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Place dossier plate
SheetCT-WATERBURY-CT · Waterbury, CT 114,356 pop · income 22nd pct · 98 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Waterbury
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Waterbury on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hartford · lowest
45,300
Hartford · lowest
45,300 median HH income
32.5% of the leader · rank #1
Factoryville · near
51,635
Factoryville · near
51,635 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #2
Springfield · near
51,640
Springfield · near
51,640 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #3
Waterbury · this city
51,642
Waterbury · this city
51,642 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #4
Nickerson · near
51,643
Nickerson · near
51,643 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #5
La Croft · near
51,650
La Croft · near
51,650 median HH income
37.1% of the leader · rank #6
Carlsbad · highest
139,326
Carlsbad · highest
139,326 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Waterbury on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 114,356.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Waterbury - the verdict
Nationally, Waterbury sits in the 22nd percentile for household income and the 13th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
22nd
percentile, household income
38th
percentile, home value
86th
percentile, median rent
13th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Waterbury, CT
Connecticut's Waterbury is a mid-sized U.S. city, with 114,356 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Waterbury brings in $51,642 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 20.3%. Waterbury's housing stock carries a median value of $185,400, and the median resident age is 37.8 years. 17.0% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 54.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 15 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier. Waterbury's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3241.1 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Connecticut carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Connecticut scores 103.6 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,955 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $345 across Connecticut, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 26.5 minutes, with 72.1% driving alone and 6.7% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 87.6 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Waterbury's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to population change to schools and households to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to reported crime to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Waterbury, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Waterbury?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 20.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Is Waterbury growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,896 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 15 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Which cities make useful reference points for Waterbury?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Connecticut, the closest population matches are Hartford (119,970 residents, $45,300 income); New Haven (132,893 residents, $53,771 income); Stamford (135,806 residents, $107,474 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Provo, UT (114,303 residents); Carlsbad, CA (114,500 residents); Elgin, IL (114,106 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What can 98 Census tracts reveal inside Waterbury?
PlainCities matches 98 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Waterbury?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 32 public schools within the city match. 17.0% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
20.3%
Bachelor's degree+
17.0%
Matched public schools
32
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Waterbury?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3241.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 42% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
3241.1
Violent rate
322.5
Property rate
2918.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Waterbury?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 26.5 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
72.1%
Work from home
6.7%
Public transit
3.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 48,823 workers age 16+.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Violent crime F
323 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
103.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Household income F
$51,642
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
20.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Waterbury profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 30/100 (F) · 323 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 26/100 (F) · 17.0%
Cost of living: 24/100 (F) · 103.6 index
Household income: 22/100 (F) · $51,642
Poverty rate: 13/100 (F) · 20.3%
Where Waterbury sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Waterbury's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Waterbury highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Waterbury, CT (this city): home $185,400, crime 3,241/100k
Provo, UT : home $437,100, crime 1,477/100k
Carlsbad, CA : home $1,156,900, crime 1,710/100k
Elgin, IL : home $252,400, crime 1,369/100k
Odessa, TX : home $208,000, crime 2,159/100k
Lowell, MA : home $395,100, crime 2,195/100k
Hartford, CT : home $217,200, crime 3,361/100k
New Haven, CT : home $249,000, crime 4,122/100k
Stamford, CT : home $614,300, crime 1,383/100k
Norwalk, CT : home $535,000, crime 1,590/100k
Danbury, CT : home $381,600, crime 1,519/100k
Bridgeport, CT : home $252,400, crime 1,862/100k
How does Waterbury compare to other US cities?
Here's how Waterbury stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income22% higher than other cities
Home value38% pricier than other cities
Median rent86% pricier than other cities
Safety13% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Connecticut and the picture shifts: Waterbury ranks #44 of 47 Connecticut cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Waterbury against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Connecticut only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Connecticut-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Waterbury near the bottom of Connecticut's cities
Among the 207 Connecticut cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Waterbury ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Waterbury only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#189 of 198
5th percentile in Connecticut
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 207
0th percentile in Connecticut
Median Home Value
#198 of 201
1st percentile in Connecticut
Poverty Rate
#11 of 204
95th percentile in Connecticut
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#194 of 207
6th percentile in Connecticut
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Connecticut only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
22nd percentile nationally for median household income · 13th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Waterbury's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Waterbury's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Waterbury's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$185,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 62% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Waterbury's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,327 of 15,516
More affordable than 40% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#234 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 3.6×, Waterbury sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,327 of 15,516 and #234 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$51,642Waterbury, CT median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Waterbury, CT median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Waterbury, CT.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)20.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
114,356
Median Income
$51,642
Median Home Value
$185,400
Median Age
37.8
Poverty Rate
20.3%
Labor force participation
54.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3241.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
322.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2918.6
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
32
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Waterbury's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
113,875 residents
2021
114,573 residents
2022
114,716 residents
2023
115,186 residents
2024
115,501 residents
2025
115,771 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
15
housing units authorized
Single-Family
15
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
15
15
0
$1.1M
2020
20
18
2
$1.7M
2021
23
13
10
$1.9M
2022
15
9
6
$1.7M
2023
64
46
18
$6.6M
2024
15
15
0
$1.8M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
26.5 minutes
Drive Alone
72.1%
Carpool
12.4%
Public Transit
3.8%
Walk
2.3%
Work from Home
6.7%
Other
2.7%
Based on 48,823 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Connecticut statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $345
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Connecticut at $345 (electricity about $175 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Connecticut statewide averages, not a meter reading for Waterbury. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Connecticut's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.6 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Waterbury is $1,955/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Connecticut statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 87.6 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Connecticut statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Waterbury sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Waterbury compares to similar-size Connecticut cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.