Verified town profile

Colchester, Connecticut

Census-designated place · Population 4,692

Colchester is a Census-designated place of 4,692 residents in Connecticut. Its nearest regional center is East Hartford, CT, about 33 minutes away by car. The median home value is $294,600.

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Townsteading score: 63.3
Confidence: Medium data confidence
Data updated: Jul 26, 2026

Included in the verified public directory after passing every published screening rule. How verification works.

At a glance

Population: 4,692
Median home value: $294,600
Median household income: $86,760
Nearest regional city: East Hartford
Drive time: 33 minutes
Walkability score: 75.7
Homeownership rate: 54%
Townsteading score: 63.3

The case

Why Colchester is included

Colchester appears in the public directory because it passes every published screening rule: its population of 4,692 falls within the 1,000–5,000 resident screening band; its nearest regional center, East Hartford, is reachable in about 33 minutes by car, inside the 60-minute limit; its town-center walkability analysis completed successfully.

Beyond the screen: its median home value of $294,600 is about 3.4 times median household income; its nationally normalized walkability score is 76 out of 100; OpenStreetMap data records 53 tracked everyday destinations within a 15-minute walk of its center.

The place

Local map

Map key

Bank
Civic destination
Grocery
Library
Park
Pharmacy
Place of worship
Post office
Restaurant or café
School

About this map

The map is centered on Colchester (41.5776, -72.3327) and shows the municipal boundary from 2025 Census TIGER/Line data. Basemap data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Reachable destinations shown on the map

Lucky House Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 263 m
Sweet Aroma Coffehouse & Bakery Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 415 m
Dime Bank Bank · Approximate network distance: 469 m
Subway Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 1002 m
Colchester Pizza Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 515 m
Red Rose Cafe Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 716 m
Colchester Donut & Cafe Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 967 m
Jersey Mike's Subs Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 718 m
Civic destination Civic destination · Approximate network distance: 610 m
Colchester VFW Adler-Boluck Post 6990 Civic destination · Approximate network distance: 121 m
The Fresh Monkee Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 806 m
Chipotle Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 702 m
Grocery store Grocery · Approximate network distance: 915 m
Pokemoto Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 274 m
The Plum Tomato Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 808 m
Colchester Post Office Post office · Approximate network distance: 289 m
Colchester Fire Marshal's Office Civic destination · Approximate network distance: 409 m
CVS Pharmacy Pharmacy · Approximate network distance: 208 m
Illiano's Pizza Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 293 m
Starbucks Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 718 m
Ichiban Asian Bistro Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 913 m
Bank of America Bank · Approximate network distance: 772 m
Walgreens Pharmacy · Approximate network distance: 496 m
Noel's Grocery · Approximate network distance: 423 m
Gung Ho Restaurant Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 412 m
Vintage Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 423 m
Colchester Kids Inc. Day School School · Approximate network distance: 572 m
Alltown Fresh Grocery · Approximate network distance: 972 m
Wooster Lodge #10 AF & AM Civic destination · Approximate network distance: 720 m
Mobil Mart Grocery · Approximate network distance: 1085 m
Fornarelli's Ristorante & Bar Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 967 m
Liberty Bank Bank · Approximate network distance: 726 m
Berkshire Bank Bank · Approximate network distance: 82 m
Ahavat Haim Synagogue Place of worship · Approximate network distance: 627 m
Park Park · Approximate network distance: 1156 m
Park Park · Approximate network distance: 392 m
Park Park · Approximate network distance: 124 m
Colchester Town Hall Civic destination · Approximate network distance: 470 m
Saint Andrew Catholic Church Place of worship · Approximate network distance: 260 m
McDonald's Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 1198 m
St. Joseph's Polish Society Civic destination · Approximate network distance: 1126 m
Wendy's Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 1076 m
TD Bank Bank · Approximate network distance: 186 m
Colchester Youth Services Civic destination · Approximate network distance: 153 m
Stop & Shop Grocery · Approximate network distance: 742 m
Cragin Memorial Library Library · Approximate network distance: 464 m
Colchester Federated Church Place of worship · Approximate network distance: 355 m
Harry's Place Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 655 m
Dunkin' Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 907 m
Saint Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church Place of worship · Approximate network distance: 953 m
M&T Bank Bank · Approximate network distance: 703 m
Family Pizza Restaurant or café · Approximate network distance: 898 m
William J. Johnston Middle School School · Approximate network distance: 1137 m

Destinations are derived from OpenStreetMap and may be incomplete or outdated.

