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Alright, Connecticut, we have some exciting news for you. Over the past several months, the Movoto Real Estate Blog has been going from state to state in an attempt to find out which places in each are the most thrilling, the most rousing, and the most downright exciting.
Today, we’re looking at you, Nutmeg State. So which of the mind-blowingly, astoundingly, and absolutely inconceivably exciting places were the best? That honor goes to the City of New Haven. If you can handle the sheer exhilaration, here are the 10 most exciting places in Connecticut:
1. City of New Haven
2. City of New London
3. City of Hartford
4. City of Stamford (tie)
4. CDP of Manchester (tie)
6. City of Bridgeport
7. City of Norwalk
8. Town of West Hartford
9. Town of Greenwich
10. Town of Westport
Alright, now that’s a whole lot of excitement coming at you all at once, particularly from Fairfield County, where five of our top 10 are located.
Just what makes each of these more exciting than the rest? We’ll tell you in just a minute, if you can handle the anticipation, as we go over the method behind this madness.
How We Created This Ranking
Hold onto your hats, people, because things are about to get wild…at least if you think math, rankings, and analyses are wild (which we do).
In order to come up with this list of 10, we started out with a list of all the places in Connecticut with populations of 10,000 or more, according to the U.S. Census (2010), which left us with a total of 38 places. Then, we used the Census and business listings to round up information about the following:
- Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)
- Live music venues per capita
- Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)
- Arts and Entertainment per capita (movie theaters, festivals, galleries, theaters, etc.)
- Fast Food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)
- Percentage of restaurants that are not fast food (the higher the better)
- Percentage of young residents ages 18 to 34 (the higher the better)
- Population density (the higher the better)
Next, we stepped into the thrilling world of math and ranked each of our 38 places with scores from one to 38, where the lower the score, the more exciting the place.
We averaged these scores for an overall Big Deal Score for each location, and the place with the lowest number was our winner and all around most exciting/awesome/fun place to be in the state.
Now if you thought that was fun, wait until we take a closer look at what makes each of these 10 places more exciting than the rest. Then, at the end of the article, you can check out a table of the 50 most exciting places in the state.
1. New Haven
The bigger the city, the more exciting, right? Not necessarily, seeing as New Haven is only the second-largest city in Connecticut, after Bridgeport (which ranked No. 6). That being said, New Haven was much more densely populated than most other places in the state, including Bridgeport, which bumped it up in our ranking.
It also had a high population of young people (36 percent between 18 and 34), as it was home to several universities, including Yale. And what do college kids like to do? Party. Yes, apparently even at Yale. New Haven had a ton of nightlife and music venues per capita, ranking fifth and sixth in these categories, respectively.
2. New London
Just a hair shy of tying for No. 1, New London scored points in our analysis for its high percentage of young folks (just like New Haven, 36 percent between 18 and 34), and for its high number of nightlife options, music venues, and arts per capita.
As a matter of fact, New London ranked No. 1 in both nightlife and music venues, and No. 2 for its arts. Places like Dutch Tavern, Frank’s Place, and Oasis will keep residents up at night (in a good way), and during the day, there are galleries to peruse, theaters, and of course, the Lyman Allyn Art Museum.
3. Hartford
The capital city may be nicknamed “The Insurance Capital of the World,” but we promise it’s way more exciting than it sounds. Not only is Hartford the second-most densely populated place in Connecticut; a good portion of that population is between the ages of 18 and 34: 31 percent, to be exact.
With bars like Pourhouse and the Russian Lady, music venues like Webster Theatre, and so many museums, galleries, and festivals we can’t even name them all (though you can find out a great deal here), Hartford is certainly way more exciting than just insurance. No offense, Travelers.
4. Stamford
The first of our two No. 4s and the first of our five places in Fairfield County, this city had a lot going on. Literally. There was nightlife like Casey’s Tavern or Beer Garden at Harbor Point; there were arts and entertainment galore at the Palace, just to name one place; and the restaurants…oh, the restaurants!
