Hartford County Population Losses Go Near and Far, Gains Are Fewer and Closer

Each day in the United States, about 130,000 people move from one county to another.  That’s the bottom line of the new migration patterns released by the U.S. Census Bureau, which include a web mapping application intended to provide users with a simple interface to view, save and print county-to-county migration flows maps of the United States. The data are from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey (ACS).

In Hartford County, for example, there were 17,442 who moved here from a different state, but 20,524 who moved to another state.  In addition, there were 14,982 people who moved to Hartford County from another of the state’s eight counties.  There were also 5,212 people who moved to Hartford County from abroad, according to the Census data.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides data every year -- giving communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.  The detailed data is combined into statistics that are used to help decide everything from school lunch programs to new hospitals, according to the Census Bureau.

Hartford County’s strongest outward bound numbers are reflected elsewhere in Connecticut, and to North Carolina.  The top losses of population were:  827 people to Tolland County, 743 to Windham County, 305 to Wake County in North Carolina, 299 to Providence County in Rhode Island, and 286 to New London County, 261 to Worcester County, MA and 226 to Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

The population gains in Hartford County were led by other parts of the state, and New York City.  The top six:  1,005 people from New Haven County, 599 from Fairfield County, 555 from Brooklyn, 548 from the Bronx, and 368 from Middlesex County and 300 from Westchester.

The web mapping application provides data for Hartford, Windham, New Haven, Middlesex, Tolland, Fairfield, Litchfield and New London counties.  In addition to the maps, the data can also be imported into spreadsheets.