Daily-life access within a 15-minute walk of the center

5 grocery stores
2 pharmacies
22 restaurants and cafes
1 library
1 post office
3 parks and playgrounds
2 schools
7 civic buildings
6 banks
4 places of worship

Destination counts come from OpenStreetMap and may understate what exists on the ground.

Housing

Housing and affordability

Median home value: $294,600
Median gross rent: $1,475
Median household income: $86,760
Home value ÷ income: 3.4
Poverty rate: 5.7%

Owner-occupied: 53.5%
Vacancy rate: 9.3%
Homes built before 1940: 17.6%
Homes built before 1960: 34.7%
Population density (per sq mi): 1,050

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, reference period 2020–2024. Where a value reads “Data unavailable,” the estimate was not reported or did not pass quality checks for this place.

Access

Regional access

Townsteading does not require isolation. Every verified town has a modeled driving route of no more than 60 minutes to a regional center — a city with the hospitals, suppliers, and services a small town leans on.

Nearest regional city: East Hartford, CT
Regional city population: 50,918
Modeled drive time: 33 minutes
Routed distance: 23.9 miles
Straight-line distance: 19.0 miles

Drive times are modeled with OSRM over the OpenStreetMap road network (July 2026). They are not live traffic estimates and will vary with conditions.

Community

Closest Orthodox parish

Holy Trinity Church

Modeled drive time: Approximately 21 minutes by car
Routed distance: 15.8 driving miles
Address: 247 Washington Street Norwich, CT 06360
Jurisdiction: Greek
Phone: 860.887.1458

Parish website

Parish information is based on the Orthodoxy in America directory, retrieved July 27, 2026. Drive time is modeled from the current OSRM route calculation and may change.

Form

Walkability and settlement form

Overall walkability: 75.7
Destination access: 89.8
Network connectivity: 60.7
Compactness: 68.4

The walkability score models what can be reached on foot from the town center over the street network in about 15 minutes: everyday destinations, the connectedness of the street grid, and the compactness of the town's form. Scores are normalized nationally across the candidate corpus, from 0 to 100.

These are modeled measures of urban form derived from OpenStreetMap. They do not confirm sidewalk coverage, crossings, lighting, or pedestrian safety, and OpenStreetMap data may be incomplete in small towns.

People

People and households

Median age: 54.2
Average household size: 2.0
Average family size: 2.5
Mean commute: 26 minutes

Age

Under 18: 11.6%
18–24: 8.1%
25–44: 23.2%
45–64: 29.0%
65 and over: 28.1%

Households

Family households: 63.8%
Nonfamily households: 36.2%
Households with children: 15.5%
Married-couple families: 82.1%
Single-parent families: 4.9%
One-person households: 31.6%

Education (25+)

Less than high school: 4.4%
High school diploma: 32.3%
Some college: 18.4%
Associate degree: 11.9%
Bachelor's degree: 20.7%
Graduate degree: 12.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 33.0%

“Bachelor's degree or higher” is a subtotal of the two degree rows above it.

Race and ethnicity

White: 89.1%
Black: 1.8%
American Indian / Alaska Native: 0.0%
Asian: 2.7%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander: 0.0%
Some other race: 3.7%
Two or more races: 2.7%

Ethnicity, reported separately

Hispanic or Latino (any race): 3.6%
White, not Hispanic or Latino: 88.8%

Hispanic or Latino may be of any race, so the ethnicity rows overlap with the race rows above and are reported separately.

American Community Survey estimates. Race and ethnicity are reported factually for research context and are never used as a compatibility or ranking factor.

Assessment

Strengths and limitations

Potential strengths

Walkability score of 76/100 on the nationally normalized scale.
Compact town form (compactness component 68/100), keeping everyday distances short.
5 Grocery stores within a 15-minute walk of the town center.

Important limitations

Walkability scores model street-network access to destinations; they do not confirm sidewalk coverage, crossings, or pedestrian safety.

Townsteading is a research tool, not a sales pitch. Nothing on this page is real-estate, financial, legal, safety, or relocation advice.

Provenance

Data and methodology

Townsteading score: 63.3 / 100
Confidence: Medium data confidence (96 / 100)
Profile data updated: July 26, 2026
Verification: Passes every published screening rule

Sources

U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer Places. Vintage 2025 — identity, boundaries, coordinates.
U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates. Vintage 2024 — place population.
American Community Survey 5-year estimates. 2024 release, reference period 2020–2024 — housing, income, demographics.
OpenStreetMap. Street network and everyday destinations for walkability analysis.
OSRM routing. Modeled driving time to the nearest regional center; not live traffic.

Read the full methodology Report a correction

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