Hartford County, Connecticut


Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2010 census, the population was 894,014, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. In 2019, its population declined to an estimated 891,720. Hartford County contains the city of Hartford, the state capital of Connecticut and the county's most populous city, with an estimated 123,400 residents in 2017. Hartford County is included in the Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown metropolitan statistical area.

History

Hartford County was one of four original counties in Connecticut established on May 10, 1666, by an act of the Connecticut General Court. The act establishing the county states:
As established in 1666, Hartford County consisted of the towns of Windsor, Wethersfield, Hartford, Farmington, and Middletown. The "Thirty Miles Island" referred to in the constituting Act was incorporated as the town of Haddam in 1668. In 1670, the town of Simsbury was established, extending Hartford County to the Massachusetts border. In the late 17th to early 18th centuries, several more towns were established and added to Hartford County: Waterbury in 1686, Windham in 1694, Hebron in 1708, Coventry in 1712, and Litchfield in 1722.
In 1714, all of the unincorporated territory north of the towns of Coventry and Windham in northeastern Connecticut to the Massachusetts border were placed under the jurisdiction of Hartford County. Windham County was constituted in 1726, resulting in Hartford County losing the towns of Windham, Coventry, Mansfield, and Ashford. Northwestern Connecticut, which was originally placed under the jurisdiction of New Haven County in 1722, was transferred to Hartford County by 1738. All of northwestern Connecticut was later constituted as the new Litchfield County in 1751. In 1785, two more counties were established in what was now the U.S. state of Connecticut: Tolland and Middlesex. This mostly resulted in the modern extent of Hartford County. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the establishment of several more towns resulted in minor adjustments in the bounds of the county. The final adjustment resulting in the modern limits occurred on May 8, 1806, when the town of Canton was established.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010, the county had a total area of, of which is land and is water. It is the second-largest county in Connecticut by land area.
The county is divided into two unequal parts by the Connecticut River, and watered by Farmington, Mill, Podunk, Scantic, and other rivers. The surface is very diverse: part of the river valleys are alluvial and subject to flooding, while other portions of the county are hilly and even mountainous.

Adjacent counties

In Connecticut, there is no county-level executive or legislative government; the counties determine probate, civil and criminal court boundaries, but little else. Each city or town is responsible for local services such as schools, snow removal, sewers, fire department and police departments. In Connecticut, cities and towns may agree to jointly provide services or establish a regional school system.

Cities

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 857,183 people, 335,098 households, and 222,505 families living in the county. The population density was 1,166 people per square mile. There were 353,022 housing units at an average density of 480 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 76.90% White, 11.66% Black or African American, 0.23% Native American, 2.42% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 6.43% from other races, and 2.31% from two or more races. 11.55% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 15.2% were of Italian, 11.2% Irish, 9.1% Polish, 6.5% English, 5.7% French and 5.3% German ancestry. 78.4% spoke English, 10.3% Spanish, 2.6% Polish, 1.9% French and 1.6% Italian as their first language.
There were 335,098 households, out of which 31.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.20% were married couples living together, 13.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.60% were non-families. 27.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.60% under the age of 18, 7.80% from 18 to 24, 29.80% from 25 to 44, 23.20% from 45 to 64, and 14.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.00 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $50,756, and the median income for a family was $62,144. Males had a median income of $43,985 versus $33,042 for females. The per capita income for the county was $26,047. About 7.10% of families and 9.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.90% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 894,014 people, 350,854 households, and 227,831 families living in the county. The population density was. There were 374,249 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 72.4% white, 13.3% black or African American, 4.2% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 7.1% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 15.3% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 15.9% were Italian, 15.6% were Irish, 10.7% were Polish, 9.4% were English, 8.8% were German, and 2.5% were American.
Of the 350,854 households, 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.0% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.1% were non-families, and 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.06. The median age was 39.9 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $62,590 and the median income for a family was $78,599. Males had a median income of $56,181 versus $44,273 for females. The per capita income for the county was $33,151. About 8.0% of families and 10.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.3% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

