TABLE T21 - COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS

Planning Bulletin No. 109, May 2004
COMMUTING PATTERNS
To and From
GREATER DANBURY, CT

Thanks to staff member Josephine Harvey for the
detailed data management shown in this section.

THIS REGIONAL OVERVIEW IS BASED UPON THESE DETAILED MUNICIPAL TABLES:
From Bethel To Bethel From Bridgewater To Bridgewater From Brookfield To Brookfield
From Danbury To Danbury From New Fairfield To New Fairfield From New Milford To New Milford
From Newtown To Newtown From Redding To Redding From Ridgefield To Ridgefield
From Sherman To Sherman Statewide 2000

TABLE T21-A

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
PERCENT STAYING IN COMMUNITY FOR EMPLOYMENT

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	28	28	24	73	18	59	39	18	40	17	51
1980	22	19	21	64	12	47	38	17	32	17	42
1990	21	18	25	56	17	45	29	18	30	16	38
2000	22	16	23	47	18	36	24	20	30	20	34
2010

Note: The percent of local residents that find work in the same town where they live has been in most cases steadily falling.

TABLE T21-b

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
PERCENT COMMUTING TO DANBURY FOR EMPLOYMENT

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	38	9	42	73	45	18	18	16	7	15	43
1980	38	22	40	64	33	20	20	13	9	19	39
1990	35	17	30	56	34	21	20	15	13	18	35
2000	26	17	25	47	24	21	13	8	7	14	29
2010

Note: Danbury remains the economic capital of the region. However, most of the percentages of residents by municipality that commute to Danbury are falling. Overall, the commuter pattern is becoming more diffuse and multidirectional.

TABLE T21-C

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
PERCENT REMAINING WITHIN BOUNDARY OF
HOUSATONIC REGION FOR EMPLOYMENT

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	76	72	80	86	70	84	63	43	48	59	75
1980	71	76	75	79	56	80	65	42	43	63	69
1990	67	69	69	73	64	77	58	44	46	57	66
2000	62	57	64	68	56	73	49	38	39	56	60
2010

Note: The key summary point is that only 25% of the residents of the region worked outside of the regional boundary in 1970, but that 40% were working outside by 2000.

TABLE T21-D

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
PERCENT TRAVELING OUTSIDE THE HOUSATONIC REGION
TO THE SOUTH WESTERN REGION

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1980	15	3	9	9	11	5	10	37	33	2	13
1990	18	5	9	9	7	5	13	34	28	2	13
2000	17	5	9	10	10	7	14	34	30	5	13
2010

Note: Average housing costs are higher to the south in the adjacent South Western Region. As a result, many persons from throughout the country may find employment there, but are deterred from also living there by high housing prices. One alternative is for them to commute to housing easterly, up the Connecticut coast. Another is to commute from the Housatonic Valley Region here to the north, becoming residents of this Region.

TABLE T21-e

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
NUMBER TRAVELING TO THE SOUTH WESTERN REGION

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1980	1094	22	592	2572	505	409	897	1258	3286	22	10657
1990	1692	41	699	3227	460	622	1315	1445	3199	37	12737
2000	1685	44	760	3847	678	1008	1764	1387	3164	99	14436
2010

Note: These are the base numbers used to generate the percentages in Table T21-D above. Note that the number of this Region's residents that commute to work to the south continues to climb. However, due to the population in the Housatonic Valley Region continuing to grow rapidly, total residents traveling south as a percentage is remaining constant. See this nice display of commuter maps by the South Western Regional Planning Agency

TABLE T21-f

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
NUMBER TRAVELING TO STAMFORD, CT

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	147	9	83	266	20	25	88	132	601	N/A	1371
1980	358	4	96	682	102	68	290	191	1114	4	2909
1990	420	0	148	838	107	154	344	380	1181	6	3578
2000	484	16	183	1274	270	337	449	389	1246	33	4681
2010

Note: The City of Stamford is part of the South Western Region, and the largest single source of employment for our residents within that region.

By municipality, percent of employed
residents who work in Stamford, CT

Downtown Stamford, CT is 24 aerial miles
south of Downtown Danbury. It is a significant
commuter draw for Greater Danbury's residents.

TABLE T21-g

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
NUMBER TRAVELING TO NORWALK, CT

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	169	N/A	32	275	19	76	88	161	298	N/A	1118
1980	225	0	114	510	82	143	184	369	495	18	2140
1990	504	15	211	912	125	204	397	374	589	9	3340
2000	490	15	142	873	123	283	463	270	522	17	3198
2010

Note: Norwalk is also part of the South Western Region, and after Stamford is the next largest employment center in that region for our residents.

TABLE T21-H

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
PERCENT TRAVELING INTO NEW YORK STATE

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	6	14	8	6	23	7	3	14	22	35	9
1980	7	10	12	11	22	7	6	10	19	31	12
1990	9	6	11	8	27	7	4	10	20	26	11
2000	8	9	15	11	24	7	8	14	22	27	13
2010

Note: Like the South Western Region in southern Fairfield County, many towns in adjacent Westchester County, NY have higher average housing costs than in the Housatonic Valley Region. This causes extra commuting. A significant number of trips are also made to adjacent Putnam County, NY and also to more distant Manhattan in New York City.

