Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region area

Population and density of Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region

The Census Bureau estimates that 177,311 people lived in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region on July 1, 2025. That ranks #397 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #7 of 9 in Connecticut. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 174,226, the population has grown by 3,085 (+1.8%), compared with +2.2% for Connecticut as a whole.

With 424.1 square miles of land, that is 418 people per square mile (161 per km²), placing Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region #399 nationally for density and #7 in Connecticut. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Connecticut median is 968. Put another way, there are about 1.5 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region

Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region is divided into 17 cities and towns. In Connecticut, county subdivisions are local governments, and together they cover all of the county’s land and residents.

The most populous is Middletown town, with 48,439 residents (27.3% of the county). The largest by land is East Haddam town, at 54.3 mi², or 12.8% of the county’s land. Among those with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Haddam town grew fastest since then (+5.8%).

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each subdivision inside Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region is a central county of the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2 county equivalents have 1,171,426 residents on 1,451.5 square miles of land; Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region accounts for 29.2% of the land and 15.1% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #228 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #51 by population. It belongs to the New Haven-Hartford-Waterbury, CT Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

28 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region; 26 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

06371063760640906412064130641406415064160641706419064200642206423064240642606438064390644106442064550645606457064590646906475064800648106498

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area. Connecticut areas are assigned through their towns, because planning regions replaced the state’s counties after 2020.

Counties bordering Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region

Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region shares a land border with 3 county equivalents. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Capitol Planning Region (1,027.4 mi²) and the smallest is South Central Connecticut Planning Region (367.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region forms a block of 2,416.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 17.5%.

How big is Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region compared with U.S. states?

Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.4 times as much. Connecticut’s county land could hold about 11 areas the size of Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 20.6 miles (33.1 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region?

Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region has more land than 834 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region at #2,112 nationally by total area, 276 places closer to the top than its land rank. The water assigned to this geography moves it ahead of some county equivalents with more land.

Its water share is 18%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 16.8 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.