Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Outside of the Boston area, and the most tourist-y areas, it's fair to say that New England is broadly a pretty stagnant/aging place.
That's not to say it doesn't still perform well on metrics like income, educational attainment, well-being, etc. But I do think, like much of the Eastern US, the lack of more evenly-distributed economic dynanism, particularly unaffordable housing, and aging population will become more and more of a headwind for the region.
No debate there. Except you could add in the tourist areas are also economically stagnant and aging but and are just better maintained.
There are plenty of areas in New England that I'd describe as "stagnant" (even touristy areas), but I don't know how many are truly "aging". Even places that I think of as stodgy like Portsmouth and Newport seem to have similar <18 and >65 populations.
Looks like its route 216. I haven't driven on it, and I'll admit that the CT side does look better paved on google street view. I think that the Westerly side of the border looks better than the Pawcatuck side, though.
Stamford is sterile. Downtown looks like this. Granted, Stamford was never very big pre-urban renewal. So it didn't lose as much as the other two cities.
New Haven is nice. One of the better-preserved large cities in New England. It seems that the Wooster Square area was particularly ripped apart by the interstate, but still has a lot of nice, old architecture. The city hasn't grown much in the last century. This happened only a year ago in the center of the city.
Hartford is a shell of its former self. Outside of Pratt Street, there isn't a heck of a lot to see downtown. Just a lot of parking lots. Here's a neat [vimeo]26114540[/vimeo] video I found that talks about the neighborhoods that Hartford got rid of in order to build places like Constitution Plaza and the XL (formerly the Civic) Center.
Here's some info on the demolished building on the left of the last old photo.
Real question, is there anywhere in new england that isnt a struggling gateway city or Boston/Cambridge/Somerville that isnt aging faster than the national average? I dont know how you came to this conclusion... Its an enormous problem in northern new england but still a problem in all of New England
Real question, is there anywhere in new england that isnt a struggling gateway city or Boston/Cambridge/Somerville that isnt aging faster than the national average? I dont know how you came to this conclusion... Its an enormous problem in northern new england but still a problem in all of New England
I guess I might not be understanding the metric. How do you quantify whether a place is aging or not? Here are the age demographics of three northern cities compared to the national average and Boca Raton...
Bangor and Keene align with the national 65+ demographic. Brattleboro is over by 4%, but not by as much as Boca, which is 9% higher than the national average. All three norther cities have fewer kids than the average, and that difference is a bit more stark than the amount of elderly people.
I guess I might not be understanding the metric. How do you quantify whether a place is aging or not? Here are the age demographics of three northern cities compared to the national average and Boca Raton...
Bangor and Keene align with the national 65+ demographic. Brattleboro is over by 4%, but not by as much as Boca, which is 9% higher than the national average. All three norther cities have fewer kids than the average, and that difference is a bit more stark than the amount of elderly people.
The problem is they have wayyyy to few kids under 18 compared to more vibrant and growing states where there’s typically ~25% U18. Way to few. The facts that they’re comparable to BOCA RATON is an enormous red flag, that’ even carries comedic value. You are also using two of the kore well known places in northern New England that have particularly youthful populations.
Maine Vermont and New Hampshire are the 3 oldest states by median age in the country and in the bottom 5 for under 18 population. It’s a major issue for those states. They talk about it on their board, they talk about it on NPR, there are articles about it ad nauseas. Connecticut and Rhode Island suffer from the same issues but they have immigration to keep the population somewhat more youthful. The birthing age folks in New England generally move out and the ones that do remain have far fewer kids due to the COL. fun fact, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have the two lowest white non hispanic birth rate ins the country-which is a combination of the expense of having kids, highly educated demographic and out-migration to other states prior to having children. In short, its a really big deal for labor force, social security benefits, infrastructure expansion and housing vacancy.
Using a defector retirement destination for comparison with Bangor and Keene didnt do your argument any favors. Florida is a youthful state overall with pockets that are retirement locales that significantly raise median age for the state, this is not the case for New England.
Put it this wy the average resident of Maine is just over 45 years old. Thats makes them 3 years older than the average Floridi resident, 6.5 years older than a MA resident, About 7/7.5 years older than a typical American , more than 10 years older than an Texan and 14 years older than youre average person in Utah.
Last edited by BostonBornMassMade; 11-11-2019 at 10:59 AM..
The problem is they have wayyyy to few kids under 18 compared to more vibrant and growing states where there’s typically ~25% U18. Way to few. The facts that they’re comparable to BOCA RATON is an enormous red flag, that’ even carries comedic value. You are also using two of the kore well known places in northern New England that have particularly youthful populations.
It wasn’t meant to be a comparison, but rather a juxtaposition. And you can clearly see that Keene and Bangor have far fewer 65+ people than Boca. They’re near the national average.
I also disagree that they are two of northern New England’s more youthful cities. I think Portland, Burlington, and all of southeastern NH are more youthful than those two (by my perception at least).
I do understand now, however, that “aging” doesn’t mean a surplus of elderly people, but a lack of young people. So the place feels old in a relative sense. In which case, yeah. I agree with you and Duderino about it.
