Demographics
As of 2022 the state of Connecticut has had a total population of 3,626,205 residents. We conducted our interview with Greater Hartford residents who receive services from VITA Tax Clinic. VITA Tax Clinics prepare taxes for residents who; make $64,000 or less annually, live with disabilities or have limited English skills. Hartford has a wide variety of cultural backgrounds from its residents, but there is also a substantial population of people of color, specifically Latinx which represent 44.8% of Hartford’s population.
2022. Social Explorer, (based on data from U.S. Census Bureau; accessed 10 April 2024).
2022. Social Explorer, (based on data from U.S. Census Bureau; accessed 4 April 2024).
Hartford Ethnicity Demographics 2022
There is also an overlap within the state of Connecticut with ethnically concentrated areas of poverty with towns and cities that have higher concentrations of people of color. Connecticut is among the wealthiest states in the U.S, but contains pockets of severe poverty that is greatly affecting its residents of color. When looking at Connecticut at as a whole these pockets of ethnically concentrated poverty seem minuscule, but when we take the time to look closely about the populations being affected there is a disproportionate rate of poverty in areas where there are high volumes of people of color and non-native English speakers. It can be hard to see a need for a state level child tax credit when the ones who need it most are in limited areas of the state.
Ethnically Concentrated Poverty
Households with Children
The number of households in Connecticut have grown from 1,361,755 in 2017 to 1,433,635 as of 2022. This means the number of individual households has increased raising the number of residents, but not the number of families in Connecticut. Although the number of households have grown in that 5 year timespan the number of households with children have decreased.. The percent of households with children under the age of 18 has gone from 30.25% down to 27.78%, with a total loss of 13,767 households that are families.
Disparities within Connecticut when you compare household type.
Just like the state, Hartford has experienced an increase of households from 2017 to 2022, but the percent of households with children under the age 18 had a larger decrease than the state. Hartford households with children decreased by 6.62% compared to Connecticut’s decrease of 2.47%.
There is also a huge disparity of single parent households when you compare Hartford to the state of Connecticut. As a state only 9.43% of households with children were that of single parents, unlike Hartford which was listed at 21.74% single parent households. Out of those single parent households 18.13% were of single mothers in Hartford compared to 7.06%, the state’s single mother household percentage.
From these numbers and the testimonials we received from our participants, there is evidence that the state of Connecticut is not prosperous for families. There is an obvious draw to Connecticut with the increase of households, but the drop in households with minors indicates that any new households have replaced preexisting family households. Households that are families or looking to start a family are seeking opportunity in other states, maybe in 1 of the 15 states that does have a state level Child Tax Credit,