About Durham

Durham is a somewhat small town located in the state of Connecticut. With a population of 6,627 people and just one neighborhood, Durham is the 116th largest community in Connecticut.

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Durham is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Durham is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Durham who work in management occupations (14.74%), office and administrative support jobs (12.95%), and sales jobs (11.84%).

Also of interest is that Durham has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

In addition, Durham is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness.' But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

Because of many things, Durham is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Durham really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Durham perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic night life, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

Durham is a very car-oriented town. 98.25% of residents commute to work in a private automobile rather than by other means, such as public transit, bicycling, or walking. This is because Durham is a small town, and most people who live here have to drive out of town for work, and the town population is not large nor dense enough to support an extensive public transportation system. Durham has a lot of rural roads, and houses can be far apart. Many residents drive out of town for regular shopping trips as well.

As is often the case in a small town, Durham doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Durham Information and Demographics

The citizens of Durham are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 38.96% of adults in Durham have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Durham in 2000 was $29,306, which is middle income relative to Connecticut, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $117,224 for a family of four. However, Durham contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Durham home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Durham is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Durham include Italian, English, Irish, Polish, German, and French.

The most common language spoken in Durham is English.