TABLE T21-I

COMMUTING PATTERNS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS:
NUMBER TRAVELING TO MANHATTAN IN NEW YORK CITY

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1980	129	17	139	388	86	72	64	194	465	77	1631
1990	177	46	176	513	211	104	108	249	643	175	2402
2000	151	37	158	542	243	164	203	237	573	154	2462
2010

Note: Much of the daily travel to Manhattan above is by commuter rail, but all travel modes are included in the above totals. Passenger rail service to Manhattan is available from Danbury Branch Line stations in Danbury, Bethel, Redding and Ridgefield. Some local residents also reach Manhattan from passenger stations on the Harlem Line in nearby New York State (see map of parallel rail lines).

By municipality, percent of employed
residents who work in New York City

View of New York City

TABLE T21-J

LABOR FORCE DRAWN IN BY LOCAL EMPLOYERS:
PERCENT FROM SAME MUNICIPALITY AS JOB

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	41	60	45	68	70	69	53	51	59	69	N/A
1980	36	55	35	51	56	62	48	46	52	73	50
1990	31	50	32	44	65	56	44	62	47	61	44
2000	28	42	24	40	41	54	35	41	28	53	38
2010

Note: Here commuter statistics are reversed to show the commuting perspective from the employer's point of view. Some of their employees live right in the same town as the employment location, but as shown above, commuter trends are weakening this once convenient arrangement. Clearly, manufacturers and businesses can count less and less on their newly recruited employees finding homes in the same community as their new job.

TABLE T21-K

LABOR FORCE DRAWN IN BY LOCAL EMPLOYERS:
PERCENT FROM DANBURY, CT

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1970	31	14	27	68	20	5	16	20	18	12	N/A
1980	28	N/A	22	51	28	3	13	10	15	N/A	N/A
1990	24	N/A	24	44	11	8	7	9	17	N/A	N/A
2000	25	8	22	40	17	8	10	8	20	3	N/A
2010

Note: Employers in each municipality in Greater Danbury have always relied upon the nearby and concentrated labor force in Danbury. But as a percentage of their workers, the percentage of labor coming in from from Danbury continues to fall. The exceptions are New Milford and Ridgefield.

TABLE T21-L

LABOR FORCE DRAWN IN BY LOCAL EMPLOYERS:
PERCENT DRAWN FROM THE HOUSATONIC REGION

	Bethel	Bridge- water	Brook- field	Dan- bury	New Fairfield	New Milford	New- town	Redd- ing	Ridge- field	Sher- man	Region
1980	87	74	88	83	95	79	71	76	80	97	N/A
1990	77	69	78	78	90	76	60	83	83	80	N/A
2000	72	65	73	67	74	73	56	68	67	76	N/A
2010

Note: While employers might prefer that their workers were living no further away than one of the ten Greater Danbury communities, as shown above, this percentage is also falling. At this next geographic level, we again have evidence that the trend for the labor force to spread out is quite broad.

For example, in 1980 Danbury employers could at least expect that the vast majority, 83% of needed labor, could be found here in the ten town Greater Danbury Area. But by 2000 that figure had fallen to 67%. Again the suburban pattern follows suit. In 1980 Brookfield’s employers were able to fill 88% of jobs from the 10 town area, but by 2000 this was a lesser 73%. For Newtown the drop was 71% to 56% and in Ridgefield 80% to 67%.

TABLE T21-M

LABOR FORCE DRAWN IN BY LOCAL EMPLOYERS:
PERCENT OF COMMUTERS DRAWN FROM THE
HOUSATONIC REGION AND SELECTED ADJACENT REGIONS

	FROM HOUSATONIC VALLEY REGION	FROM GREATER WATERBURY	FROM NEW YORK STATE	FROM SOUTHWESTERN REGION	FROM GREATER BRIDGEPORT	OTHER	TOTAL
1970	89	3	2	2	3	1	100
1980	82	5	4	3	3	3	100
1990	77	7	6	1	3	6	100
2000	68	7	7	5	5	8	100
2010							100

Note: Culminating in the big picture, jobs in the Region also filled by residents of the region fell from 89% 1970 to 68% in 2000. To make up the difference, between 1970-2000 we have continually imported more labor from all directions.

From Greater Waterbury, 3% up to 7% of our total need. Then from New York State 2% up to 7%, the Stamford-Norwalk Area 2% to 5%, and from Bridgeport and its suburbs 3% to 5%. As for employees living in areas further out, their share went from 1% in 1970 to 8% in 2000.

TABLE T21-N

LABOR FORCE DRAWN IN BY LOCAL EMPLOYERS:
NUMBER OF COMMUTERS DRAWN FROM THE
HOUSATONIC REGION AND SELECTED ADJACENT REGIONS

	From Housatonic Region	From Greater Waterbury	From New York State	From Southwestern Region	From Greater Brodgeport	Other	Total
1980	55924	3581	2498	1765	1793	2991	68552
1990	65294	6258	4673	1018	2356	5530	85129
2000	65868	7103	6409	4908	5142	7573	97003
2010

Note: This table provides the base numbers for Table T21-M above.

THIS REGIONAL OVERVIEW IS BASED UPON THESE DETAILED MUNICIPAL TABLES:
From Bethel To Bethel From Bridgewater To Bridgewater From Brookfield To Brookfield
From Danbury To Danbury From New Fairfield To New Fairfield From New Milford To New Milford
From Newtown To Newtown From Redding To Redding From Ridgefield To Ridgefield
From Sherman To Sherman Regional 1970-2000 Statewide 2000