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From the start of the legislative session in January to the impacts of cuts to SNAP funding more recently, 2025 has had no shortage of quantifiable looks at Connecticut.

The CT Mirror published more than 50 “Charting Connecticut” stories this year, usually on Fridays.

Here are 10 top Charting Connecticut stories — some because of high reader engagement, some because they were staff favorites — from this year, in no particular order.

1. For a ‘land of steady habits,’ CT has seen changes over 10 years

“The land of steady habits,” a description of Connecticut coined in the 1800s, has changed. This story featured 10 charts looking back at the past 10 years.

One of the biggest takeaways is migration; more people from New York move to Connecticut than from any other state. And while people do move from Connecticut to New York, Connecticut has seen more newcomers from New York. 

Other changes we looked at include housing affordability across the state, employment rates, overdose deaths, voter registration, tuition prices, high-needs students in public schools, reliance on government aid, temperature in the state and immigration court backlogs. (Published Jan. 24)

2. SNAP benefit cuts to families in CT will hit harder than any other state

A number of sweeping revisions being made by the Trump administration have led to tumultuous changes, which have trickled down to Connecticut in more ways than one, including through major changes to eligibility criteria for the federal food assistance program SNAP. 

Connecticut families previously receiving $25 or more a month in SNAP benefits were estimated to lose nearly $200 a month on average under the Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to an Urban Institute report. This average loss is higher in Connecticut than any other state in the nation. (Published Oct. 24)

3. Over 100K CT residents could lose Medicaid coverage. What towns may be hit hardest?

Like SNAP benefits, Medicaid also took a hit this year as eligibility requirements changed at the federal level; an estimated 100,000 to 170,000 people in the state would be impacted.

Data found that residents in Hartford, Waterbury and New Britain could be heavily affected. Data shows that New Haven and Bridgeport could also see a large number of their residents lose benefits. But unlike with SNAP, Connecticut was not among the most affected states in the nation. (Published Sept. 5)

4. CT salaries are among the highest in the U.S. So is its cost of living

Housing costs remain a hot topic in the state and the nation, and the numbers reflect that.

While Connecticut has the eighth-highest salaries in the nation, when adjusted for a high cost of living, the state’s average salary becomes the ninth-highest in the nation. And to live comfortably in the state, a single person would need to make $100,380 annually, or a two-parent household with children would need a combined income of $279,884, one of the highest in the country.

The story features a chart with the state ranking for cost of living and a searchable table for readers to find the average salary for their own job out of all jobs in the state. (Published April 25)

5. Environmental bills lead start of CT legislative session

The beginning of the year also brought the beginning of the 2025 legislative session. On the first day of session, 377 pieces of legislation had been filed in the House and the Senate. 

In the House and the Senate, there were more bills related to environmental issues than anything else. Environmental legislation accounted for 21.5% of the 65 bills filed by the House on day one and 12.5% of the 312 bills introduced in the Senate.

Taking second in both chambers were bills dealing with finance, accounting for 17% in the House and 10% in the Senate. But third place is where the House and Senate diverted from each other. The Transportation Committee ended up handling 11% of the first-day legislation from the House, while public health measures took bronze in the Senate, making up 8% of bills filed. (Published Jan. 10)

6. We tracked over 100 bills during CT’s 2025 legislative session. Where’d they end up?

The Connecticut Mirror continued to keep up with bills introduced in session, and our bill tracker detailed the progress of the bills that the staff determined were most important to follow.

Around half the 107 bills tracked by the CT Mirror did not make it through both chambers, and some died in committee. Thirty-two were rolled into other legislation, many in the state budget, and 21 made it to the governor’s desk. (Published July 4)

7. Sports betting is on the rise in CT. Who is cashing in?

In March, Charting Connecticut delved into sports betting, legalized statewide in 2021. And we found that Connecticut residents are definitely gambling, especially online, to the benefit of the state. 

More than $6.2 billion was wagered on sports in Connecticut, $5.9 billion online and $338 million at in-person locations, also known as retail betting. The first two months of 2025 exceeded 2023 in terms of the dollar amount of bets placed. 

Of the total gross gaming revenue, about 13.3% goes to the state as tax revenue and 3.0% goes to the federal government in taxes. (Published March 28)

8. The price of a cup of coffee in CT is up 7.7%. It could be worse.

In October, we wrote about the increasing prices of one of the most popular drinks in the nation: coffee. Due to widespread drought in some of the largest coffee-growing regions of the world, as well as Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, the price of coffee got a hike this year.

In fact, data collected by Toast, a popular restaurant operations platform, found that Connecticut coffee prices jumped 7.7% 2025 compared to 2024. While this is a large change in price, other states saw larger jumps, some reaching 11%. (Published Oct. 10)

9. New Haven-area ER visitors more likely to report suicidal thoughts

This story made the list for some of the important trends it uncovers: residents in certain areas of the state are more likely to report suicidal thoughts than residents in others.

But experts say this may be because of the comfort level of residents, not an actual trend. And many believe this is a positive finding, because if suicidal thoughts are being reported, doctors are able to intervene and provide the necessary care. 

ER data also found that residents aged 10 through 17 had the highest rates of suicidal ideation, out of the 38,000 visits in which suicidal ideation was present. (Published Aug. 22)

10. Which CT towns have the most children of foreign-born parents?

This story was published in January, but the Supreme Court’s impending decision on birthright citizenship keeps it in the news, as it could have far-reaching impacts on immigration in Connecticut and across the nation.

We reported which towns in the state have the most children to foreign-born parents. 

Bridgeport has an estimate of over 16,000 children with at least one foreign-born parent (55.3%), followed by Stamford with almost 14,000 children (55.9%) and Danbury with a little over 10,500 (63.8%). (Published Jan. 31)

Sasha is a data reporting fellow with The Connecticut Mirror. She graduated from the University of Maryland in May with a degree in journalism and a minor in creative writing. For the past year Sasha was working part time for the Herald-Mail, a newspaper based in Western Maryland. She was also a reporter and copy editor for Capital News Service, the university’s wire service where she covered the state legislature, the Baltimore Key Bridge collapse, school board elections, youth mental health and climate change. Earlier in her college career, Sasha also interned at the Baltimore Magazine and wrote for numerous student publications including the Diamondback, the university’s independent, student-run newspaper.