Governor Lamont Announces U.S. Census Bureau Approves Proposal for Connecticut's Planning Regions To Become County Equivalents

Press Release

Governor Ned Lamont today announced that the United States Census Bureau has approved a request from the State of Connecticut to adopt the state's nine planning regions as county-equivalent geographic units to collect, tabulate, and disseminate census data.

Each planning region is represented by a council of government (COG), comprising the mayors and first selectmen of the member municipalities, which meet regularly to plan, coordinate, and act on matters of mutual interest. The Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM) requested this change on behalf of the COGs in 2017.

"This is a positive change that will benefit all of Connecticut's cities and towns to ensure that census data and products are provided in a way that more accurately reflects how the state functions today," Governor Lamont said. "Connecticut has had non-functioning counties since 1960. I want to thank OPM and the COGs for their partnership to bring about this change."

"There will be no significant impact on how state or local governments are run because of this change, however by ensuring that future census data and products are published along planning region boundaries, town leaders will be in a stronger position to coordinate regionally on matters such as procurement of goods and services, public safety, education, health, transportation, tourism, and other shared issues," OPM Secretary Jeffrey Beckham said.

The Census Bureau will implement this change internally in 2022, with public data and geospatial products reflecting the change beginning near the end of the year. By 2024, all Census Bureau operations and publications, both internal and external, will use the nine new planning region boundaries, names, and codes, except for 2020 decennial census data publications and other datasets referencing the eight legacy counties as published before June 1, 2022.

Connecticut's nine planning regions include:

Capitol
Greater Bridgeport
Lower Connecticut River Valley
Naugatuck Valley
Northeastern Connecticut
Northwest Hills
South Central Connecticut
Southeastern Connecticut
Western Connecticut

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