Census reveals strong growth for New Haven

[Voytec Wacowski]

By City of New Haven

New Haven, CT - Detailed figures released by the United States Census Bureau show New Haven added 6,153 new residents over the past decade, a population growth rate of 5.0%. The city added more total residents than any municipality in the state. Among Connecticut’s top five cities, the population increase was the largest in real and percent terms. With a total of 129,779 residents up from 123,626 in 2000, New Haven reaffirmed its position as Connecticut’s second most populous city behind only Bridgeport.  “The population growth clearly reflects the fact that cities have become more attractive to wider array of people,” said New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. “People are moving back to cities; New Haven isn’t just attractive to students and young professionals. Folks are choosing to remain in the city. They are raising families and attending public schools and we are seeing empty nester return to an urban lifestyle.” “I think the city’s growth rate is also reflective of the success of our overall economic development effort,” the Mayor added. “Our focus on higher education and advanced manufacturing as well as biotech, new media and information technologies has made us New Haven attractive to investment and very competitive in the twenty-first century economy. People are choosing to live here.” The city grew at a slightly faster pace than the county; overall New Haven County grew by 38,831 persons, a rate of 4.7 percent, reversing the trend of the last several decades where county growth exceeded City growth. . The State of Connecticut grew 4.9 percent to 3,574,097. The strong population growth in New Haven reflects the growing appreciation of the quality of life available in New Haven which encompasses reasonable housing prices, a secure economic foundation, improving public schools and a growing real restate grand list. New Haven’s population growth reflects a strong growth in the array of housing choices available in the city. The city has added more than 1,000 new housing units in the past five years, including luxury apartments, downtown condominium lofts and some infill single family housing.  Despite the effects of the recession of 2007-2009 on the national economy, CNN Money has rated New Haven as a “best housing recovery bet,” citing proximity to New York City and the presence of Yale University as an employer and economic driver.  “The final numbers are a testament to the value of the city’s outreach efforts to get everyone counted, and to residents positive response to that effort”, said City Plan Executive Director Karyn Gilvarg, AIA. “Cities tend to be undercounted, but the strong showing demonstrates just how important the effort to count every resident is.” Gilvarg also expressed appreciation for the effort of the Complete Count Committee. “They worked tirelessly to ensure we counted every person in the City.” The City will be looking more closely at the Census numbers in the coming months, as we plan for city services and new development initiatives. DataHaven, the online information resource center, is preparing detailed tables and analysis for New Haven and all of southern Connecticut. For more information, you may visit the US Census at www.census.gov and DataHaven at www.ctdatahaven.org.

[Christel Manning]

interestgin . . I used to live in that area of Boston, and there definitely are parallels to here