Environmental Justice Communities

The applicable facilities must be located in a municipality on the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) list of distressed municipalities (also listed here below) or in a defined census block (see new map link below) to be considered under section 22a-20a of the General Statutes and the Environmental Justice Policy.

Note: The state law that defines “distressed municipalities” includes a five-year so-called grace period for municipalities that no longer meet the threshold to qualify. (See definition at CGS Sec. 32-9p(b)), to which our EJ permitting statute’s definition of “environmental justice communities” refers at CGS 22a-20a(a)(1)). Fitting into that grace period, eight towns continue to be eligible for distressed municipality benefits because they dropped off the list within the last five years. Those are Enfield, Killingly, Naugatuck, Plymouth, New Haven, Preston, Stratford, and Voluntown.

View the DECD Methodology (listed below) used to determine the rank of the 169 CT towns with respect to distressed municipalities. 

DECD List of Distressed Municipalities

Defined Census Blocks within Other Affected Towns - NEW MAP

These municipalities are not distressed, but have census block groups with 30% of their population living below 200% of the federal poverty level. Refer to the NEW UPDATED MAP to view the updated 2022 Environmental Justice Census Block Groups. This map also includes the distressed municipalities listed above.

For further information, please contact Edith Pestana of the Environmental Justice Program at edith.pestana@ct.gov or by phone at 860-424-3044.

For detailed instructions on how to use and navigate this map, please view the video tutorial below:

DECD Methodolgy to Determine Distressed Municipalities Ranking

DECD Methodology:  Weighted components are summed to measure the rank of the 169 towns.  For each component, every town is ranked from 1 to 169, with the best town scoring 1 and worst 169.  The top 25 towns with highest total scores are designated distressed municipalities.

DECD’s components and weight

1. Per capita income for 2020, weight 1
2. % Of poverty in population for 2020, weight 1
3. Unemployment rate for 2021, weight 2
4. % Change in population from 2010 to 2020, weight 1
5. % Change in employment from 2011 to 2021, weight 1
6. % Change in per capita income from 2010 to 2020, weight 1
7. % Of house stock built before 1939 in 2020, weight 1/3
8. % Population with high school degree and higher in 2020, weight 1
9. Per Capita Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List in 2023-2024, weight 1

According to C.G.S. Section 32-9p, a distressed municipality should be based on “high unemployment and poverty, aging housing stock and low or declining rates of growth in job creation, population, and per capita income.”

DECD additionally included 1) Level of Per Capita Income, 2) % of population with high school degree and higher and 3) Per Capita Adjusted Equalized Net Grand List (AENGL) to arrive at its ranking.

Data sources:  Census 2010, Census 2020, 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-year Estimates, DOL, DOE

Prepared by DECD;  October 2022

For further information on statistical indicators, view the Distressed Municipalities and Public Investment Communities prepared by the Office of Legislative Research.

Environmental Justice

Content Last Updated November 2022