Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Haddam grades B+ overall, 62nd of 151 graded towns in Connecticut. Residents are healthier than 95% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The median household earns $114K and its schools rank ahead of 78% of Connecticut towns. The trade-off is money: the typical home is worth about $457K, 4.8 years of the Hartford metro’s $95K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 93% of U.S. towns, with 5 places on the National Register. 28% of the land in Haddam is conserved, where Connecticut’s towns sit at 14% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Cockaponset State Forest, at 4,953 acres with 49.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Haddam beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,195 in 1790, a low of 1,736 in 1920, 8,452 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1877 and 4 maps from 1893 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Connecticut), ordered by how far Haddam is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Haddam. Close and well known come first.
7 mi State parkGillette Castle State Park
24 mi Stadium & arenaYale Bowl
21 mi Stadium & arenaPeoplesBank Arena
22 mi Theme parkLake Compounce
24 mi Stadium & arenaMohegan Sun Arena
20 mi Stadium & arenaPratt & Whitney StadiumGillette Castle State Park: Original uploader was Kevinpepin at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Yale Bowl: Kenneth Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · PeoplesBank Arena: PeoplesBank Arena, CC BY 2.5 · Lake Compounce: Wildcat1 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Mohegan Sun Arena: Bbjeter, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pratt & Whitney Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Haddam, 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 Haddam.
103 miles of trail in 35 parks and preserves. At 2.2 miles per square mile, Haddam’s trail density is against 1.3 in Connecticut’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cockaponset State Forest | 49.4 mi | 4,953 |
| 2. Salmon River Division | 6.2 mi | 443 |
| 3. Millers Pond State Park | 3.4 mi | 122 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Regional School District 17. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Haddam-Killingworth High School, with 466 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burr District Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–3 | Grades K–3 | 278 | A |
| Haddam-Killingworth High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 466 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CT on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Connecticut is food insecurity: 6.7% of its 4,379 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.9% statewide.
27% of adults feel lonely in Haddam. Haddam beats the Connecticut average on 15 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 31% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Haddam.
| Haddam | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 31% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 36% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Haddam | CT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.7% | 14.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.1% | 10% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.3% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Haddam for work: only 7% work in town. Haddam’s average trip to work is 31 minutes. The top destinations are Middletown (12%), Hartford (6%) and New Haven (5%).
| Haddam | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $114,000 | $109,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 4.8% | 5.8% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 12% | 16% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Haddam has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84° and January nights drop to 20°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (22% statewide). 48% of Haddam adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Haddam has grown 5.8% since 2020, to 8,947 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Haddam | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 48% | 45% | 29% |
| Median age | 45.9 years | 44.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 21% | 19% | 22% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.2 points. Across Connecticut, 50.9% of residents are women.
| Haddam | CT | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.9% | 10.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 11.5% | 9.8% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.5% | 12.6% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.2% | 12.7% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15.5% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.5% | 14.2% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.2% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.7% | 7.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3.2% | 8.5% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.9% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.4% | 16.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.9% | 7.6% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.4% | 23.3% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 22.2% | 19.2% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 61% of U.S. communities. Since 1982, 43 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Haddam.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The median rent in Haddam is $1,567 a month. The typical Haddam home is worth about $457,000, up 4.2% in a year, close to the Connecticut typical home.
| Haddam | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 87% | 81% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,567 a month | $1,448 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Haddam
About 5 of every 100 Haddam residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Connecticut.
Where Haddam’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Haddam on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Haddam.
Town in Connecticut, United States
Haddam is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 8,452 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the only town in Connecticut that the Connecticut River runs through the middle of instead of at the town's border edge. The town was also home to the now-decommissioned Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Haddam.
Durham next door grades lower for schools (B− to Haddam’s A−) and higher for cost of living (B− to D).
| Town | CT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haddam | #62 | B+ | D | — | A− | A+ |
| East Haddam | #49 | A− | C+ | — | B | A |
| Durham | #48 | A− | B− | — | B− | A |
| Middletown | #115 | C+ | D | B | C | A− |
| Higganum | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Killingworth | #52 | A− | C− | — | A− | A+ |
| East Hampton | #41 | A− | C | A | B | A |
| Chester | #86 | B | D | — | B+ | A− |
Haddam, East Haddam, Durham, Killingworth and Chester report no FBI crime data of their own. Higganum isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Haddam with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Haddam grades B+ overall, better than 73% of U.S. towns and #62 of 151 in Connecticut. It grades A+ for health and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
9 notable people were born here, including Stephen Johnson Field and David Brainerd.
_-_2025.svg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}