes with populations of at least 5,000 saw an increase of residents aged 25-44 and a decrease in the population of children, but an increase in the total population.
Sean Ghio, policy director at a statewide nonprofit research, policy, and advocacy organization Partnership for Strong Communities, said as the cost of housing has risen, fewer people are starting families even if they’re buying homes.
“I think there’s evidence of that,” he said. “That cost of living and houses — generally the biggest part of that budget — is making folks have fewer children, and having them later.”
The data doesn’t explain why the age groups are changing, but it does show that total population numbers can tell only a partial part of the story about who lives in a town. Madison and Newtown had fewer residents overall, and within that had more residents in their prime working years and fewer children.