County · Connecticut

Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut

Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut has a quality-of-life score of 93 out of 100 (very high), ranking #224 of 3,143 US counties. Within Connecticut it ranks #1 of 9 counties. It ranks best on homicide rate (low), firearm deaths (low) and poor or fair health (low). It ranks worst on high ozone days (high), effective property tax rate (high) and days with unhealthy air (high).

93Very high
Quality-of-life score
#224 of 3,143 counties
Connecticut
#1 of 9 in CT
Population
177,311 (2025)
Land area
424 mi²
Density
418.1 /mi²
FIPS code
09130

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 78 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Location of Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US counties.

  • Safety100#7/3,096
  • Economy92#238/3,143
  • Housing12#2,778/3,140
  • Health98#78/3,144
  • Healthcare97#107/3,143
  • Environment24#2,355/3,108
  • Education99#28/3,144
  • Infrastructure96#129/3,144
  • Community90#330/3,144
  • Leisure & amenities93#229/3,143

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut ranks highest and lowest among US counties (score = percentile, 100 = best).

Strengths

Weaknesses

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.

Counties like Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, 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.

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).

Income

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

Homes

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

Getting to work

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

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 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, 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.

Federal contract spending

Federal grants & assistance

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

Public money & outcomes

Federal money per resident by fiscal year next to how the place changed, and, when its money jumped, how it compares with similar counties. A comparison, not cause and effect.

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.

Metro area

The metro or micro area Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region belongs to. A county is in at most one.

Cities and towns in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region

Places whose residents live mostly in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, largest first.

  1. Middletown47,958
  2. Portland5,944
  3. Lake Pocotopaug4,875
  4. Clinton3,465
  5. Durham3,347
  6. East Hampton3,347
  7. Essex Village2,705
  8. Westbrook Center2,501
  9. Deep River Center2,407
  10. Moodus2,042
  11. Chester Center2,026
  12. Higganum1,742
  13. Old Saybrook Center1,659
  14. Saybrook Manor1,358
  15. Fenwick49

Neighboring counties

Places that share a border, best score first.

Similar counties

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.

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