It wasn’t meant to be a comparison, but rather a juxtaposition. And you can clearly see that Keene and Bangor have far fewer 65+ people than Boca. They’re near the national average.
I also disagree that they are two of northern New England’s more youthful cities. I think Portland, Burlington, and all of southeastern NH are more youthful than those two (by my perception at least).
I do understand now, however, that “aging” doesn’t mean a surplus of elderly people, but a lack of young people. So the place feels old in a relative sense. In which case, yeah. I agree with you and Duderino about it.
sure Portland, Burlington (college town) and southeastern NH (which isnt particularly young). But compared to 95% of towns in their respective states they really are quite young.
All those things are true, but they doesn’t change the fact that CT’s cities are largely in a very sad state.
Have you been to any of them recently? Both Hartford and New Haven are seeing hundreds of new apartments being built and occupied. Both cities are among the tightest rental markets in the country. Along with them are a ton of new restaurants and entertainment venues.
Hartford now has the No. 1 minor league baseball park in the country plus the XL Center, the Xfinity Meadows Music Theater and the Infinity Music Hall. There are museums and theaters (both live and movie theaters) as well as the Connecticut Convention Center and the new Hartford branch of UConn.
New Haven is home to Yale University, one of the country’s very top universities. It is also home to the Yale New Haven Medical Center named one of the top 20 hospitals in the country. Yale is making significant strides to improve the city with investments in new buildings and nearby buildings. There are bars, restaurants and theaters and a vibrancy to it. The city’s Science Park is full of research and development firms as well as very popular housing. It’s Italian neighborhood, Wooster Square is seeing more new apartments and is home to the No. 1 pizza restaurant in the country, Frank Pepe’s. Along with top 20 Sally’s and Modern Pizza, it makes New Haven the Pizza capital of the country.
Then there is Stamford and Norwalk. Stamford is home to one of the highest concentrations of Fortune 1000 companies in the country. Charter Communications is building its new 777,000 square foot corporate headquarters there. Nearby is Harborpoint, the largest private development in New England with more than 2,300 new apartments and new office and retail space.
Nearby Norwalk also has a high concentration of corporate headquarters, along with hundreds of new apartments and one of the very few brand new shopping malls in the country. The high end SoNo Collection just opened with Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdale’s as anchors. And all this is smack dab in the middle of one of the wealthiest parts of the country.
So yeah, I would say I disagree with your statement about how bad Connecticut cities are. Jay
Have you been to any of them recently? Both Hartford and New Haven are seeing hundreds of new apartments being built and occupied.
Uh, yeah. I was in downtown Hartford at least once a week for 5 months straight last year, and I never saw a single apartment building (or any buildings really) under construction. There’s be a slight increase in foot traffic when the Yard Goats we’re playing, and also an increase in foot traffic while touring music groups were at the XL Center. There were an overwhelming number of people downtown when Elton John was playing. Most nights, however, downtown is largely dead, dead, dead.
I’ve said as much about Stamford in another post as I ever intend to. Norwalk is tiny. New Haven’s nice and my favorite CT city. But when I was there, I didn’t see much construction and what I saw of downtown (outside of Yale’s campus) wasn’t anything to write home about.
In all seriousness, could you link to some articles about the supposed “construction boom” in New Haven and Hartford?
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 11-11-2019 at 08:55 PM..
Uh, yeah. I was in downtown Hartford at least once a week for 5 months straight last year, and I never saw a single apartment building (or any buildings really) under construction. There’s be a slight increase in foot traffic when the Yard Goats we’re playing, and also an increase in foot traffic while touring music groups were at the XL Center. There were an overwhelming number of people downtown when Elton John was playing. Most nights, however, downtown is largely dead, dead, dead.
To be honest, Hartford Downtown is weakest of tri cities in CT: Stamford New Haven, Hartford.
However, Hartford metro is strong, nobody dispute that.
For the longest period of decades, Hartford commuters are mostly car drivers, drive in and drive out. No commuter rail was available until last year of CTrail Hartford Line. More rails usually means more commuters on foot or bike downtown, and more vibrant cities with apartment in the long run. Give it time, Hartford Downtown could catch up with other two too.
Then there is Stamford and Norwalk. Stamford is home to one of the highest concentrations of Fortune 1000 companies in the country. Charter Communications is building its new 777,000 square foot corporate headquarters there. Nearby is Harborpoint, the largest private development in New England with more than 2,300 new apartments and new office and retail space.
Nearby Norwalk also has a high concentration of corporate headquarters, along with hundreds of new apartments and one of the very few brand new shopping malls in the country. The high end SoNo Collection just opened with Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdale’s as anchors. And all this is smack dab in the middle of one of the wealthiest parts of the country.
So yeah, I would say I disagree with your statement about how bad Connecticut cities are. Jay
Norwalk is another cool CT city, but under the shadow of Stamford. If there are top 4 cities in CT, Norwalk ought be the next one with a lot of employers.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Jay
