Manchester Gaining In Minority Population

In raw numbers, Manchester’s population grew more than any other town in Hartford County over the past decade, and all of that growth was in minorities, recently released census data shows.

 Manchester grew 6.4 percent, gaining 3,501 residents since the 2000 census – a faster growth than the state’s overall rate of 4.95 percent, the data shows. Like many of Connecticut’s larger municipalities, Manchester’s population underwent a decline in the number of white residents and an increase in the number of blacks, Asians and Hispanics.

Of Hartford County’s 29 cities and towns, Manchester’s growth was about average. Canton, with 16.4 percent, was the county’s fastest growing population. West Hartford and Enfield actually lost population since 2000, according to the data. Hartford County grew at a 4.3-percent rate, the least except for Litchfield and Fairfield counties.

Manchester, population 58,241, is the fifth largest municipality in the county, behind Hartford, New Britan, West Hartford, and Bristol. It is the 15^th largest municipality in Connecticut.

Over the past decade, Manchester lost more white residents than it gained in total population – 3,722 or about 8 percent of the 2000 white population. The town shared a significant out-migration of whites with Hartford, Windsor, Bristol and neighboring East Hartford, which lost the most white residents -- 5,787 or 18 percent of its white population.

In Manchester’s case, the growth in population was primarily in Asians (2,901 – a growth of 168 percent), black people (2,542) and Hispanics (3,409).

The Hispanic population nearly doubled from 3,579 in 2000 to 6,988 in 2010 and was the fastest in Hartford County. It was eclipsed in sheer numbers, however, by East Hartford, Hartford and New Britain, which added the most at 7,796 – an increase of nearly 40 percent.

Manchester’s black population grew by more than 55 percent – the county’s second largest gain of black residents behind East Hartford.

As in much of the state, there is a slightly higher percentage of adults in Manchester’s population now – 78.9 percent as opposed to 77.2 percent ten years ago.

Manchester has added 1,740 more units of housing in the past 10 years – slightly more than 7 percent of its previous stock; and the number of vacant units has increased 23 percent since 2000, the data shows.