Reality Check: CT Residents Are Heading For The Exit
Fresh data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that without an influx of new international residents over the last few years, we would be in worse shape.
See all the population change numbers here.
Here’s a look at net migration to and from Connecticut. We’ve grown by 16,250 over the last two years, according to census estimates.

Here’s a look at the overall population change from 2010 to 2012:

@debpolun tweets to point out that Governing magazine has a blog post that uses census estimates from the last year to track where folks are moving. While Florida and its low taxes remained a popular destination, the high-tax state of New York was the most desirable for those getting the heck out. So much for fleeing the high cost of Connecticut.
44 Responses to Reality Check: CT Residents Are Heading For The Exit
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I wonder how the incomes (and income tax contributions) of the departing domestics compare to the incoming internationals.
Yep. Any guesses why?
What a shocker. Connecticut has the magic formula for its economic demise: No jobs, high taxes, liberals in office, urban entitlement zones, illegal sanctuary cities, young people and people/business moving out of state, and an increasingly elderly population.
Keep electing liberals and watch the state cirle the drain.
Sally White in her State Senate campaign made the important point that Connecticut’s anti-business policies breaks up families. It has certainly been true in our family’s case. Half of my family has left for better opportunity in pro-growth states like Missouri, Florida and New Hampshire.
New Hampshire has a lower growth rate than Connecticut for the 2010-2012 period. Missouri is virtually the same as Connecticut.
I expect to be among those migrating OUT of CT in the next year or so. This state does not deserve my ever-increasing tax payments and I resent being asked to carry more and more of the load for those unwilling to support themselves, who think they are entitled to any portion of my income.
I’ll be joining Kim among those on the way out. Was born here, but won’t die here. Taxes are way too high. Living costs are way too high. State is too crowded. I refuse to learn Spanish. Will go south to a state with a smart, Republican legislature.
I’m with Kim and walls, although I’m still some years away from leaving this liberal utopia. A friend of mine recently told me that he’ll save $20K/year moving to a southern state in taxes and fees. For him, that’s the difference between staying retired or having to jump back into the workforce.
We may be losing the ballot box vote so we have to move with our feet. Connecticut is a tax and spend ponzi scheme with fewer and fewer makers subsidizing more and more takers. It will be a refreshing change to live in a state that actually cares about taxpayers instead of using them like an ATM machine.
Your friend must be doing well.
The Connecticut income tax on $182,000 yearly income is about $10,000. He would have to pay property tax of about $10,000. This is roughly the property tax on a $700,000 house in Connecticut.
He would then have to pay zero property and zero income tax in his new state in order to save $20,000.
His new state likely has property taxes so he would need to earn even more and/or have a more expensive Connecticut house to save that $20,000.
apparently Mike doesn’t pay taxes on everything he purchases in CT, like the rest of us. Things like gas, food, clothing, etc.
He said he was moving to a southern state. There is no southern state with a sales tax lower than 6% except for Virginia at 5%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_sales_tax#Summary_table
The cheapest southern state charges about 30 cents less for a gallon of gas. If his friend bought 1,000 gallons of gas in a year he could save only $300.
Groceries are not taxed in Connecticut. Here are just some of the 17 states that do tax groceries:
7.0% Mississippi
6.3% Kansas
6.0% Idaho
5.5% Tennessee
4.5% Oklahoma
4.0% Utah
4.0% South Dakaota
4.0% Louisiana
4.0% Hawaii
4.0% Alabama
3.0% Georgia
The story above is a positive one for Connecticut. More people came here than left over the last 2 years.
Relative to other states and DC, we are #42 out of 51, so what is so positive if your premise is that more people coming than leaving is a good thing? Further, if most of the outgoing are twenty-something college graduates and upper middle class empty nesters looking to stretch their wealth farther and move south or soutwest, then we in CT are headed for big trouble – more lower incomes from the new residents and higher taxes.
The number 42 in the statistics shown above means that Connecticut is number 42 in terms of total population. It has nothing to do with good or bad.
If you want to discuss the incomes of people staying and leaving CT then get some facts otherwise we are just guessing.
are the ‘comers’ working and adding to the tax base, or are they ‘takers’ living off the rest of us? Just asking, is all
Rick, what part of the state lost most population? If it were the southwest portion then it would make sense that the state’s fiscal problems are getting worse.
not a slam on you rick green, but you didnt need to be a doctor to figure out any of this. Been going on for years now
given your political positions, Rick, did you expect otherwise?
