Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Columbia gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $439K for a typical one, or 4.6 years of the Hartford metro’s $95K median household income. It grades B overall, 78th of 151 graded towns in Connecticut. On the plus side, it is healthier than 79% of U.S. towns. On walkability, just 12 of Connecticut’s 175 towns do worse. Columbia has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Columbia Green Historic District and Willimantic Elks Club. Among 151 Connecticut towns, just 3 have a lower median rent than Columbia.
Where Columbia beats most towns.
Where Columbia’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Connecticut), ordered by how far Columbia is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 876 in 1850, 5,272 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1931 and 5 maps from 1892 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Columbia. Close and well known come first.
Big draw34 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
32 mi National Historic SiteSpringfield Armory National Historic Site14K visitors a year
18 mi Stadium & arenaMohegan Sun Arena
20 mi Stadium & arenaPeoplesBank Arena
17 mi Stadium & arenaPratt & Whitney Stadium
29 mi Theme parkSix Flags New EnglandLake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Springfield Armory National Historic Site: National Park Service, Public domain · Mohegan Sun Arena: Bbjeter, CC BY-SA 3.0 · PeoplesBank Arena: PeoplesBank Arena, CC BY 2.5 · Pratt & Whitney Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Six Flags New England: Canadaolympic989, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Columbia, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Columbia.
Within Connecticut it is less healthy than 71% of the 154 graded towns: Connecticut sets a high bar. Against the 4,858 U.S. towns with household incomes like Columbia’s, it is less healthy than 55%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
15% of adults binge drink in Columbia, below both the Connecticut town median (16%) and the median of U.S. towns (16%). Columbia beats the Connecticut average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 11% of Columbia adults smoke cigarettes.
| Columbia | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 16% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 9.7% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 30% | 35% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 19% |
| What stands out | Columbia | CT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.8% | 10% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.3% | 14.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.9% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Columbia School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horace W. Porter SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 440 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CT on state tests
Most working residents leave Columbia for work: only 6% work in town. At 32 minutes, Columbia’s average trip to work is against 27 minutes in Connecticut’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Columbia’s median household income is $127,000.
| Columbia | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $127,000 | $109,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.3% | 11% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.1% | 5.8% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
21 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. The trail density in Columbia is 1.0 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is Mono Pond State Park Reserve, 281 acres with 2.3 miles of trail.
| Columbia | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.0 miles per square mile | 1.3 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 9.9% | 14% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Utley Hill Preserve | 3.4 mi | 201 |
| 2. Mono Pond State Park Reserve | 2.3 mi | 281 |
| 3. Columbia Recreation Park | 1.4 mi | 62 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Columbia has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 18° and about 39 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Children under 18 are 14% of residents (20% statewide); people 65 and older are 25% of residents (19% statewide). Among 155 Connecticut towns, just 9 have a lower share of children under 18 than Columbia. 35% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Columbia.
| Columbia | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 51.3 years | 44.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 14% | 19% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 35% | 45% | 29% |
45% women, 55% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±6.1 points. Across Connecticut, 50.9% of residents are women.
| Columbia | CT | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.6% | 10.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.1% | 9.8% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.1% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.2% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.2% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.9% | 14.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 17.2% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.6% | 7.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 11.9% | 8.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.7% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.2% | 16.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.5% | 7.6% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.1% | 23.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15.5% | 19.2% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 62% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 8 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Columbia.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Columbia home is worth about $439,000, up 4% in a year, close to the Connecticut typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Columbia
About 5 of every 100 Columbia residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Connecticut.
2 places in Columbia on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Columbia.
Town in Connecticut, United States
Columbia is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,272 at the 2020 census. Originally a part of Lebanon, known as the North Society or Lebanon's Crank, Columbia was incorporated in May 1804. The town was named for patriotic reasons after the national symbol "Columbia".
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Columbia.
Hebron next door grades higher for schools (B+ to Columbia’s C+) and lower for cost of living (C− to B).
| Town | CT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia | #78 | B | B | — | C+ | A− |
| Lebanon | #98 | B− | C− | — | B | A− |
| Coventry | #15 | A | C+ | A | B+ | A |
| Andover | #43 | A− | C+ | — | B | A+ |
| Hebron | #44 | A− | C− | — | B+ | A+ |
| Willimantic | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Windham | #141 | D | C+ | — | D | C |
Columbia, Lebanon, Andover, Hebron and Windham report no FBI crime data of their own. Willimantic isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Columbia with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Columbia grades B overall, better than 64% of U.S. towns and #78 of 151 in Connecticut. It grades A− for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
3 notable people were born here, including Dwight Loomis and Josiah Dunham.
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