Where Are All The People Who Moved To CT During The Pandemic?

CONNECTICUT — Following the major influx of residents into Connecticut as a result of the pandemic, the real estate industry has never looked so good. But where did all the families from out of state end up? And do they plan on staying, now that most of the COVID-19 hot spots have cooled down and much of the country returns to the Old Normal?

Eric Willett is director of Research and Thought Leadership for CBRE, a Dallas, TX, commercial real estate and investment firm that has been tracking the American population's migration during the pandemic. He advises to get to know your new neighbors who just moved in down the block as they are likely to be staying.

The coronavirus migration into Connecticut was the third highest in the United States, behind Maine and Vermont, according to Willett. "To a large extent that's because of its proximity to New York."

The people who moved into the Big Apple — or any urban economic center — and its suburbs to follow their jobs didn't want to move too far away, once the pandemic hit.

"They still want to remain proximate to families and economic opportunities in that region, they want to 'stay close,' but there is less pressure perhaps for a daily commute than there was pre-pandemic," Willett said.

New York wasn't the only state to toss virus refugees our way; Connecticut also saw a strong influx of residents from Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

CBRE analyzed the data from United States Postal Service change-of-address forms to not only track the migrations by state, but by ZIP code. The big winner was 06880, Westport, with 2,731 move-ins and 2,059 move-outs, for a net influx of 672 new residents in 2020.

As the Patch map above shows, urban neighborhoods in New Haven (net influx of -1,318), Hartford (-1,207) and Stamford (-882) also suffered net population losses as their residents fled to more bucolic and COVID-cooler areas in 2020.

Connecticut's quirky sprawl which often sees small cities abutting bucolic suburbs made for some sharp contrasts on the map. Some Connecticut neighborhoods, now notorious for being COVID-19 hot spots, such as Danbury and New London, saw a large exodus of residents while their adjacent ZIP code enjoyed a good-sized influx.

Not everyone leaving a Connecticut city moved to Vermont or New Hampshire. Willett described the migration pattern in the Northeast as a "cascade effect." People left Manhattan to go to Greenwich, and those who sold their home in Greenwich and Bridgeport moved to New Haven, while New Havenites left that city to go to New London putting down new stales where they got more bang for their buck.

"As a result, many of the communities in Connecticut benefited over the course of the pandemic," Willett said.

Now that they're here, they are highly likely to stay. Young Americans have traditionally flocked to urban centers for their employment and cultural amenities, and then slowly peeled off into suburbs and exurbs to raise their families. The coronavirus jump-started and accelerated the process for the millennial generation, according to a report from CBRE.

"Overwhelmingly, the biggest shift in migration patterns were young, affluent, urban-dwelling, educated adults. And this is also the cohort that pre-pandemic was already starting to shift into family-formation age, starting to buy homes, starting to have children... we think that's a permanent group," Willett told Patch.

A good number of coronavirus migrants have made their moves with an understanding that working from home, with the occasional spin into the city for some face time, will be the new norm for businesses, according to the report.

"That said, some share of them will bounce back as bars reopen in the city and other urban amenities pick up," Willett said.

Willett said the outward pace of migration from urban centers and into Connecticut experienced in 2020 is not likely to be repeated, but to expect no shortage of immigrants from nearby states, long term.

"We are entering a period where, both because of the pandemic and because of larger demographic trends with aging millennials, that there will be... increased demand for the suburbs over the next decade. That's something that was true pre-pandemic, but was accelerated in 2020."