The poorest town in Connecticut as of 2025 is widely recognized as Hartford, the state capital. Hartford is frequently cited as one of America’s poorest cities with significant economic challenges. It has a notably low per capita income—around $16,798 noted in past data—and faces high poverty rates.
Many of its neighborhoods struggle with limited economic opportunities, and residents often confront issues like poor housing affordability, higher crime, and inadequate access to quality schools and healthcare services. This contrasts starkly with nearby affluent suburbs such as West Hartford and Glastonbury, highlighting the severe inequality within short distances in Connecticut.
Hartford’s persistent poverty is symptomatic of broader structural challenges in the state’s older industrial cities (including Waterbury, Bridgeport, and New Haven), which have experienced decades of economic decline since the loss of manufacturing jobs.
These cities consistently rank among the poorest and least affordable places in Connecticut, burdened by high poverty rates often exceeding 20%, while nearby towns boast much higher median household incomes.
Hartford is generally considered the poorest major municipality in Connecticut in 2025 due to its low incomes and high poverty levels, set within a state notable for some of the most extreme wealth disparities in the U.S.
Sources
[1] https://cthosp.org/daily-news-clip/two-connecticuts-how-gaps-between-rich-and-poor-define-life-in-ct/
[2] https://yankeeinstitute.org/2025/06/24/does-connecticut-have-a-city-problem/
[3] https://247wallst.com/income/2025/01/17/the-poorest-town-in-every-state-in-america/
[4] https://www.ctinsider.com/projects/2025/ct-average-income/
[5] https://www.ctinsider.com/projects/2025/income-inequality-series-ct/
