Bristol vs Shelton

A side-by-side comparison of Bristol and Shelton: population, income, housing, and more.

Bristol and Shelton are places in Connecticut. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bristol has the higher population (61,129 vs 41,402 in Shelton). Shelton has the higher median household income ($114,739 vs $83,458 in Bristol). Shelton has the higher median home value ($435,700 vs $252,300 in Bristol).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol	Shelton
Population	61,129	41,402
Median age	38.2 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$83,458	$114,739
Median home value	$252,300	$435,700
Median gross rent	$1,305	$1,661
Housing units	26,744	16,578
Homeownership rate	64.7%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.5%	43.5%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol	Shelton
Population	60,218 → 61,129 (+1.5%)	41,141 → 41,402 (+0.6%)
Median household income	$67,507 → $83,458 (+23.6%)	$97,131 → $114,739 (+18.1%)
Median home value	$197,800 → $252,300 (+27.6%)	$349,300 → $435,700 (+24.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,027 → $1,305 (+27.1%)	$1,466 → $1,661 (+13.3%)

Bristol

Population

60,21861,129

Median household income

$67,507$83,458

Median home value

$197,800$252,300

Median gross rent

$1,027$1,305

Shelton

Population

41,14141,402

Median household income

$97,131$114,739

Median home value

$349,300$435,700

Median gross rent

$1,466$1,661

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol	Shelton
Under 5	4.6%	6.0%
5 to 17	15.1%	12.9%
18 to 24	9.3%	6.5%
25 to 34	15.4%	12.8%
35 to 44	14.3%	13.1%
45 to 54	13.2%	12.5%
55 to 64	12.3%	16.1%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.6%
75 and over	6.6%	10.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol	Shelton
White (non-Hispanic)	64.9%	69.4%
Black or African American	6.6%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	4.6%	8.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	1.4%
Two or more races	5.0%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	18.6%	11.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol	Shelton
No high school diploma	6.6%	6.0%
High school graduate	30.7%	24.9%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	25.6%
Bachelor's degree	18.7%	24.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.7%	18.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol	Shelton
Drove alone	77.4%	76.2%
Carpooled	9.8%	7.7%
Public transit	0.5%	1.3%
Walked	1.8%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.8%	13.8%
Other means	0.5%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol	Shelton
1-unit, detached	54.3%	64.4%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	12.4%
2 to 4 units	20.4%	8.6%
5 to 19 units	10.0%	4.4%
20 or more units	9.4%	8.8%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Bristol	Shelton
Poverty rate	8.4%	5.6%
Average household size	2.44	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	24	29
Median year structure built	1967	1977