New Haven County, Connecticut

New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the population was 862,477 making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's largest cities, New Haven (2nd) and Waterbury(5th), are part of New Haven County.

New Haven County comprises the New Haven-Milford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area.

County governments were abolished in Connecticut in 1960. Thus, as is the case with all eight of Connecticut's counties, there is no county government, and no county seat. Until 1960, the city of New Haven was the county seat. In Connecticut, towns are responsible for all local government activities, including fire and rescue, snow removal and schools. In some cases, neighboring towns will share certain activities, e.g. schools, health, etc. New Haven County is merely a group of towns on a map, and has no specific government authority. The county Sheriff system was abolished by voters and replaced by State Judicial Marshals in 2000. As a result, the state judicial system in New Haven County has three judicial districts: New Haven, Ansonia-Milford, and Waterbury.

History
Following the process of unification of New Haven Colony with Connecticut Colony in 1664-65, cohesion could be improved. New Haven County was constituted by an act of the Connecticut General Court on May 10, 1666, along with Hartford County, Fairfield County, and New London County. The act establishing the county states:
 * This Court orders that from the east bounds of Guilford
 * vnto ye west bounds of Milford shalbe for future one County
 * wch shalbe called the County of N: Hauen. And it is
 * ordered that the County Court shalbe held at N: Hauen on
 * the second Wednesday in March and on the second Wednesday
 * in Nouember yearely.

As established in 1666, New Haven County consisted of the towns of Milford, New Haven, and Guilford. The town of Wallingford was established in 1670 in unincorporated area north of New Haven and formally added to New Haven County in 1671. In 1675, the town of Derby was established north of Milford. In 1686, the town of Waterbury was established, but was assigned as part of Hartford County. Waterbury was transferred to New Haven County in 1728. In 1722, most of northwestern Connecticut (except for the town of Litchfield) was placed under the jurisdiction of New Haven County. Eight years later, in 1730, the eastern half of northwestern Connecticut was transferred to the jurisdiction of Hartford County. By mid-1738, with the exception of the towns of New Milford, Sharon, and Salisbury, the entire territory of northwestern Connecticut was under Hartford County. In 1751, Litchfield County was constituted consisting of all the towns in northwestern Connecticut. Between 1780 and 1807, several more towns were established along the northern boundary of New Haven County, resulting in the alteration of the limits of the county. The final boundary alteration leading to the modern boundary resulted from the establishment of the town of Middlebury on October 8, 1807.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 862 square miles (2,230 km2), of which 605 square miles (1,570 km2) is land and 258 square miles (670 km2) (29.9%) is water. It is the second-largest county in Connecticut by total area.

Features
The terrain is mostly flat near the coast, with low hills defining the rest of the area, rising significantly only in the north of the county. The highest elevation is close to the northernmost point in the county, found at two areas of approximately 1,050 feet (320 m) above sea level in the town of Wolcott. The lowest point is sea level.

Notable geographic landmarks include Mount Carmel ("Sleeping Giant"), West Rock and East Rock.

Connecticut

 * Hartford County, Connecticut
 * Middlesex County, Connecticut
 * Fairfield County, Connecticut
 * Litchfield County, Connecticut

Governmental Services
As of 1960, counties in Connecticut do not have any associated county government structure. All municipal services are provided by the towns. In order to address issues concerning more than one town, several regional agencies that help coordinate the towns for infrastructure, land use, and economic development concerns have been established. Within the geographical area of New Haven County, the regional agencies are:
 * South Central
 * Central Naugatuck Valley (partly in Litchfield County)
 * The Valley (partly in Fairfield County)

Judicial
The geographic area of the county is served by the three separate judicial districts: Ansonia-Milford, Waterbury, and New Haven. The Ansonia-Milford jurisdiction has two superior courthouses, one in Derby, the other in Milford. The Waterbury and New Haven judicial districts have superior courthouses located, respectively, in Waterbury, and New Haven.

Law enforcement
Law enforcement within the geographic area of the county is provided by the respective town police departments. Prior to 2000, a County Sheriff's Department existed for the purpose of executing judicial warrants, prisoner transport, and court security. These responsibilities have now been taken over by the Connecticut State Marshal System.

Fire
Fire protection in the county is provided by the towns. Several towns also have fire districts that provide services to a section of the town.

Founded in 1937, New Haven County has a county-wide fire-protection agency called "New Haven County Fire Emergency Plan" based in Hamden to "Coordinate Mutual Aid - Radio Problems, assist members of county at major incidents if requested, provide training".

Water service
Water service is provided by a regional non-profit public corporation known as the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority. The Regional Water Authority supplies water to most of the towns within New Haven County, excluding the Waterbury area and the towns of Guilford and Madison. The Regional Water Authority is one of only two such county-wide public water service providers in the state.

Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 862,477 people, 334,502 households, and 215,749 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,426.7 inhabitants per square mile (550.9/km2). There were 362,004 housing units at an average density of 598.8 per square mile (231.2/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 74.8% white, 12.7% black or African American, 3.5% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 6.0% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 15.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 24.0% were Italian, 17.5% were Irish, 9.3% were German, 8.5% were English, 7.6% were Polish, and 2.0% were American.

Of the 334,502 households, 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 35.5% were non-families, and 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.09. The median age was 39.3 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $61,114 and the median income for a family was $77,379. Males had a median income of $56,697 versus $43,941 for females. The per capita income for the county was $31,720. About 7.9% of families and 10.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.7% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Cities

 * Ansonia
 * Derby
 * Meriden
 * Milford
 * New Haven
 * Waterbury
 * West Haven

Towns

 * Beacon Falls
 * Bethany
 * Branford
 * Cheshire
 * East Haven
 * Guilford
 * Hamden
 * Madison
 * Middlebury
 * Nauguatuck
 * North Branford
 * North Haven
 * Orange
 * Oxford
 * Prospect
 * Seymour
 * Southbury
 * Wallingford
 * Wolcott
 * Woodbridge