Shelton is a medium-sized coastal town (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Connecticut. With a population of 38,101 people and seven constituent neighborhoods, Shelton is the 25th largest community in Connecticut.

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Shelton is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Shelton is a town of sales and office workers, professionals, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Shelton who work in office and administrative support jobs (16.49%), management occupations (11.76%), and sales jobs (10.69%).

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

In addition, Shelton 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.

The town is also nautical, which means that parts of Shelton are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.

"If you live in Shelton, you are going to have to drive to get to work," say area residents. At least that is what most Shelton residents do (97.1%). Shelton is primarily built for cars, and driving around town will bare this out. Shopping centers, parking lots, strip malls, and wide streets are what you'll find. Sidewalks? Sure. But not everywhere, and walking to most places can be downright scary.

Even though Shelton is not a small town, it doesn't have a public transportation system that anybody uses for their daily commute to work.

Shelton Information and Demographics

The education level of Shelton citizens is substantially higher than the average US city or town, as 29.91% of adults in Shelton have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Shelton in 2000 was $29,893, which is upper middle income relative to Connecticut, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $119,572 for a family of four. However, Shelton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

The languages spoken by people in Shelton are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in Shelton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Italian, and Polish.