And how many of these “international” immigrants went straight on the welfare dole? Probably 95%. So, the taxpayers leave and the tax-suckers replace them. Wonderful.
Do you have any facts to support your “probably 95%”?
Keep electing Democrats and the jobs will keep leaving followed by the people.
Don’t tell me – many or most of the new residents qualify for the earned income tax credit or some other redistribution program.
Ct is rapacious ! The highest tax increase ever was recently enacted and we are still in the red. As hard as I try, I can’t get a job as a state “worker” – paid for 40 hr-work week – work a solid 25 hrs, outrageous pension benefits compared to the private sector, outrageous vacation time compared to the private sector, outrageous sick time compared to the private sector, outrageous guarantee of no layoffs within the next 4 years compared to the private sector – you get the picture !! And we have the other parasitic, welfare – state denizens draining our paychecks ! We are gone from this state within the next 4 years with no looking back. I feel truly sorry for the young workers who are left to support the parasitic class.
Gerry don’t forget the annual longevity payments divied out to staties for just being on payroll for,correct me if I’m wrong,annually every year after 10 years of service.You can’t make it up. There was also a two year no layoff agreement brokered between the Rell admin so that plus the current 4 year scam gives our staties 6 years of guaranteed no layoffs. But need not worry,I trust the dumbecrats when they say we are running a bare bones budget.
This is a story about a Connecticut population *increase* over the last 2 years:
3,574,097 – CT population in 2010
3,590,347 – CT population in 2012
Population increase. Population increase.
I left for ‘high tax’ NY – not for any disdain for Connecticut, it’s among the best states I’ve lived (I’ve lived in 15 of them and multiple countries – I should have some perspective). Rather because it’s home. NY gets a lot of in-migration in general, people want to move to the City, and neighboring states generally receive a lot of local movement due to job proximity. Looking at the trends the nearly 800 000 domestic migration to the South is the sole demographic story. It doesn’t matter what the tax rate or job situation is, though Republicans will point to that issue (if that were the case, why isn’t low tax West Virginia booming?) the South has been long undeveloped and now as it becomes more and more urban, bringing opportunities in places like Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Raleigh and Dallas-Fort Worth, and the multiple towns in their vicinity. Their growth will slow. Stay the course, Connecticut, you’re in a very highly revered place to live.
I don’t know what numbers you are looking at Mr. Green. New Hampshire has low taxes and a very low cost of living. They will get through this recession a lot better than us. That’s why my sister and my uncle moved there.
Missouri is booming. When I visited my Mom you would not believe all the stores and how big they are. And they got customers! The Walmart in Saint Peters is bigger than the air craft carrier I served on in the Navy. Back in Connecti’Cant shops are dropping like flies. You would be crazy to start a small business here right now. You can’t get new jobs without start-ups.
I will bet Missouri doesn’t have all the debt CT has, hostile regulations and Confiscatory taxes. They sure are doing something right. Missouri far better run compared to ours. We are going down the tubes and you watch, your buddy Malloy will increase taxes again hastening our downward confiscatory taxes death spiral.
I noted you didn’t attempt to dis Florida. Texas is another well run state.
Population growth. That’s what the post is about.
Population growth is down for all he very same reasons. If my partner didn’t have such a good job here, we would have moved too.
Pratt & Whitney at one time employed 8,000 workers in Florida. In 1999 P&W moved its entire military jet engine business from “right to work” Florida to Connecticut. Thousands of jobs moved to Connecticut despite so-called “anti-business” policies in CT. They even had to pay moving expenses for many people.
Today Pratt & Whitney employs:
11,000 in Connecticut
1,000 in Florida
what kind of tax ‘incentives’ were offered to P&W to get them to move to CT? When those incentives end, so will the jobs in CT. UTC/P&W have shown this strategy repeatedly in this state: move jobs to lower-cost states unless the incentives outweigh the benefits of moving. Then when the incentives dry up, they can still move.
Pratt& whitney at one time employed over 20,000 in Connecticut
Today that figure is down to 11,000.
Where have they added/sent jobs – Texas.