Demographic breakdown by town

Income

Data is from the 2010 United States Census and the 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
RankTownPer capita
income		Median
household
income		Median
family
income		PopulationNumber of
households		Pop. Density
1GlastonburyTown$73,020$127,237$145,32134,42712,866670
2AvonTown$55,879$105,116$129,65118,0987,009770
3SimsburyTown$54,571$113,224$135,77223,5118,776685
4FarmingtonTown$50,541$85,417$106,88525,34010,522881
5GranbyTown$46,687$97,500$111,33911,2824,194277
6CantonTown$46,401$87,643$101,79310,2924,150412
7West HartfordTown$43,534$78,530$102,54763,26825,2582,837
8BurlingtonTown$43,392$115,341$120,5809,3013,291306
9MarlboroughTown$41,669$108,232$110,5276,4042,292272
10SuffieldTown$41,098$90,023$99,85515,7355,155366
11East GranbyTown$40,698$77,596$97,1745,1482,062291
12BloomfieldTown$39,738$68,372$84,58320,4868,554779
13South WindsorTown$38,945$88,350$94,60225,7099,918896
14BerlinTown$38,134$86,211$98,67719,8667,808736
15WethersfieldTown$37,329$71,284$91,56326,66811,2042,036
16HartlandTown$36,874$85,956$91,1882,11478961
17SouthingtonTown$36,053$77,673$102,18643,06916,8141,177
18Rocky HillTown$36,021$72,417$88,75019,7098,3071,426
19WindsorTown$35,780$78,695$90,85629,04411,233937
20ManchesterTown$32,752$61,571$77,01858,24124,6892,103
21NewingtonTown$32,561$69,085$80,59730,56212,5502,333
22East WindsorTown$31,162$64,301$76,50211,1624,750416
23PlainvilleTown$31,000$63,447$80,20517,7167,5801,814
24Windsor LocksTown$30,436$59,369$70,43912,4985,2231,330
25BristolCity$29,629$58,537$72,03860,47725,3202,257
26EnfieldTown$29,340$67,402$77,55444,65416,7941,306
27East HartfordTown$24,373$48,613$57,84851,25220,1952,741
28New BritainCity$21,056$39,706$45,99073,20628,1585,463
29HartfordCity$16,798$28,970$32,820124,77545,1246,932

Race

Data is from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates, "Race alone or in combination with one or more other races."
RankTownPopulationWhiteBlackAsianAmerican
Indian		OtherHispanic
1HartfordCity124,81735.1%39.8%2.9%1.5%25.1%42.4%
2New BritainCity73,05568.2%15.3%2.7%0.5%17.2%34.8%
3West HartfordTown63,06684.6%7.4%8.2%0.7%2.3%9.1%
4BristolCity60,47390.0%5.1%2.3%0.8%4.9%9.5%
5ManchesterTown57,89777.0%11.7%7.8%0.6%5.6%12.5%
6East HartfordTown51,09154.4%25.4%7.3%0.9%15.5%25.7%
7EnfieldTown44,74788.5%7.4%2.1%0.4%3.5%7.2%
8SouthingtonTown42,73196.3%1.2%1.8%0.2%1.0%3.4%
9GlastonburyTown34,17187.7%4.1%7.0%0.4%2.2%4.6%
10NewingtonTown30,44186.9%6.0%6.3%0.6%2.5%7.2%
11WindsorTown28,96256.4%37.6%5.0%0.5%3.7%8.4%
12WethersfieldTown26,64192.4%3.4%1.8%0.5%3.3%8.8%
13South WindsorTown25,57784.7%5.2%8.4%0.4%2.9%5.3%
14FarmingtonTown25,18690.0%3.0%7.8%0.4%0.3%1.3%
15SimsburyTown23,49894.3%2.3%4.0%0.5%0.4%2.3%
16BloomfieldTown20,40640.1%59.0%1.7%2.6%1.4%3.7%
17BerlinTown19,69494.3%1.5%2.7%0.4%1.9%2.7%
18Rocky HillTown19,53378.7%4.9%13.9%1.6%3.2%6.5%
19AvonTown17,85990.5%2.3%8.0%0.5%1.0%4.2%
20PlainvilleTown17,67095.7%2.9%2.3%0.3%1.0%4.7%
21SuffieldTown15,51386.3%9.6%1.5%1.5%4.0%5.8%
22Windsor LocksTown12,46689.1%4.2%6.0%1.1%1.2%3.6%
23GranbyTown11,19296.1%2.7%1.2%0.1%1.3%4.0%
24East WindsorTown11,02483.2%10.2%6.9%0.6%0.9%5.5%
25CantonTown10,13999.0%0.6%1.1%0.5%0.4%2.6%
26BurlingtonTown9,19197.8%1.1%1.5%0.1%0.3%2.5%
27MarlboroughTown6,33598.8%1.0%0.5%0.7%0.5%1.6%
28East GranbyTown5,05589.9%2.4%6.9%0.2%1.3%4.3%
29HartlandTown2,15897.5%0.9%2.1%0.4%0.2%0.3%

