Historical U.S. Census Totals for Fairfield County, Connecticut

This article shows U.S. Census totals for Fairfield County, Connecticut, broken down by municipality, from 1900 to 2000.

Like most areas of New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

, Fairfield County

Fairfield County, Connecticut

Fairfield County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The county population is 916,829 according to the 2010 Census. There are currently 1,465 people per square mile in the county. It is the most populous county in the State of Connecticut and contains...

is (and has been at all times since well before the 20th century) entirely divided into incorporated municipalities. There is no unincorporated territory.

There are three types of municipalities in Connecticut: towns, boroughs and cities. As in the other New England states, towns

New England town

The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...

are the basic unit of municipal government.

Boroughs overlay towns and assume responsibility for some municipal services within their boundaries. Boroughs are not found in any of the other New England states, and are not very common in Connecticut today, although they were somewhat more numerous in the past. A number of boroughs have disincorporated over the years, choosing to revert to full town control.

Cities also overlay towns. This is different from the other New England states, where cities are a different type of municipality equivalent to a town (this difference is related to cities having originally developed in Connecticut from the borough model). Most current cities are coextensive with their parent town, however, such that the entire municipality functions as a city. In practice, these cities are really no different from cities in the other New England states.

It is also possible for a city in Connecticut to overlay part, but not all, of a town. There are currently only one or two examples, but it was a more common arrangement in the past. Many of today’s coextensive cities were non-coextensive at one time. As with boroughs, a number of non-coextensive cities have also disincorporated over the years, choosing to revert back to full town control.

The main tables below show municipalities at the town level. For any census, adding up the totals for each town should yield the county total. In cases where a community encompassed a coextensive city, the tables in the New England Historical U.S. Census Totals series mark the community as a city. In cases where a town included a non-coextensive city, the total shown below represents the entire town, including but not limited to the city. A separate section follows with population totals for boroughs and non-coextensive cities.

For more information on the New England municipal system, see New England town.

Corporate changes since 1900

1913 – Norwalk became a coextensive city (Note: before this time, there had been both a city of Norwalk as well as a city of South Norwalk each within, but each not coextensive with, the town of Norwalk)

1915 – The city of Shelton was incorporated and made coextensive with the town of Huntington (Note: before this time, Shelton had been a borough within the town of Huntington)

1919 – Huntington changed its name to Shelton (thus changing the name of town to match that of its coextensive city)

1949 – Stamford became a coextensive city (Note: before this time, there had been a city of Stamford within, but not coextensive with, the town of Stamford)

1965 – Danbury became a coextensive city (Note: before this time, there had been a city of Danbury within, but not coextensive with, the town of Danbury)

1900

County Total: 184,203

Bridgeport (city) 70,996
Norwalk (*) 19,932
Danbury (*) 19,474
Stamford (*) 18,839
Greenwich 12,172
Huntington 5,572
Fairfield 4,489
Westport 4,017
Stratford 3,657
Bethel 3,327
Newtown 3,276
Darien 3,116
New Canaan 2,968
Ridgefield 2,626
Wilton 1,598
Trumbull 1,587
Redding 1,426
Brookfield 1,046
Monroe 1,043
Easton 960
Weston 840
Sherman 658
New Fairfield 584

(*) not a city in its entirety, but includes one or more non-coextensive cities that encompass a significant percentage of the town's overall population.

1910

County Total: 245,322

Bridgeport (city) 102,054
Stamford (*) 28,836
Norwalk (*) 24,211
Danbury (*) 23,502
Greenwich 16,463
Huntington 6,545
Fairfield 6,134
Stratford 5,712
Westport 4,259
Darien 3,946
Bethel 3,792
New Canaan 3,667
Ridgefield 3,118
Newtown 3,012
Wilton 1,706
Trumbull 1,642
Redding 1,617
Brookfield 1,101
Easton 1,052
Monroe 1,002
Weston 831
Sherman 569
New Fairfield 551

(*) not a city in its entirety, but includes one or more non-coextensive cities that encompass a significant percentage of the town's overall population.