City · Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, Connecticut

Waterbury, Connecticut

Waterbury is a city in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, Connecticut, part of the Waterbury-Shelton, CT metro area. It has 114,869 residents. Waterbury, Connecticut has a quality-of-life score of 23 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,978 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Connecticut it ranks #160 of 160 cities and towns. It ranks best on public transit commuters (high), firearm deaths (low) and suicide rate (low). It ranks worst on child poverty rate (high), effective property tax rate (high) and child care cost burden (high).

23Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,978 of 15,651 cities and towns
Connecticut: #160 of 160 in CT
Population: 114,869 (2020-2024)
Land area: 29 mi²
Density: 4,022.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 0980000

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety74#4,066/15,637
Economy4#15,047/15,631
Housing4#14,358/14,977
Health43#8,903/15,609
Healthcare69#4,849/15,650
Environment26#11,392/15,453
Education29#11,040/15,649
Infrastructure15#13,358/15,650
Community34#10,315/15,651
Leisure & amenities51#7,664/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Waterbury, Connecticut ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Naugatuck Valley Planning Region value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Public transit commuters · high3.9%
91/100Connecticut 3.3%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Firearm deaths · low4.4 /100k
90/100Connecticut 4.5 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Model-based estimateProvisional dataNaugatuck Valley Planning Region value
Suicide rate · low9.7 /100k
85/100Connecticut 10.1 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Provisional dataNaugatuck Valley Planning Region value
Distance to an emergency room · low3.9 mi
81/100Connecticut 5.8 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesNaugatuck Valley Planning Region value
Flu vaccinations · high51.9%
81/100Connecticut 52.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Naugatuck Valley Planning Region value
Public EV charging ports · high9.5 /10k
80/100Connecticut 13.4 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyNaugatuck Valley Planning Region value

Weaknesses

Child poverty rate · high34.9%
2/100Connecticut 13.0%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Effective property tax rate · high2.47%
2/100Connecticut 1.54%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Child care cost burden · high45.4%
2/100Connecticut 39.8%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Naugatuck Valley Planning Region value
High school diploma or higher · low80.8%
5/100Connecticut 91.5%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
High ozone days · high11 days
5/100Connecticut 10 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEstimated from related areas or data (see the source notes)Naugatuck Valley Planning Region value
Physical inactivity · high37.3%
5/100Connecticut 23.5%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
108,276 (2015-2019) → 114,869 (2020-2024)
+6.1%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedImproving
0.2 /1k (2021) → 1.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+503%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
71.3% (2015-2019) → 85.3% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.1× (2015-2019) → 4.0× (2020-2024)
+30%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Median household incomeImproving
$42,401 (2015-2019) → $51,886 (2020-2024)
+22%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Average commute timeWorsening
25.4 min (2015-2019) → 28.0 min (2020-2024)
+10%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Waterbury, Connecticut improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 3. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Property tax−0.9 points3.34% → 2.47%
Broadband+14 points71.3% → 85.3%
Household income+22%$42,401 → $51,886

Declined3

Commute+2.6 min25.4 min → 28.0 min
Price / income+0.9×3.1× → 4.0×
Inequality+0.0350.464 → 0.499

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Waterbury, Connecticut between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.4 min2015-2019	28.0 min2020-2024	+2.6 min	Declined	23%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%2015-2019	17.3%2020-2024	+1.6 points	Within the margin of error	39%
Broadband subscriptions	71.3%2015-2019	85.3%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	76%
Child poverty rate	34.9%2015-2019	34.9%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Effective property tax rate	3.34%2015-2019	2.47%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Improved	99%
High school diploma or higher	79.6%2015-2019	80.8%2020-2024	+1.2 points	Within the margin of error	48%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	4.0×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	25%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4642015-2019	0.4992020-2024	+0.035	Declined	24%
Median household income	$42,4012015-2019	$51,8862020-2024	+22%	Improved	38%
Poverty rate	23.4%2015-2019	24.7%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Public transit commuters	4.2%2015-2019	3.9%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Rent as share of income	33.7%2015-2019	35.0%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Rent-burdened households	56.7%2015-2019	58.6%2020-2024	+1.8 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Unemployment rate	9.6%2015-2019	9.3%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.2%2015-2019	9.6%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	41%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Waterbury, Connecticut five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Waterbury, Connecticut in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Waterbury, Connecticut itself moved −3.8 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

114,869 residents (±48)

Men
Women

80 and over
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

45,663 households (±1,010)

Waterbury, Connecticut
Connecticut share

Under $25k28%12,915
$25k–50k20%9,039
$50k–75k17%7,831

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

45,663 households (±1,010)

Waterbury, Connecticut
Connecticut share

Own47%21,569
Rent53%24,094

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+5.8 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

48,551 workers (±1,713)

Waterbury, Connecticut
Connecticut share

Drive alone70%33,896
Carpool13%6,152
Public transit3.9%1,910

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Waterbury-Shelton, CT

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, the county holding most of Waterbury's residents.