There’s Brasitas, Little Buddha, Columbus Park Trattoria; there’s something for every taste, and there were more restaurants per capita than 29 of the other places we looked at. Unless you happen to want fast food, which Stamford seemed to lack compared to other places. Of course, that made it all the more exciting.
4. Manchester
Just to clear things up for non-locals really quick, Manchester is both a township and a city in Hartford County, with an overall population of over 58,000 and a population of just over 30,577 in the urban center. Why? Because Connecticut likes to keep things exciting…and complicated, apparently.
In the urban center alone, there was more nightlife per capita than 36 of the other places we looked at, and more music venues and active life options per capita than 34 others. Manchester also scored highly for its number of arts and entertainment options per capita, like the unique MCC on Main, for example; and for its dense population.
6. Bridgeport
This largest city in Connecticut is also one of the state’s most exciting—and believe it or not, it doesn’t even have anything to do with the fact that P.T. Barnum (yes, from the circus) was once a resident here. Or even that Bridgeport was the birthplace of the Frisbee.
No, in our analysis, Bridgeport ranked well for being the most densely-populated place in the state, along with one of the youngest; 29 percent of residents were between 18 and 34.
Bridgeport also ranked well for having the fourth highest number of restaurants and the fourth lowest number of fast food places per capita, making this city a foodie’s dream…even if it was the home to the first Subway restaurant.
7. Norwalk
Where some places had tons of bars, music venues, and young partiers, Norwalk seemed to find its excitement in the arts, in being active, and in fine dining, where it ranked fifth, fifth, and 12th respectively.
There are galleries and art shops galore, theaters, gyms, running trails, sports stores here. As far as restaurants go, well, there’s Valencia Luncheria…and then there’s everything else. No, just kidding, there are tons of delicious restaurants to choose from, but if you haven’t tried the arepas here, you are missing some serious mouth excitement.
8. West Hartford
Just like Norwalk before it, this town seemed to find its excitement, not in the nightlife, baby, but in lots of healthy options.
Here, there were a variety of sports stores and gyms (eighth in active life category), galleries and unique theaters like Bow Tie Criterion Cinemas (11th in arts), tons of restaurants (10th here), and most importantly of all, a serious lack of fast food (seventh in this category).
And don’t worry, if you are craving something fast food-like but still quality, West Hartford has you covered. Just head to Max Burger and order the sweet potato fries. Your taste buds will thank you for it.
9. Greenwich
Greenwich may be just a quick train ride away from Manhattan, but as residents will surely tell you, there is plenty of excitement right at home; particularly when it comes to food, art, and being active.
This town did well for both its lack of fast food and sheer variety of non-fast food places per capita, like Char, Thai Basil, Douro Restaurant Bar, and of course, Elm Street Oyster Bar. Then you can burn off your paella by taking a stroll through the Bruce Museum, or at any one of the oh-so-exciting gyms or nearby running trails.
Who needs Manhattan?
10. Westport
This coastal town may be best known nationally for its affluence and excellent school systems, but now it can add something a bit more exciting to the list. Just like the other places in Fairfield County, Westport ranked well overall. Where it really shined, however, was in its arts and active life options, placing first in both categories.
As far as arts go, Westport is home to the Westport Fine Arts Festival, the Music Theatre of Connecticut, the Westport Country Playhouse, and, of course, was once the home of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
For active life, Westport creamed the rest with a number of yoga studios, sports stores, running clubs, parks, and places to get fit, like Longshore Club Park and Compo Beach.
Too Much… Excitement!
Okay, Connecticut, you’ve reached the end of this post and you’re now a veritable expert on what makes these 10 places so very exciting.
We’ve seen arts, restaurants, and active life options. We’ve checked out nightlife, music venues, and well, things young people like to do. Wow all that is left for you to do is get out there and experience the excitement—especially if you live in one of these 10 places.
If you don’t live in one of these 10 places, though, just look down where you’ll find a complete list of each of the 38 places we looked at in Connecticut. Your hometown might just be there.
