Bristol vs Waterbury

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

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

Waterbury has the higher population (114,356 vs 61,129 in Bristol). Bristol has the higher median household income ($83,458 vs $51,642 in Waterbury). Bristol has the higher median home value ($252,300 vs $185,400 in Waterbury).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol	Waterbury
Population	61,129	114,356
Median age	38.2 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$83,458	$51,642
Median home value	$252,300	$185,400
Median gross rent	$1,305	$1,180
Housing units	26,744	50,577
Homeownership rate	64.7%	45.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.5%	17.0%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	9.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol	Waterbury
Population	60,218 → 61,129 (+1.5%)	108,276 → 114,356 (+5.6%)
Median household income	$67,507 → $83,458 (+23.6%)	$42,401 → $51,642 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$197,800 → $252,300 (+27.6%)	$130,700 → $185,400 (+41.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,027 → $1,305 (+27.1%)	$969 → $1,180 (+21.8%)

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

Waterbury

Population

108,276114,356

Median household income

$42,401$51,642

Median home value

$130,700$185,400

Median gross rent

$969$1,180

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol	Waterbury
Under 5	4.6%	6.2%
5 to 17	15.1%	16.3%
18 to 24	9.3%	10.2%
25 to 34	15.4%	14.0%
35 to 44	14.3%	11.6%
45 to 54	13.2%	12.9%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.2%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.2%
75 and over	6.6%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol	Waterbury
White (non-Hispanic)	64.9%	30.5%
Black or African American	6.6%	23.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	4.6%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	1.2%
Two or more races	5.0%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	18.6%	37.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol	Waterbury
No high school diploma	6.6%	19.6%
High school graduate	30.7%	36.9%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	18.7%	9.8%
Graduate or professional degree	11.7%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol	Waterbury
Drove alone	77.4%	72.1%
Carpooled	9.8%	12.4%
Public transit	0.5%	3.8%
Walked	1.8%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.8%	6.7%
Other means	0.5%	2.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol	Waterbury
1-unit, detached	54.3%	40.4%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	20.4%	31.6%
5 to 19 units	10.0%	14.0%
20 or more units	9.4%	9.5%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Bristol	Waterbury
Poverty rate	8.4%	23.9%
Average household size	2.44	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	24	28
Median year structure built	1967	1959