How Diverse is Connecticut?
Diversity can often be difficult to quantify, especially when discussing race and ethnicity. The Census Bureau provides accurate and recent demographic data through the American Community Survey and Decennial Census, but how can we use this data to measure diversity in Connecticut towns?
Overview
The Census Bureau defines the Diversity Index of a geographic region as “the chance that two people chosen at random will be from different racial and ethnic groups.” For example, if the Diversity Index of a region is 60%, two people chosen randomly from this region will have a 60% chance of identifying as a different race/ethnicity from each other (and thus a 40% chance of identifying as the same race/ethnicity). Therefore, a higher Diversity Index indicates a more diverse population.
The release of 2020 Census redistricting data provides the most recent population counts. Using the methodology created by the Census Bureau, CTData calculated a Diversity Index for each town in Connecticut. See Methodology section below to read about the full methodology behind the Diversity Index and how it is calculated.
Diversity in Connecticut vs Other States
The Diversity Index in the United States is 61% in 2020. States with the highest Diversity Index are Hawaii (76%), California (70%), and Nevada (69%), while those with the lowest are Maine (19%), West Virginia (20%), and Vermont (20%). Connecticut ranks 22 out of 51, with a Diversity Index of 56%. While this is lower than the national average, Connecticut has the highest Diversity Index of all the states in New England and has experienced an increase of nearly 10% (from 46%) since 2010.
Connecticut Diversity in 2020
The overall Diversity Index of Connecticut is 56%, but there is a wide range when looking at town-level data. There are 22 towns that have a higher Diversity Index than the state average, many of which are towns with larger populations, and 147 towns that have a lower Diversity Index. Towns with the highest Diversity Index are New Haven (73%), East Hartford (72%), and Waterbury (69%), while those with the lowest are Lyme (13%), Morris (14%), and Barkhamsted (14%). These findings are consistent with 2010 Census data (though rankings are not exactly the same).
Explore changes across Connecticut: Connecticut Population and Demographics Changes between 2010 and 2020
The Diversity Index of Connecticut increased from 46% to 56% from 2010 to 2020. While there are many towns in Connecticut with a low Diversity Index in 2020, all but two towns experienced an increase in diversity compared to 2010. The largest absolute increases (difference in percentages) were in South Windsor (19%), Bethel (19%), and Brookfield (18%), while slight decreases were observed in Somers (-3%) and Bridgeport (-1%). Although Bridgeport’s Diversity Index decreased by 1%, it remains one of the most diverse towns in Connecticut in both 2010 and 2020.
The table below summarizes the Diversity Index of each town in Connecticut in 2010 and 2020, as well with the absolute percent change. Search for your town in the search bar below.
Methodology
The race and ethnicity breakdown in the 2020 Census contains population counts for eight different race/ethnicity groups:
Hispanic or Latino (H)
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino (W)
Black or African American alone, not Hispanic or Latino (B)
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, not Hispanic or Latino (AIAN)
Asian alone, not Hispanic or Latino (Asian)
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, not Hispanic or Latino (NHPI)
Some Other Race alone, not Hispanic or Latino (SOR)
Two or More Races, not Hispanic or Latino (MULTI)
Converting the population counts into the proportion of the overall population and assuming that the geographic region has a population of more than eight people, the Diversity Index can be calculated by:
The Diversity Index is equal to the minimum of 0 when an entire population is comprised of only one of the eight groups above (for example, everyone in a town identifies as NHPI) and equal to 0.875 when there is a perfectly equal representation of each of the eight groups above (exactly 1/8 of the population identifies as each individual group).
For More Information
Visit our 2020 Census Hub for more information about the 2020 Census and to keep up-to-date with data releases and analyses. Be sure to check back as we plan to update the hub often with new data and analyses.
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