2021 CT Town Profiles Add Data in Support of Economic Development

The Connecticut Town Profiles – two-page summaries highlighting key demographic and economic development data for all of Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns – are being released this week and posted online, an initiative of the Connecticut Data Collaborative and AdvanceCT.

The Town Profiles are an important tool used by many different organizations. Municipalities use them for government grant applications, annual reports, and other policy efforts. Companies, nonprofit organizations, real estate brokers, economic development professionals, and others also rely on the Town Profiles as a reliable source of data on local communities.

The profiles include information about population, major employers, education, fiscal issues, labor force and housing. While the overall design of the Town Profiles has changed with the new edition, much of the content remains the same. However, to better support economic development goals there have been a number of noteworthy revisions, including the addition of:

• Key Employers: Previously “largest” employers had been listed; this year municipalities’ “Key Employers” will be displayed, offering flexibility to display employers that reflect the town’s character and may be of interest to companies considering locating in Connecticut
• Business Registrations: Time series data showing business formations
• Public Transit: Information about public transportation options available, including both rail and bus access
• Access Metrics: Information to capture quality of life in a municipality, including access to internet as well as preferred commute modes

“These interactive profiles enable users to visualize and compare geographies for various indicators in Connecticut on the ctdata.org website,” said Michelle Riordan-Nold, Executive Director of the Connecticut Data Collaborative. “For municipalities, businesses, organizations and individuals, it is a wealth of information that can enable more informed decision-making.”

“The 2021 Town Profiles provide corporate investors valuable insights on Connecticut's towns and municipalities, including demographics, key industries, and other unique attributes," said Peter Denious, President and CEO of AdvanceCT. “Location decisions often start with data and this tool provides a fast and easy way for decision makers to understand the key attributes of towns in Connecticut. We are proud to have worked with Connecticut Data Collaborative to improve Town Profiles and we are excited to feature it prominently in discussions with prospective investors.”

Updating the town profiles, made more challenging during the past year by the pandemic and the ongoing U.S. Census, required coordination among multiple stakeholders, at the state and municipal level. The data gathering and analysis efforts were organized and coordinated by CTData, to update the profiles last published in 2019. With AdvanceCT’s mission of business retention, expansion, and recruitment for the state of Connecticut, the hope is that the new edition of the town profiles will continue to be a useful tool for towns to market themselves.

The Connecticut Town Profiles are free for public use and the online information will be updated as new data becomes available. They serve a broad audience, allowing users to compare data on the town, county and state levels, and can be utilized in a number of ways, including:

• Entrepreneurs looking to determine markets and how to grow their business
• Real estate professionals who need to portray a region
• Municipalities conducting strategic planning and updates to plans of conservation and development
• Economic development professionals preparing context for grant and other funding requests
• General public who are interested in learning more about their current or potential hometown

Described by the Northeast Connecticut Economic Alliance as a “robust online version,” the town profiles available at www.ctdata.org “are a proven valuable resource used to gather demographic and economic information for each of Connecticut’s towns.”

CTData, striving for informed decision-making across Connecticut, empowers an ecosystem of data users by democratizing access to public data and building data literacy. Leading, convening, and facilitating statewide conferences, forums, and open data calls in bringing data users together to advance a common agenda around data development, access, and standards, CT Data holds and designs CTData Academy workshops that increase data literacy and expand organizational capacity; partners with organizations to liberate, analyze, process, and visualize data; makes data digestible and intelligible through visualizations and data storytelling for public consumption and reuse; and provides a data “helpline” by assisting data users with obtaining, displaying, interpreting, and using data. www.ctdata.org

AdvanceCT is a nonprofit organization that works to engage, retain, and recruit businesses and advance the overall economic competitiveness of Connecticut. AdvanceCT works in close collaboration with the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), as well as the private sector and other statewide economic development organizations to implement high impact and inclusive economic development solutions. Our team advocates for and promotes Connecticut as a location for companies to compete and grow. www.advancect.org.