Naugatuck Valley Planning Region has 9,114 employer establishments, 199 for every 10,000 residents (0.80× the US rate of 248; 0.81× Connecticut's), with 145,193 paid employees at an average annual pay of $66,365. The Census Bureau also counts 38,037 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 9,114; 38,037 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 199; US 248 · Connecticut 245
Paid employees: 145,193
Average annual pay: $66,365; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Naugatuck Valley Planning Region by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	859	18.8	0.90×About typical	11,459	$72,272	2,048
Restaurants and other eating places	783	17.1	0.93×About typical	10,388	$23,886	213
Specialty trade contractors	778	17	1.10×About typical	5,955	$78,606	3,374
Building equipment contractors	370	8.1	1.34×More than typical	3,113	$79,530	623
Full-service restaurants	345	7.5	0.98×About typical	4,660	$26,450	90
Limited-service restaurants	332	7.3	0.91×About typical	4,428	$21,733	93
Services to buildings and dwellings	293	6.4	0.95×About typical	1,934	$43,470	1,852
Offices of physicians	268	5.9	0.90×About typical	3,018	$123,671	247
Offices of other health practitioners	259	5.7	0.93×About typical	2,038	$45,187	1,007
Lessors of real estate	245	5.4	0.43×Fewer than typical	1,013	$66,526	4,223
Fabricated metal product manufacturing	242	5.3	3.31×More than typical	5,968	$64,662	68
Personal care services	237	5.2	1.09×About typical	1,147	$26,255	1,625

Rank places for an industry Open Naugatuck Valley Planning Region

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 457,384 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $6.1M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Waterbury, Connecticut: $53.14 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $6.1M; +79% vs FY2025
Per resident: $53.14; US $1,995
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 22%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

HYDROGEOLOGIC, INC.$3.9M64%
NOBIS ENGINEERING, INC$1.3M22%
DIME OIL CO$482.8K7.9%
WATERBURY PLUMBING & HEATING SUPPLY, INC.$414.7K6.8%
DREW MARINE USA INC$2,0990.0%

Spending by fiscal year

11.4KFY2017
-220.8KFY2018
-914KFY2019
-284.2KFY2020
22.9KFY2021
13.8KFY2022
289.4KFY2023
1.4MFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Remediation and other waste management services · 5629$5.2M85%
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing · 3241$482.8K7.9%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$284.5K4.7%
Ventilation, heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration equipment manufacturing · 3334$117.3K1.9%
Architectural and structural metals manufacturing · 3323$12.9K0.2%
Other chemical product and preparation manufacturing · 3259$2,099

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Waterbury, Connecticut

RES SCOVILL RA LANDFILL SUPERFUND SITE, STORE AVENUE WATERBURY, CT 06705$15.2M
HYDROGEOLOGIC, INC.· Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, CT· Facilities & utilities· Sep 18, 2023 – Jun 30, 2026· 68HE0123F0046
SCOVILL DES RA OVERSIGHT. CONTRACT #: 68HE0318D00013, NOBIS$3.5M
NOBIS ENGINEERING, INC· Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, CT· Facilities & utilities· Oct 26, 2023 – Aug 25, 2026· 68HE0124F0005
8511907509!FUEL OIL,BURNER$129.6K
DIME OIL CO· Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, CT· Fuel· Feb 6, 2026 – May 26, 2026· SPE60526FFWE2
8511984088!FUEL OIL,BURNER

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Waterbury, Connecticut, so they do not add up across cities.

Waterbury, Connecticut's figures are part of those of Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, CT ($50.1M in FY2026), never added to them: 12% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Waterbury is mostly in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region.

See federal money in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Waterbury, Connecticut is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Naugatuck Valley Planning Region67100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Waterbury-Shelton, CT75

Other cities and towns in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0980000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends