Where People Are Moving To In Connecticut In 2026

Connecticut’s population reached 3,688,496 in July 2025, an increase of 14,047 residents from the previous year, according to the US Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimates. CTData reports that net international migration has been the principal contributor to the state’s population growth since 2021, although individual communities have experienced different trends. Cheshire, Granby, Farmington, Fairfield, Bethel, and Brookfield all recorded population increases between April 2020 and July 2025. Their growth coincides with housing construction, redevelopment projects, and local planning efforts to accommodate additional residents.

Census estimates count how many new residents each town has welcomed, while IRS records, based on address changes on matched federal income tax returns, track moves between Connecticut’s planning regions. Each town below pairs its April 2020 and July 2025 figures with the homes, transportation, and everyday amenities that residents, new and longtime, enjoy.

Overlooking Cheshire, Connecticut. Cheshire added 2,581 residents over the five-year period, rising from 28,402 to 30,983, a 9.1% gain. The town sits in the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region with Waterbury and Naugatuck, and Interstate 84 and Interstate 691 connect it to employment centers in central Connecticut. The Farmington Canal Heritage Trail runs through town along the route of the Farmington Canal, which operated from 1828 to 1847, giving residents a car-free path for walking, running, and cycling. Along the way, Lock 12 Historical Park preserves a restored lock keeper’s house. Stone Bridge Crossing, a mixed-use development that broke ground in 2023, was planned to include hundreds of apartments, additional multifamily housing, and commercial space, broadening choices in a town long known for its single-family neighborhoods and giving renters more ways to call Cheshire home.

Old Mill Pond Village Shops in Granby. Credit: John Phelan, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Granby posted the fastest proportional growth among the six towns here, rising 9.8% from 10,892 to 11,963 residents, a gain of 1,071. It is also the smallest of the six, and much of its landscape remains open forest and meadow. The town lies in the Capitol Planning Region northwest of Hartford, within commuting distance of the capital and Bradley International Airport. Most of the McLean Game Refuge, about 4,400 acres laced with public trails, lies within Granby, putting a large nature preserve close to home. Station 280, an apartment development on Salmon Brook Street, is already leasing one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. It adds rental options in a town where much of the residential landscape consists of lower-density neighborhoods, and its location puts residents near Granby’s commercial areas.

Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut. Mustafa H / Shutterstock.com. Farmington gained 1,924 residents between April 2020 and July 2025, rising from 26,708 to 28,632, a 7.2% increase. The town’s defining asset is its healthcare and research employment base, anchored by UConn Health and The Jackson Laboratory, with further jobs available across the Capitol Planning Region to the east, toward Hartford. Hill-Stead Museum, a National Historic Landmark, occupies a 1901 Colonial Revival house on 152 acres and displays Impressionist paintings by Monet, Degas, Manet, and Cassatt. In summer, its sunken garden hosts the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.

Much of Farmington’s new housing has come through reuse. The former Hartford Marriott Farmington was converted into UpHouse, an apartment property that municipal economic development reporting showed as 85% leased by 2025. A second project on Farmington Avenue comprises 130 planned apartments near UConn Health, bringing new homes within easy reach of the town’s major employers.

The coastline of Fairfield, Connecticut. Fairfield recorded the largest numerical gain among the six towns, adding 4,751 residents to grow from 61,511 to 66,262, a 7.7% increase. The town lies on Long Island Sound in the Greater Bridgeport Planning Region, close to Bridgeport employment centers and Interstate 95. It has three Metro-North stations (Fairfield, Fairfield Metro, and Southport), five town beaches along the Sound, and two universities, Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University.

New homes are clustering near the rail line. Alto Fairfield Metro is an apartment community near the Fairfield Metro station, giving residents direct access to commuter service. The town’s planning conversations also include affordable housing proposals under Connecticut General Statutes Section 8-30g, which gives qualifying affordable developments a dedicated review and appeals process.

Bethel Opera House in Bethel, Connecticut. Editorial credit: Rosemarie Mosteller / Shutterstock.com. Bethel grew by 1,301 residents, or 6.4%, from 20,381 in April 2020 to 21,682 in July 2025. It belongs to the Western Connecticut Planning Region, and neighboring Danbury supplies commercial services and jobs. Bethel has its own station on Metro-North’s Danbury Branch, and its downtown runs along Greenwood Avenue. Huntington State Park, more than 1,000 acres of woodland, ponds, and trails shared with Redding and Newtown, extends into the town.

Zoning is steering Bethel’s growth toward its station. The Transit-Oriented Development District, with regulations effective in 2018, encourages varied building types, walkable mixed-use, and improved pedestrian connections between the station and downtown businesses. The district provides the town with a shared blueprint for growth, with each new proposal subject to local zoning review.

Overlooking Brookfield, Connecticut. Image credit MC Visuals via Shutterstock Brookfield’s population reached 18,566 in July 2025, up 1,046, or 6.0%, from 17,520 in April 2020. Like Bethel, it belongs to the Western Connecticut Planning Region, with Route 7 linking it to Danbury’s employment and shopping areas. The town borders Candlewood Lake, the largest lake in Connecticut and a summer favorite for boating and fishing, which Brookfield shares with Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, and Sherman.

Four Corners, where Federal Road meets Whisconier Road, is the focus of the town’s redevelopment. The town’s 2025 Plan of Conservation and Development names the area’s revitalization a longstanding municipal priority and records the completion of four phases of Brookfield Village apartments, new sidewalks, and a link to the Still River Greenway. The aim is a walkable town center that combines homes and businesses.

Cheshire, Granby, Farmington, Fairfield, Bethel, and Brookfield each welcomed new residents between 2020 and 2025, and each is making room for them in its own way. Farmington has turned a former hotel into apartments near its medical and research employers, Fairfield and Bethel are building homes within reach of the train, and Brookfield is shaping a walkable center at Four Corners. For Connecticut residents considering a move within the state, these six towns pair growing housing options with trails, beaches, a lake, and town centers built for gathering.