See,I can cherry pick facts also.
no bull, if you want to cherry-pick you should choose better numbers. Only a few jobs went to Texas, not thousands. Your 20,000 number is from the boom times of the 1960′s and 1970′s when P&W had a monopoly in commercial airline jet engines. That was over 30 years ago and not valid for current comparison. Most of those jobs were eliminated due to declining sales, not moved.
Using your numbers, Connecticut went from 20,000 down to 11,000 for a 45% loss of jobs.
Florida went from 8,000 down to 1,000 for a 87% loss of jobs.
Florida had double the job loss rate compared to Connecticut. Today P&W has ten times as many employees in Connecticut compared to Florida.
New Hampshire – 5% tax on dividends and interest
Florida – 7.5% sales tax (with local tax)
Missouri – 6.0% income tax
Texas – 8.25% sales tax (with local tax)
Gerry
You left out the fact that it is almost impossible to fire a unionized town or state worker. All the rest of us have to watch it at work or we are out the door.
Get this. In my town of Windham we had some guy walk off the job without telling anyone. When he felt like it, he came back. The town manager rightly fired him. The guy dragged the town to binding arbitration. The whole process took almost a year. The so called neutral arbitrator re-instated the guy with back pay. Unbelievable!
Where else but a government job can you just up and take off and get a seven month paid vacation?
If you earned $100,000 per year here are your Connecticut State Income Tax increases:
$250 more tax – Single or Filing Separately
$80 more tax - Filing Jointly / Qualifying Widow(er)
$180 more tax – Head of Household
These seem rather small to me. Flee Connecticut if you must. Property tax is another issue and set by your town, not the state. These taxes, income and property, are deductible from your federal taxable income. So you get some of this money back from the feds.
I can provide the tax amounts, or for another income level, if anyone asks.
Mike,
Once again I find myself confused as to how you reached your tax calculations.
According to the CT Office of Policy and Management, and based on data from the CT Department of Revenue Services, you have understated the tax increase by 59%.
article/20110710/nws12/307109837#.UOQK06N5mK0
And that is just one of all these new taxes, and removals of exemptions and deductions:
http://www.ct.gov/drs/cwp/view.asp?A=1514&Q=480936
I am at the airport awaiting my flight from liberalism. I hope to hear your reply when I arrive at my connecting location. I need something to entertain me during my 3 hour layover.
Quite simple to explain. Your first link says:
“The tax by itself may not have been all that noticeable, but when you double the increase in the tax (by implementing it over five months rather than a full year)”
Got it?
It was retroactive to January 1st.
Got it?
johngaltwhereru, read the quote above again:
“The tax by itself may not have been all that noticeable”
Meaning the baseline tax when withheld for an entire year is small.
“but when you double the increase in the tax (by implementing it over five months rather than a full year)”
Meaning the tax seems to be twice as much when you withhold an entire year over just 5 months. Naturally you have to withhold twice as
much.
The next year you return to “not all that noticeable.”
John, best of luck in your journey to a land free of liberalism. I’m sure it will be refreshing to live in a world free of wealth redistribution, political correctness, and union control over political decision-making. I look forward to hearing of your new life.
I am among those who will eventually leave the liberalism ponzi scheme we have in this state to another state that actually cares about its taxpayers.
Please stay in touch.
I’m with Da Troof on his statement, John. Enjoy and keep up the good fight for truth
Interesting comments all. Mr. Green, by the looks of the stats,the population growth came from births. That results in net increase in costs (education) to the state for at least the next 12 years, if the parents stay in CT. CT is a wonderful state (born & bred there). Past tense used because I have moved out. Mr. Robinson, the tax increases are only the tip of the iceberg. What about all the fees? Gas tax, Gross receipts tax, additional items state sales and use tax now applied to? IMHO the major problems are the Attitude of the State leaders of tax and spend. And the talent drain created by those of the working class moving out. God save CT.
The CT general assemblies’ attitude has unfortunately been in control for several decades now. It has taken some time for us to get where we are now. As long as these socialists are re-elected, it will only get worse. In fact if a complete 180 was done, it would have to get worse anyway to undue what they have done, so there will be no recovery in CT for at least a few decades. The general assemblies mindset has been augmented by the re-election of our Commander in Thief, who reaffirms the European style socialist view of government from the top down. God help us.