[Excerpt from Hartford Courant news article by Rebecca Lurye] "Average owner-occupied home values increased from $270,900 to $274,600 last year. That’s up 1.37 percent compared to 5.3 percent nationwide. The percentage of families living below the poverty level — $24,250 for a family of four — fell from 8 percent to 6.8 percent of the population last year. Nationwide, about 10 percent of families live in poverty.
Mark Abraham, executive director of Connecticut nonprofit DataHaven, said it’s difficult to interpret those trends. Higher home values can be profitable for some and force others out of their housing. And a few thousand dollars can push a family’s income above the poverty threshold but wouldn’t make much difference in affording food and housing.
On the other extreme, the share of households making at least $200,000 rose from 10.3 percent to 11.1 percent.
But there’s one more figure that’s overwhelmingly positive, Abraham said.
The census estimates 95.1 percent of Connecticut residents had health insurance last year, up about 1 percentage point from 2015 and 4.2 points from 2010.
“I would say that’s one of the largest improvements in the state,” Abraham said."
Link:
http://www.courant.com/business/hc-census-data-connecticut-20170915-story.html
