The southwestern cities of Connecticut have gained residents since 2010 while populations in most of the state’s other larger cities have declined.

The U.S. Census recently released annual estimates on the population of towns with more than 50,000 residents. Bridgeport, Danbury, and Norwalk each had consistent growth of more than 2,000 residents in the five years since 2010. New Haven’s population shows an increase of 479 residents since 2010, but all of the city’s recent growth came in 2010-2011, and the population has been declining since then. Note: As DataHaven points out, comparing the 2009 annual estimates to 2010 actual count shows that these figures are never very accurate at a town or city level.

Stamford has grown the most of all Connecticut cities with an influx of more than 5,000.

Waterbury had the largest population decline with more than 1,000. Hartford, Meriden, New Britain, and West Haven saw drops in the hundreds of residents since 2010.

Overall, Connecticut’s population has increased from 3.5 million by about 17,000 residents.

Population change in Connecticut’s largest cities since 2010

City	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	Trendline	Change
Bridgeport	144,845	146,110	147,005	147,786	147,612		2,767
Bristol	60,479	60,580	60,617	60,598	60,570		91
Danbury	81,354	82,176	82,818	83,814	83,784		2,430
Hartford	125,314	125,492	125,266	125,161	124,705		-609
Meriden	60,874	60,736	60,660	60,518	60,293		-581
New Britain	73,240	73,240	73,115	73,004	72,878		-362
New Haven	129,803	130,955	130,938	130,763	130,282		479
Norwalk	85,992	86,705	87,285	87,944	88,145		2,153
Stamford	122,815	124,123	125,125	126,688	128,278		5,463
Waterbury	110,367	110,080	109,932	109,709	109,307		-1,060
West Haven	55,565	55,512	55,248	55,129	54,905		-660

U.S. Census

Focusing on metropolitan areas, the Bridgeport, Stamford and Norwalk metro’s population grew by more than 25,000, while, the New Haven and Milford metro’s population dropped by more than 2,000.

Out of all the largest cities across the country, Detroit has seen the largest drop since 2010, with a loss of more than 30,000 people.

Browse or search through all the cities to see how their population has changed through the years.