Transportation

Major highways

Public transportation

Prior to 1960, Hartford County was a Republican-leaning swing county in presidential elections. Since then, it has become solidly Democratic similar to most of New England, with the only Republicans to carry the county since then being Richard Nixon & Ronald Reagan in their 49-state landslide victories of 1972 & 1984.
YearGOPDEMOthers
201636.4% 148,17359.1% 240,4034.5% 18,288
201236.5% 143,23862.4% 244,6391.1% 4,363
200833.7% 138,98465.1% 268,7211.2% 5,023
200439.5% 154,91958.7% 229,9021.8% 6,987
200034.7% 127,46860.2% 221,1675.2% 18,921
199631.3% 111,56657.0% 203,54911.7% 41,726
199232.0% 132,59147.1% 195,49520.9% 86,718
198846.0% 173,03153.1% 199,8571.0% 3,648
198455.0% 208,21044.6% 168,6090.4% 1,586
198040.5% 150,26544.3% 164,64315.2% 56,472
197647.5% 175,06451.9% 191,2570.6% 2,173
197252.1% 194,09546.9% 174,8371.0% 3,654
196838.8% 131,74056.2% 190,8655.0% 17,096
196427.0% 88,81172.9% 240,0710.2% 622
196041.1% 136,45958.9% 195,4030.0% 2
195658.1% 175,89441.9% 126,9230.0% 0
195250.5% 150,33249.2% 146,5510.3% 831
194844.7% 105,26253.1% 124,8742.2% 5,157
194442.5% 95,22457.0% 127,8410.5% 1,153
194043.4% 88,15556.3% 114,3360.2% 462
193637.2% 65,65258.7% 103,4504.1% 7,216
193248.4% 72,61148.2% 72,3223.5% 5,220
192853.2% 75,99746.0% 65,7890.8% 1,169
192461.9% 61,38128.4% 28,1399.7% 9,591
192060.7% 54,04634.0% 30,2875.2% 4,646
191646.8% 23,26549.0% 24,3984.2% 2,102
191239.1% 16,96138.6% 16,75622.3% 9,674
190861.4% 24,78132.1% 12,9676.5% 2,637
190457.7% 23,86538.7% 16,0043.7% 1,513
190059.3% 22,42538.3% 14,4902.5% 931
189657.9% 30,26138.7% 20,2123.5% 1,813
189243.5% 20,03853.5% 24,6333.0% 1,387
188845.0% 19,00352.4% 22,1132.5% 1,073
188444.5% 16,31752.7% 19,3242.9% 1,046